Technical Assistance Consultant's Report - Country Safeguard ...

Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report Project Number: 44140 Date: October 2015

TA 7566-REG: Strengthening and Use of Country

Safeguard Systems

Subproject: Mainstreaming Biodiversity Considerations into Country Environmental Safeguard System (Viet Nam) TECHNICAL GUIDELINES FOR BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT INTEGRATED IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCESS (PART 1 OF 2) Prepared by ADB Consultant Team

This consultant’s report does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government concerned, and

ADB and the Government cannot be held liable for its contents.

Technical Guidelines for

BIODIVERSITY IMPACT

ASSESSMENT INTEGRATED

IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT ASSESSMENT

PROCESS

TA 7566-REG: Strengthening and Use of Country Safeguards Systems

Mainstreaming Biodiversity Considerations into Country Environmental

Safeguard System: Viet Nam

So

urc

e: P

ete

r – J

ohn M

eynell

VIETNAM PUBLISHING HOUSE OF NATURAL

RESOURCES, ENVIRONMENT AND CARTOGRAPHY

STEERING GROUP AND COORDINATORS

• Dr. Pham Anh Cuong, Director of Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA); Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA);

• MSc. Pham Quang Phuc, Asian Development Bank (ADB);

• Dr. Hoang Thi Thanh Nhan, Deputy Director of Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA); Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA);

• Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dung, Chief of Administrative Ofice; Director of Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA), Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA);

• MSc. Phan Binh Minh, Administrative Ofice, Biodiversity Conservation Agency (BCA); Vietnam Environment Administration (VEA).

EDITOR GROUP

• Dr. Peter John Meynell, Environmental Consultant;

• Assoc. Dr. Le Xuan Canh, Biodiversity Expert;

• Dr. Le Hoang Lan, Environmental Impact Assessment Expert.

INTRODUCTION

Law on Environmental Protection (1993, 2005, 2014) of Viet Nam deines that Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as important tools to prevent and control environmental pollution, and protect

However, in practice, the EIAs and SEAs being produced are still deicient in that biodiversity issues are often poorly addressed. As a result impact mitigation and management measures are not effective, and biodiversity continues to be degraded.

Practice have showed many memorable lessons on signiicant damage, even heavy lost of biodiversity in some places due to the construction of hydropowers, infrastructure and conversion of natural forest land into industrial plantation...

There are many causes of the above weaknesses such as lack of database on biodiversity, limited capacity to implement biodiversity impact assessment of the practitioners or poorly implemented EIA. However, the underlying cause is supposed to be the low awareness and consciousness of investors and competent authority on biodiversity impact assessment (BIA) in development projects.

In light of the growing recognition of the importance of and the pervasive threats to biodiversity, it is essential to provide technical guidance on mainstreaming BIA in the EIA process together with legalizing BIA in legal documents. In addition, enhancing the active participation of communities in inspecting and monitoring impacts of development projects to biodiversity also a urgent requirement.

The Technical Guidelines for Biodiversity Impact Assessment in the Environmental Impact Assessment process in Vietnam provide technical guidance on each of the steps in the EIA process together with practical tools for promoting biodiversity inclusive impact assessment and improving development effectiveness.

Under the development of the Guidlines, Vietnam Enviroment Administration (VEA) has received valuable inancial and technical assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB) within the framework of the project “Strengthening and Use of Country Safeguards System. Mainstreaming Biodiversity Considerations into Country Environmental Safeguards System: Vietnam “VEA would like to express the grateful thanks to the contribution of consultants, individuals and organization who have actively assisted in the development and completion of the Guidelines. VEA fully hopes that this document will pave the way for better performance of biodiversity impact assessment in environmental impact assessment in Viet Nam for forthcoming time.

Dr. Nguyen Van Tai

Director General of Vietnam Enviroment Administration (VEA)

Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE)

3BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

CONTENTS

Introducing Biodiversity impact assessment guidelines 10

A. The importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services 10

B. Trends in biodiversity in Vietnam 10

C. General approach to considering biodiversity in EIA 12

D. Principles for Biodiversity Impact Assessment 12

E. Legal requirements for Biodiversity Impact Assessment 13

F. The BIA sections of an EIA report 14

G. Key objectives and structure of the guidelines 15

INCLUDING BIODIVERSITY AT EACH STEP IN THE EIA PROCESS

Step 1 – Screening 18

A. Purpose of this step 18

B. Guidance for screening 19

a. Screening questions on biodiversity impacts 19

b. Screening by geographic areas and ecosystem services 21

c. Thresholds for biodiversity impact assessment 22

Step 2 - Scoping 24


B. Scoping tasks and decisions 24

a. Describe the type of project, and deine project activities likely to affect biodiversity and ecosystem services 24

