Biodiversity

Significance

Nowadays, biodiversity loss is an ongoing issue, such as the loss of forest areas, the excessive utilization of biological resource ecosystems beyond its balance point, climate change, threats from invasive alien species, and pollution from human activities, etc. BPP is well aware of areas with high biodiversity so that it strives to conduct business with caution and take into account the potential impact from operating the projects in order to avoid, and take preventive actions, as well as minimize the impacts.

Management Approach

BPP has established guidelines for biodiversity management by avoiding the impact on biodiversity in the first place. The process begins with selecting operational zones not affecting areas with high biodiversity. We are committed to conducting biodiversity operations as following:

Avoid implementing projects in areas with high biodiversity.
Assessing potential biodiversity impacts in all business units.
Conducting studies and assessing the biodiversity value in order to collect data and prepare an action plan to reduce the impact before commencing the project.
Taking into account the biodiversity impacts in every phase of the project, starting from survey, construction, during operation, to project’s expiration period.
There are no business units operating in the World Heritage area, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected areas, category 1-4, while there is no deforestation.
BPP is committed to implementing projects creating positive impacts on biodiversity (Net Positive Impact) by using the following management approaches:
- Avoidance: Avoiding conducting activities possibly causing negative impacts to biodiversity.
- Reduce: Reducing unavoidable impacts by setting the operational plan and clear measurements.
- Rehabilitation: Rehabilitating the affected areas.
- Offset: Operating biodiversity projects in compensation of biodiversity effects.

Engaging stakeholders especially the local communities and academic institutions in order to implement the biodiversity conservation projects.
Supporting in biodiversity research initiatives.

Performance

Assessing biodiversity in all areas of the business units.
No production units are located in areas with high biodiversity value.
No complaints or non-compliance with laws related to biodiversity.

Key Activities and Projects

1. A Study on Biodiversity at the Vinh Chau Wind Power Plant Project in Vietnam

Wind power plants may have an impact on the ecology and natural habitats of birds and bats. The Company is well aware of the importance of preserving the ecosystem in the area. It is, therefore, conducting a biodiversity study in the surrounding area of the Vinh Chau Wind Power Plant Project in Vietnam to collect biodiversity data before the commencement of project construction. The assessment of potential impacts and preventive and corrective measures were also implemented before the project’s construction. The research methods and specimen collection were in accordance with the academic standards with reference to the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6. The biodiversity study consists of:

Flora Diversity Study: A study on plant diversities was conducted by using secondary data, satellite image and a survey in the area. It was found that most of the project areas are used for shrimp and other aquaculture farming. As the surrounding areas are the mangrove forests encroached on fishery, only 40 species of plants are found, most of which are shrubs while 19 species are in the mangrove forest group.

Bird Diversity and Flying Route Survey: A study on bird diversity and flying routes in the area was conducted during both the dry and rainy seasons to cover local species and migratory birds, their flying routes and heights as well as species differences in the seasons. From the study of 52 bird species, it was found the most of them flew below 35 meters, which is the minimum height of the wind power plant’s turbines.

Bat Diversity Survey: Since bats are nocturnal animals and are harder to see than birds, it is necessary to use various methods for this study, such as a secondary data research, an expert review, a use of a sound wave called “mobile acoustic transects and stationary acoustic point count,” net trapping, temperatures observation, and community interviews on bats’ nesting in the area, etc. It was found that bat species can be classified as approximately six species from sound wave identification, two species from net trapping, three species from surveying their habitats during the daytime. From surveying in the area, a number of bats are less than that of the secondary data. This might be caused by unavailable fruit and food sources for bats in the project area.

The Company is confident that this study will be beneficial to the biodiversity conservation in the future.

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Biodiversity Policy