Biodiversity toolkit launched for quarry industry

The European Aggregates Association's partnership with the United Nations Environmental Programme on a biodiversity toolkit for the quarrying industry

The need for biodiversity at both restored and working aggregate extraction sites is widely accepted by the quarrying industry, but achieving biodiversity is not a straightforward process. However, plans to develop a new information source for the sector could help to ease the task for those implementing and regulating biodiversity plans.

The 2886 European Aggregates Association (UEPG) has been invited by the 2918 United Nations Biodiversity for Development Unit of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity to contribute to a toolkit on biodiversity for the quarrying sector. The Development Unit is working on a series of information toolkits, intended to profile best-practice policies and initiatives that support the integration of biodiversity conservation goals into eight different sectors, including quarrying, tourism, forestry, and fisheries. The toolkits will provide good practices in support of nature conservation and alleviation of poverty.

The toolkits will serve as a resource for policy-makers, planners, and experts working in the quarrying sector, including governments, the private sector, inter-governmental and bi-lateral development cooperation agencies, as well as international development and conservation NGOs.

Supported by the French and German governments, the toolkit will comprise a 40-page booklet and a CD-ROM that will be published worldwide by the end of 2009. Target groups are government officers and policy decision makers as well as NGOs. Companies will be able to use the toolkit for training sessions.

Taking the lead

The project will be carried out by relevant stakeholders connected with biodiversity and the sector. The UEPG has agreed to chair the steering committee and to draft the toolkit, using the committee members' input, providing case studies from all over the world.

The working group is chaired by Pierre de Prémare who is vice president environment & public affairs quarries, aggregates and concrete at 725 Lafarge Group. The working group members are Shulamit Alony, business and biodiversity officer at 1778 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - Countdown 2010; Laverne Bell, diversity officer at the Quarry Products Association Northern Ireland (QPANI); Eric Belvaux (Programme Officer) and Christopher Hogan (Programme Assistant) from the Biodiversity for Development Unit of the Secretariat and Michael Rademacher, recultivation and nature conservation group manager at Heidelberg Cement. The work will be coordinated by Sandrine Devos, public affairs officer at the UEPG General Secretariat.

The Development Unit will be responsible for graphic design, development of the CD-Roms, printing and distribution of the toolkits.

Relevant tools

The content of the toolkit should be based on the policy and strategy tools, such as planning process; legal and standards' tools; partnerships with the private sector and voluntary initiatives; measuring, baseline information, reporting, auditing, monitoring and evaluation; economic, financial and market-based instruments; staff training and public awareness.

The toolkit will underline the role of the stakeholders, will show that quarries and biodiversity are not incompatible, and will demonstrate that biodiversity management takes place at all the stages of the life of a quarry.

Each tool will be illustrated by a case study of best practice, and should underline the economic development involved in biodiversity. This part is key as it demonstrates why biodiversity matters and how healthy ecosystems deliver tangible benefits underpinning economic, social and cultural well-being.

The toolkit will be based on a wide range of materials, ensuring its global character: company guidelines on biodiversity, trade associations and NGO booklets on biodiversity and conservation, governments' publications of guidelines.

Creating the first global tool for quarries will establish links between the worldwide aggregates industry in order to promote environmentally sound practices, set up standards of reference and help decision-makers and producers protecting biodiversity. It will also strengthen the European aggregates industry's partnership with Countdown 2010 and 1779 IUCN.