b. Deine possible alternatives 26

c. Spatial and time issues 26

d. Identify stakeholders who should be consulted in BIA process 28

e. Identifying the biodiversity expertise required 29

f. Developing terms of reference for biodiversity impact assessment 30

Step 3 - Describing Baseline conditions 32


4 BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

B. Guidance for conducting the baseline study 33

a. Collect and analyse relevant information 33

b. Additional survey requirements 3

c. Assessing habitat condition 35

d. Assessing the importance of biodiversity elements 36

e. Identifying baseline ecosystem services 37

Step 4 - Impact prediction and assessment 39


B. Guidance for impact prediction and assessment 40

a. Methods of impact prediction 40

b. Trends in biodiversity without the project 42

c. Determine the nature of the potential impacts 43

d. Assessment of impact signiicance 44

e. Review and propose for implementation alternatives 46

f. Preliminary assessment of mitigation/enhancement measures for negative/ positive impacts 47

g. Assess the uncertainty of forecasts and explain reasons 47

Step 5 - Mitigation, management and enhancement of biodiversity impacts 50


B. Guidance for mitigation and enhancement 51

a. Deine measures to avoid, reduce, remedy or compensate signiicant adverse impacts 51

b. Assess feasibility, effectiveness, likelihood of success for each mitigation measure 53

c. Principles of biodiversity offsets 53

Step 6 - Development of biodiversity management and monitoring 55

A. Purpose of the step 55

B. Guidance for developing a biodiversity management and monitoring plan 55

a. Development of a biodiversity management/conservation plan 55

b. Development of a biodiversity monitoring system 56

c. Institutional arrangements for biodiversity management and monitoring 57

d. Costs and inancing the biodiversity management plan 57


PUBLIC CONSULTATION 58

Purpose of public consultation 58

Methods of public consultation 58

Public consultation in BIA steps 60

GUIDANCE FOR REVIEWERS OF BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENTS 63

Purpose of the review 63

Identiication of experts for review 63

Review criteria for mainstreaming biodiversity issues 64

AND EXAMPLES

Annex 1 - Legal requirements for Biodiversity Impact Assessment 68

Annex 2 - Tools and data sources for scoping and screening 75

Annex 3 - Tools for Scoping 115

Annex 4 - Describing the Baseline biodiversity conditions 126

Annex 5 - Tools for Impact Assessment 112

Annex 6 - Tools for Mitigation and Management 130

Annex 7 - Tools for monitoring of biodiversity impacts 142

Annex 8 - References and Data Sources 145

Annex 9 - Agencies and Organisations capable of undertaking Biodiversity Impact Assessments, developing Biodiversity Management Plans and Monitoring 146


LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Suggested framework for biodiversity-inclusive EIA 15

Figure 2: Impact zones for a large hydropower project 26

Figure 3: Mitigation hierarchy 52

Figure 4: Biodiversity offsets position within the mitigation hierarchy 53

Figure 5: Ecological regions in Vietnam 76

Figure 6: Distribution of protected areas in Vietnam 78

Figure 7: Map of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in Vietnam 83

Figure 8: The Trung Son Hydropower Project is located close to three Nature

Reserves 85

Figure 9: Classiication of forest types in the Vu Gia- Thu Bon catchment 86

Figure 10: Tiger Conservation Landscapes and the Trung Son Hydropower Project 91

Figure 11: Map showing the three alternative dam sites, reservoir area and

quarries for the Na Hang dam, Tuyen Quang 99

Figure 12: Habitat map from the Biodiversity offset assessment for the

Long Son Petrochemical complex 100

Figure 13: Forest questionnaire for Biodiversity Indicator and Reporting system (BIRS) 102

Figure 14: Changes in land cover in Kien Luong District 110

Figure 15: Vegetation proile of the top of the Nang river gorge, illustrating the projected

water levels at top and bottom of the gorge inundated by the Na Hang dam. 114

Figure 16: Updated Distribution network of CYSNP wildlife trade (adapted from:

Trai, 2007) 121

Figure 17: Fragmentation of habitats and protected areas by a large hydropower

project 122

Figure 18: Distribution of connectivity severage independent of hydropower

development in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon catchment 122

Figure 19: Disruption in connectivity due to planned hydropower projects in the

Vu Gia-Thu Bon catchment 123

Figure 20: Intact rivers proposed for the Vu Gia Thu Bon river basins. 138


Figure 21: Intact rivers considered for the Ma River catchment downstream

of the Trung Son HPP 139

Figure 22: Locations of monitoring sites for ish in the Ma River above and

below Trung Son HPP 142

Figure 23: Locations of monitoring sites for a hydropower project 143

Figure 24: Sampling sites for sediment and aquatic ecology for the O Mon Power

gas ired power station 144

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Questions for screening projects for biodiversity impacts 20

