Biodiversity

TARGET 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and protect & prevent the extinction of threatened species

Ravva offshore block of Cairn has been producing Crude Oil & Natural Gas for over two and half decades serving the energy demands of the country. The block is located on the Krishna-Godavari basin and Cairn ensures to responsibly protect the nature by taking environmental initiatives. Ravva is a hotspot for Mangrove plantation which provides excellent roosting site to many avifaunal species and refuge to the smooth coated otter. A total of 16 species of trees, 1 climber, 1 shrub and 4 herbaceous mangrove associates were enumerated from the mangrove habitats. A total of 33 species have been identified in entire green belt area situated at Ravva.

Recognizing the significance of its diversity, Cairn has developed a detailed wildlife management plan. Among various wildlife conservation measures, Fishing Cat is one of the flagship biodiversity initiative to study the Ecology and Conservation prospectus for fishing cat. Fishing cats are small wild cats with discontinuous distribution across mangroves, wetlands, rivers, and swamps in parts of South and Southeast Asia. The species was classified as globally endangered in 2008, based on steep population declines (especially in Southeast Asia) over the past several decades (IUCN 2008).

Fishing cats are good swimmers with semi-webbed paws and a relatively short but muscular tail that can be used as a rudder in the water. This is the first study to understand the movement, space use and diet of the fishing cat. These cats spend time in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The study will be first-ever comprehensive study to understand the species.

The specific outcome of the study will be:

• Information on diet of fishing cat and seasonal variation
• Home range, movement, and space use of the fishing cat
• Threats faced by the species
• Conservation planning for the species in Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary
• Facilitation of the National Conservation breeding Centre of Fishing cats at EGREE

Cairn has entered an MoU with Andhra Pradesh Forest Department to implement project through Wildlife Institute of India for three years. Total project cost of INR 7.4mn for the period of three years started from 2020.

SDG 15: Life on Land

TARGET 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and protect & prevent the extinction of threatened species

The Succulent Karoo Biome, where Vedanta Zinc International's (VZI) Gamsberg operations are located, is unique, even for a country such as South Africa, which is renowned for its floral diversity. Among the 36 global biodiversity hotspots, the biome is home to at least 6,000 species of plants that have evolved over millennia to survive the desert's aridity, many of them rare and, until our environmentalists began their documentation of the biodiversity of the region, some of which had been previously unrecorded.

A central objective during the construction of the Gamsberg operations was to ensure that we do not damage the fragile site and build in a manner that allows for the area to be restored completely when mining ends. VZI's environmental specialists worked closely with a wide range of experts, including those from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to design and implement a process to ensure the site's necessary protection, preservation and ultimate restoration.

We followed the mitigation hierarchy to:

• Avoid – Found alternate locations for the waste pits, processing facilities, and access roads
• Minimize – Fenced and demarcated sensitive areas, used HDPE lining in the tailings storage facility, and made provision to segregate waste rocks according to their leachability characteristics
• Remedy – Translocated ~77,000 plants to be used in the concurrent rehabilitation of the area
• Offset – Identified ~40,000 hectares of land with similar topographical features to be used as an offset area to realize the No Net Loss objective of the project; this will be monitored by IUCN

SOME 80,000 PLANTS AND 360,000 SEEDS WERE COLLECTED AND MOVED TO THE SPECIALISED FACILITIES OF THE KAROO DESERT NATIONAL BOTANICAL GARDEN.

The objective was that, once the mining ends and the area's surface is restored, these seeds can be replanted with the endemic species that were removed from the site, saved and protected. Areas that are particularly sensitive have been fenced off, while operations have been designed to limit and minimise any direct effects on the entire region. 15,000 hectares of land secured to undertake offset exercise.

Preserve, protect, restore and rehabilitate are the pillars, which should guide the environmental planning of any mining project - none more so than in the environmentally sensitive and fragile Northern Cape.