Table 2: Thresholds for biodiversity impact assessment 23

Table 3. Assessment criteria 36

Table 4: Advantages of subjective and objective methods for impact prediction 42

Table 5: Impact Magnitude Categories 45

Table 6: Identifying options and alternatives 46

Table 7: Suggested scale for ranking conidence in impact predictions 48

Table 8: Level of conidence in predictions 49

Table 9: Mitigation and Offset standards for three habitat types 51

Table 10: Public participation tools 60

Table 11: Review criteria for mainstreaming biodiversity issues in the stages of EIA 65

Table 12: Types of Special Use Forests 77

Table 13: List of National Parks in Vietnam 78

Table 14: Wetland sites of national and international importance by geographical

distribution 80

Table 15: Vietnam’s national system of MPAs 81

Table 16: Protected area coverage of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in Vietnam 83

Table 17: List of KBAs and AZE sites with zero or partial coverage (≤98%) by

protected areas 83


Table 18: Vietnam Red List (2007): Classiication of threatened status and

number of species 90

Table 19: Scoping checklist to identify potential impacts on biodiversity 92

Table 20: Checklist for scoping impacts of large infrastructure projects, e.g. roads 94

Table 21: Matrix of potential impacting activities upon biodiversity components

in the road EIA through Chu Yang Sin NP. 96

Table 22: Biological characteristics of key ish species in the Ma River affected

by the Trung Son Hydropower project 106

Table 23: Beneits of Protected Areas for water resource-based development 107

Table 24: Check list of ecosystem services potentially affected by the project 108

Table 25: Total economic value of the endangered monkeys potentially impacted

by the Na Hang hydropower project 111

Table 26: Comparison of alternative sites for the Na Hang dam, Tuyen Quang,

showing loss of habitats by inundation zone 113

Table 27: Sensitivity of habitats to the proposed Long Son Petrochemical Complex 115

Table 28: Habitats affected by the Long Son Petrochemical Complex 116

Table 29: Impact signiicance on each habitat, prior to mitigation 116

Table 30: Summary of the signiicance of site development, land reclamation,

and construction of petrochemical plant and seaport facilities 117

Table 31: Sensitivity of key species to the proposed Long Son Petrochemical

complex 118

Table 32: Impact signiicance upon sensitive species found on the site 118

Table 33: Summary of impacts of construction and structural presence on

lora and fauna of the site 119

Table 34: Signiicance of Impacts of different activities considered before and

after mitigation measures suggested 119

Table 35: Predicted impacts for different biodiversity components due to the

O Mon Thermal Power Plant 120

Table 36: Characterization of the Zones of Inluence for CYSNP 121


Table 37: Comparing biodiversity impacts of the Na Hang dam against

standards for environmentally friendly/threatening dams developed

from the World Commission on Dams 124

Table 38: RIAM assessment criteria (adapted from Pastakia, 1995a) 126

Table 39: RIAM scale for ES (Environmental Scores) 127

Table 40: RIAM Assessment Matrix as applied to assess biodiversity impacts

for the proposed road through Chu Yang Sin National Park 129

Table 41: Mitigation measures suggested for the construction phase of the

proposed road through the Chu Yang Sin National Park 131

Table 42: Mitigation measures suggested for the operational phase of the

proposed road through the Chu Yang Sin National Park 135

Table 43: Options for addressing ecological impacts of the Na Hang Dam,

Tuyen Quang 136

Table 44: Mitigation measures for the main types of biodiversity impacts from

hydropower dams 137


ABBREVIATIONS

BAP Biodiversity Action Plan

BIA Biodiversity Impact Assessment

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CC Climate Change

COP Conference of the Parties

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

EIS Environmental Impact Statement

EMP Environmental Management Plan

GIS Geographic Information System

IAIA International Association for Impact Assessment

IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature

LEP Law of Environment Protection

MARD Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

MONRE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

NAP National Action Plan

NCA Natural Conservation Area

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NTP National Target Program

SEA Strategic Environmental Assessment

TOR Terms of Reference

UN United Nations

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development


INTRODUCING BIODIVERSITY IMPACT

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES

A. THE IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM

SERVICES

There is growing recognition globally of the vital importance of biodiversity and the role it plays in sustaining lives, livelihoods and economies. With acceptance of the importance of biodiversity in sustainable development, greater focus is being placed on its conservation spurred by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the national policies and legislations in Vietnam.

Essentially biodiversity is the basis for the ecosystem functions and processes which provide essential ecosystem services to support human well-being (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Ecosystems are deined as dynamic complexes of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as functional units. The interaction of these functional units generates ecosystem services, which are deined as the beneits that ecosystems provide for human well-being. The services provided by ecosystems range from concrete harvestable goods such as timber, ish and water to more abstract regulating services such as pollination of crops, low regulation for water supply and lood control, carbon sequestering, maintenance of biodiversity and so on. Clearly at the extreme, loss or degradation of ecosystem services threatens human survival.

In general, loss of biodiversity diminishes the rate and capacity of ecosystems to produce ecosystem services. Some species play a particular role in generating ecosystem services that enhance human survival and well-being. Loss of key species can therefore translate directly into loss of the services they provide. Loss of biodiversity in a few cases can also make ecosystems less stable and more vulnerable to extreme conditions and catastrophic events, such as loods and droughts. It also tends to make ecosystems less productive.

B. TRENDS IN BIODIVERSITY IN VIETNAM

Decline in habitats

The decline in all forms of biodiversity in Vietnam is alarming. The 5th report by the Government to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2014 notes that the Government


is currently aiming to increase Vietnam’s forest coverage to 42%-43% by 2015, and to 44%-45% by 2020, to meet sustainable development goals in Vietnam. In 2005 the total national volume of standing timber was 811.6 million m3. By 2010, the total volume was 935.3 million m3, of which natural forests accounted for 92.8%. Plantation forest volume was 7.9% of the total timber volume. However, overall in Vietnam, the biodiversity values and “quality” of some rich forests, moderate forests and mangroves has continued to decline. Although the forest coverage is expanding, mainly due to an increase in planted forests, this has a lower value in terms of biodiversity. In addition the area of natural forests with higher-level biodiversity values has declined.

River ecosystems are being increasingly fragmented by the development of hydropower and related infrastructure. The construction of a series of hydropower dams and reservoirs on a number of rivers has divided them into ecologically unconnected fragments. Hydropower projects cause the loss of forests in the valleys and on the riverbanks, and act as migration barriers between rivers and the sea for many commercially valuable ish species. In addition, the operation of hydropower reservoirs has had negative impacts on downstream habitats, in particular estuaries and coastal ecosystems. Aquatic species, particularly endangered, rare and precious species, are being threatened by the pressure of exploitation, infrastructure construction on rivers, e.g. hydroelectric dams, irrigation, and river ports, and illegal mineral exploitation. Each of these activities is leading to the degradation of river ecosystems, and disturbing the spawning grounds and habitats of many aquatic species.

Marine and coastal waters and their abundant resources are an important source of Vietnam’s food supply, and also provide livelihoods for approximately 20 million people in 125 coastal districts. The increasing consumption of isheries-related products is placing increasing pressure on the enhancing exploitation of natural stocks and further developing aquaculture. The coastal ecosystem’s biological resources and its ecosystem service functions are currently considered to be over-exploited. There is a continuous decline in quality of natural habitats including the inter-tidal areas, coral reefs, sea grass, as well as decline in coverage of coral reefs and sea grass is pointing towards “coastal desertiication” in the future.

The Institute of Marine Environment and Resources (IMER) estimated that in 2010 the remaining total area of coral reef in Vietnam was 14,130 ha, and most of the surveyed coral reefs are considered to be in poor condition. Surveys carried out from 2004 to 2007 in seven reef locations in Vietnam identiied that only 2.9% of the coral reefs were assessed to be in very good condition, 11.6% in good condition, 44.9% of the poor and very poor condition. The condition of coastal coral reefs are rapidly declining as demonstrated by the signiicant decrease in live-coral coverage. The area of seagrass habitat is reported to be declining due to natural disasters, reclamation for aquaculture ponds and coastal construction. Statistics indicate the coverage of seagrass across Vietnam has decreased between 40-70%. The decline in the quality of marine ecosystems


has resulted in damage and loss of marine habitats and a subsequent loss of marine biodiversity. Ecosystem and habitat damage have resulted in the decrease and reduction of a number of species, and now some species are reported as being locally extinct.

According to 2012 statistics, 56% of the total area of mangroves in Vietnam is considered as “planted mangroves” with a very low diversity of species. Areas of natural mangrove forests have almost completely disappeared. Mangrove degradation is clearly shown through the rapid decline in both the area and quality of forests. In 1943, the country had more than 408,500 ha of mangroves. In 1990, the area of mangroves was about 255,000 ha, declining to 209,741 ha in 2006, and 140,000 ha in 2010. By the end of 2012 only 131,520 ha of forests remained.

Decline in Species

The area of natural habitats available for wildlife has continued to decline due to change in land-use. In terrestrial areas the natural forests ecosystems house a great number of wildlife species, and these forests make a vital contribution to Vietnam’s high biodiversity. If the current rate of deforestation continues to meet the current needs and practices through changing land-use patterns, the area of suitable habitat for wildlife will continue to shrink.

Incidents of wild elephants destroying houses, crops and the serious reports of killing local residents in South-eastern Vietnam and the Central Highlands is viewed as a response to the growing conlicts due to the loss of elephant habitat. Most other large wildlife species, such as tigers, are today only found in and around National Parks and Nature Reserves. It is estimated that Vietnam currently may have only 30 tigers left in the wild.

There has been a continued decline of endangered, rare and precious species. The irst edition of the Vietnam Red List (1992 – 1996) identiied 621 species of animals and plants as threatened and endangered. In 2007 the Vietnam Red List identiied 882 species (418 animals and 464 plants) as threatened and endangered - an increase of 161 species. Also between the irst and second assessment were ten species that moved from being classiied as “Endangered – EN” to “Extinct in the wild-EW”. The total population of the Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus) was estimated to be around 190 individuals in isolated locations. In the early 20th century, this species distributed in mountainous forest areas in four provinces including Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Bac Kan and Thai Nguyen. Another example is Delacour’s Langur (Trachypithecus delacouri) which today is only found in Cuc Phuong National Park and Van Long Protected Area (Ninh Binh) with an estimated 100 individuals remaining.

Vietnam’s population of the Javan rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus) was one of the two remaining Javan rhino’s populations. A research program supported by WWF in 2010 surveyed for rhinos in Cat Tien National Park found only one dead rhino – the extinction of the last rhino in Vietnam.


The status of aquatic species, particularly those species with an economic value, is rapidly declining. The numbers of individuals of rare and precious freshwater ish, in particular those with a high economic value, and migratory species have also decreased.

Trend in genetic resources

Vietnam was ranked as the 16th richest in natural resources with the wide variety of ecosystems, species and abundance of endemic genetic resources. However, Vietnam’s biodiversity has been seriously threatened by overexploitation, natural disasters, outdated agricultural practices, population growth and urbanization. Climate change and sea level rise will further endanger genetic resources. Some endemic species/sub-species, e.g. Ba Xuyen pig and the Ho chicken, remain at very small population numbers. The loss of genetic resources is increasingly challenging if there is a lack of appropriate methods of genetic conservation.

C. GENERAL APPROACH TO CONSIDERING BIODIVERSITY IN EIA

The steps required to evaluate effects on biodiversity are basically those of traditional impact assessment applied with a landscape perspective and speciic biodiversity endpoints.

Understanding the factors that cause changes in ecosystems and ecosystem services is essential to the design of interventions which enhance positive and minimise negative impacts. Such factors are called drivers of change and can be natural or human-induced. Impact assessment is primarily concerned with human-induced drivers of change. Natural drivers of change are important however, as they deine background trends or changes against which human-induced changes need to be evaluated.

It is important to realise that potential impacts on biodiversity can be identiied without having a complete description of that biodiversity. If an intervention is expected to result in changes of the composition, structure or key processes, there is a serious reason to expect that ecosystems and related ecosystem services will be affected. Further studies can be focused on the aspect of biodiversity which is expected to be affected and on resulting impacts on associated ecosystem services. Especially for areas where available data on biodiversity are limited, this approach has the advantage of focusing costly data collection efforts on the relevant aspect of biodiversity (thus avoiding lengthy descriptive studies of all biodiversity aspects in the intervention area).

D. PRINCIPLES FOR BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Ideally biodiversity should be assessed using typical indicators in the same way that other environmental components are considered (e.g. contamination of air, water, soil). However, unlike other components, biodiversity cannot be evaluated using the permissible


limit value of indicators, because the values depend on ecosystem characteristic of location where biodiversity assessed.

So BIA should be implemented in accordance with the following general principles:

• Habitat type and condition – the different habitat types are part of biodiversity, and their condition is an important indicator of the threats and pressures. Biodiversity management aims to improve habitat condition;

• Rare and endangered species – the presence of threatened species must always be a prime concern, and will raise the level of importance of a site potentially impacted by a development project;

• No net loss - no net loss is deined as the point at which project-related impacts on biodiversity are balanced by measures taken to avoid and minimize the project’s impacts, to undertake on-site restoration and inally to offset signiicant residual impacts, if any, on an appropriate geographic scale;

• The precautionary principle - when an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientiically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof;

• Local, traditional and indigenous knowledge - local knowledge about biodiversity and the uses of the natural resources are as important as scientiic data. Often local knowledge is the only site speciic data in the absence of detailed scientiic surveys, and must be recorded and used in biodiversity impact assessments; and

• Participation - the involvement of stakeholders from local communities, conservation organisations and private sector companies using the natural resources is essential to understand the importance and use of biodiversity. The participation of these stakeholders may also be important part of the impact mitigation, management and biodiversity offsets.

E. LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR BIODIVERSITY IMPACT

ASSESSMENT

Article 3 of the Law on Biodiversity speciies that biodiversity means the abundance of genes, organisms and ecosystems in the nature; Conservation of biodiversity means the protection of the abundance of natural ecosystems which are important, speciic or representative; the protection of permanent or seasonal habitats of wild species, environmental landscape and the unique beauty of nature: the rearing, planting and care of species on the list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection; and the long-term preservation and storage of genetic specimens.


The Article 34 of this law provides that “Natural ecosystems shall be surveyed and assessed and their sustainable development mechanisms shall be determined.” Provisions of Article 34, 35 and 36 of the Law on Biodiversity divides natural ecosystems into: Natural forest ecosystems, Natural marine ecosystems, Natural ecosystems of natural wetlands, Natural ecosystems on limestone mountain areas and unused land areas.

The Article 37 of the Law on Biodiversity stipulates that species to be considered for inclusion in the list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection include: “a) Endangered precious and rare wild fauna and lora species; b) Endangered precious and rare crop plant varieties, domestic animal breeds, microorganisms and fungi.”

The Law on Biodiversity identiies ecosystems to be conserved and developed in the conservation zone system, includes: National park; Nature reserves; Species/habitat conservation zones; Landscape conservation zones. It includes natural forest ecosystems, marine ecosystems, and natural wetlands and rivers.

The requirement to include biodiversity impact assessment in EIAs in Vietnam has always been in the earlier EIA law, decrees and circulars, but this has now been strengthened under the Law on Environmental Protection 2014 (LEP 2014). Annex 2.3 of the Circular 27/2015/TT-BTNMT dated 29/5/2015 on SEA, EIA and environmental protection plan, includes the need to:

• Provide a description of the project including its geographic location;

• Assess the current state of the natural environment and socio-economics of the project area. Provide a general description of characteristics of ecosystems, biological diversity on land and water in areas potentially affected. The natural objects ( systems of rivers, lakes and other water sources, forests, biosphere reserves, national parks, natural conservation zones, world natural reserves...);

• Description of the objectives for biodiversity conservation in the areas potentially affected;

• Description of the trends in biodiversity;

• Assess and forecast the impact to environment, included to biodiversity, in the project phases;

• Provide comments on the level of detail, the reliability of the assessment and forecast results of impacts on biodiversity;

• Results of consultation with the community.

Further details on the legal requirements for including biodiversity impact assessment in EIA are provided in Annex 1.


F. THE BIA SECTIONS OF AN EIA REPORT

Biodiversity Impact Assessment is part of the overall process of Environmental Impact Assessment, and the inal EIA report should set out clearly all the information relevant for environmental decision-making. The report should ideally be guided by the institutional framework, and be structured according to the requirements of Vietnam’s regulations as speciied in Circular 27/2015/TT-BTNMT, Appendix 2.3 Structure and contents of

environmental impact assessment report. In some cases, especially those where the biodiversity assessment has not been adequately considered in the main EIA, supplementary EIAs have been undertaken where the focus has been upon biodiversity and the socio-economic uses, e.g. for livelihoods.

When preparing the biodiversity component of an EIA or if preparing a stand-alone BIA as a supplement to the EIA, the report should cover the following aspects:

• Project description, especially focusing on those activities during construction and operation that could have an impact upon biodiversity.

• Baseline description of the biodiversity at appropriate levels – landscape, ecosystem, habitats, species. Ecosystem services and socio-economic use of biodiversity; trends in biodiversity without the project should also be considered.

• Identiication of impacts upon the biodiversity at different levels, with a focus on key habitats and species, and socio-economic uses.

• Mitigation and management of impacts – where necessary a speciic Biodiversity Action Plan should be prepared, including consideration of biodiversity offsets

• Monitoring plan for ensuring that that the BAP is implemented and that biodiversity is not adversely affected.

The report should also specify the sources of information about biodiversity and methods used for additional biodiversity surveys where necessary. Stakeholder consultation and access to local and indigenous knowledge is also important.

G. KEY OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURE OF THE GUIDELINES

The current EIA system in Vietnam is facing a number of constraints and implementation gaps. In an evaluation of a sample of 100 EIAs carried out between 2010 and 2014, 80% were found to be inadequate. They did not consistently follow the terms of reference for the speciic evaluation of direct, indirect and cumulative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems and the social and environmental management plans proved to be inadequate in terms of mitigating the negative impacts generated by the project under


evaluation1. Examples of poor practice include the inclusion of a lists of species that occurred within the area 10 or 20 years ago, with no analysis of how the project activities would impact biodiversity. Even if an adequate BIA was carried out, a Biodiversity Management Plan may not have been produced, or not implemented. Monitoring of biodiversity and management and mitigation measures is rarely followed up.

These guidelines aim to improve the consideration of biodiversity in EIAs for improving development effectiveness and sustainability. They help build the capacity of EIA professionals by providing practical guidance for undertaking biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment. They combine elements of current best practice for ecological impact assessment tailored to the Vietnam situation.

Several initiatives at the global level have been initiated to build capacity for conducting biodiversity inclusive impact assessment. International guidelines are available to support practitioners in the design and implementation of EIAs and SEAs (see bibliography). These guidelines for BIA in Vietnam are mainly based on the guidelines of the CBD Secretariat and a number of other international best practice guidance for integrated biodiversity impact assessment in EIA, with data, tools and examples from Vietnam.

The guidelines propose a systematic and practical approach to the treatment of biodiversity within each step of the recognised EIA process, as shown in Figure 1-1 below. The guidelines are structured to describe the biodiversity assessment actions that are required at each stage in the process. The purpose of BIA is to ensure that the relevant processes required under the Vietnam Law of Environmental Protection are followed effectively and eficiently in order to provide a holistic approach to biodiversity considerations in developing projects, and optimise time and resources in implementing EIA.

These BIA guidelines are intended to complement existing EIA guidelines and should help all participants in the EIA process: government, local authorities, planners and ecologists, statutory and nature conservation bodies, developers and promoters, and environmental and ecological consultants involved in the preparation of EIA reports. The Guidelines will be particularly relevant to consultants and ecologists planning and carrying out the biodiversity components of EIAs, and reviewers required to review and appraise EIA reports.

1 TA 7566 - Review of biodiversity considerations in selected SEA and EIA reports in Vietnam, 12/2014


Figure 1: Suggested framework for biodiversity-inclusive EIA

Adapted from Byron H. - Biodiversity and Environmental Impact Assessment: A Good

Practice Guide for Road Schemes, 2000.

The biodiversity considerations in each step in the EIA process are described, explaining the purpose of each step, followed by the particular methods and guidance for carrying out these steps in Vietnam. These guidance sections are complemented by equivalent annexes which illustrate some of the data sources, tools, and examples drawn from a variety of EIAs and supplementary EIAs focused on biodiversity in Vietnam.

EIA process Biodiversity considerations

Are adverse effects on biodiversity likely?

What are the potential biodiversity impacts?

Biodiversity action plan

Present the biodiversity information

Consider and act on the biodiversityinformation

Is a biodiversity monitoring programme necessary?

Is biodiversity data needed?

What are the magnitude and signiicanceof biodiversity impacts?

Describe the biodiversity mitigation andenhancement measures

Screening

Scoping

Description of projectand environment

Impact predictionand assessment

Mitigation andenhancement

EMP and monitoring

Preparation of EIS

Decision-making

Monitoring


INCLUDING

BIODIVERSITY AT EACH

STEP IN THE EIA PROCESS

Source: Peter – John Meynell

STEP 1 – SCREENING

A. PURPOSE OF THIS STEP

Screening is used to determine which proposals should be subject to EIA, to exclude those unlikely to have harmful environmental impacts and to indicate the level of assessment required. Screening criteria have to include biodiversity measures, or else there is a risk that proposals with potentially signiicant impacts on biodiversity will be screened out. The outcome of the screening process is a screening decision.

A screening decision deines the appropriate level of assessment. The result of a screening decision can be that:

1. The proposed project is “fatally lawed” in that it would be inconsistent with international or national conventions, policies or laws. It is advisable not to pursue the proposed project. Should the proponent wish to proceed at his/her risk, an EIA would be required;

2. An EIA is required (often referred to as category A projects);

3. A limited environmental study is suficient because only limited environmental impacts are expected; the screening decision is based on a set of criteria with quantitative benchmarks or threshold values (often referred to as category B projects);

4. There is still uncertainty whether an EIA is required and an initial environmental examination has to be conducted to determine whether a project requires EIA or not;

5. The project does not require an EIA.

Biodiversity-inclusive screening determines whether the EIA should include a detailed assessment of the biodiversity impacts. Screening requires three types of information about the project:

• The type of project known to cause biodiversity impacts, including thresholds referring to size of the intervention area and/or magnitude, duration and frequency of the project; These are listed in Box 1.

• The magnitude of biophysical change that is caused by the project;

• Areas important for biodiversity, often with their legal status, e.g. protected areas, or known habitats important for endangered species. These may be illustrated on maps.

In simple terms, all projects listed in Box 1 that are located in, or have an effect upon, ecologically sensitive areas shown in Box 2, and within the thresholds deined in irst part of Table 2, must have a speciic biodiversity impact component included in the EIA.


The requirement for biodiversity impact assessment in other areas, as speciied in the second part of Table 2, should be considered depending upon the size of area affected.

For other projects outside these area a speciic or detailed biodiversity impact assessment may not be required.

Box 1. Types of projects in Vietnam known to have signiicant impacts upon biodiversity

The list of projects that require EIAs are speciied in the Appendix 2 of Decree No 18/2015/NĐ-CP dated 14/02/2015 on Master Plans of Environmental protection, Strategic Environmental Assessment, Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Protection Plan. Not all of the projects in this list will require detailed BIA. However, any project that involves a change from natural land use is likely to have an impact upon biodiversity. The following types of projects that have caused signiicant losses of biodiversity in Vietnam include:

• Large hydropower projects – more than 30 MW;

• Small hydropower projects, especially if located in protected areas, or protection forests;

• Irrigation schemes and water storage dams;

• Transport - Roads and highways, bridges, rail;

• Ports and coastal development;

• River embankments and coastal defences;

• Agro-forestry and rubber plantations;

• Mining and quarrying – coal, limestone, bauxite, gold etc.

• Industrial and special economic zones;

• Greenield urban development;

• Projects, occupied or located nearly protection areas/biodiversity conservation.

The impact upon biodiversity will depend upon:

• The size of the project;

• Its extent and location, e.g. All projects inside or within 5 km of a PA;

• Timing and duration of the different activities e.g. construction;

• Reversibility/irreversibility - can the losses be reversed after the project, or after construction;

• Irreplaceability of the biodiversity;

• The likelihood of the loss, and its signiicance.


B. GUIDANCE FOR SCREENING

The following guidance for screening is provided:

a. Screening questions on biodiversity impacts;

b. Screening by geographic areas and ecosystem services;

c. Thresholds for biodiversity impact assessment.

a. Screening questions on biodiversity impacts

Taking into account the three objectives of the CBD – 1) the conservation of biological diversity; 2) sustainable use of its components; and 3) the fair and equitable sharing of the beneits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, the fundamental questions which need to be answered in an EIA study include:

• Would the project affect the biophysical environment directly or indirectly or cause such biological changes that it will increase risks of extinction of genotypes, cultivars, varieties, populations of species, or loss of habitats or ecosystems?

• Would the project exceed the maximum sustainable yield, the carrying capacity of a habitat/ecosystem or the maximum allowable disturbance level of a resource, population, or ecosystem?

• Would the project result in changes to the access to, and/or rights over biological resources?

To facilitate the development of screening criteria, the questions above have been reformulated for the three levels of diversity, reproduced in the Table 1 below.

Table 1: Questions for screening projects for biodiversity impacts

Level of diversity Conservation of

biodiversity

Sustainable use of

biodiversity

Ecosystem diversity Would the project lead, either directly or indirectly, to serious damage or total loss of an ecosystem, or land-use type, thus leading to a loss of ecosystem services of scientiic/ ecological value, or of cultural value?

Does the project affect the sustainable use of an ecosystem or land-use type so that the use becomes destructive or non-sustainable (i.e. the loss of ecosystem services of social and/or economic value)?


Level of diversity Conservation of

biodiversity

Sustainable use of

biodiversity

Species diversity Would the project cause a direct or indirect loss of a population of a species?

Would the project affect sustainable use of a population of a species?

Genetic diversity Would the project result in extinction of a population of a local endemic species of scientiic, ecological, or cultural value?

Does the project cause a local loss of varieties/cultivars/ breeds of cultivated plants and/or domesticated animals and their relatives, genes or genomes of social, scientiic and economic importance?

Source: Adapted from CBD-Voluntary Guidelines on Biodiversity-Inclusive Impact Assessment, 2006

In Vietnam, these questions may be related to:

Ecosystem level: The following major ecosystem types have been identiied in Vietnam, according to the national report to the Convention on Biodiversity:

• Terrestrial ecosystems

- Forests - hilly and mountainous areas;

- Tropical evergreen forest;

- Mixed deciduous forest;

- Dry dipterocarp forest;

- Limestone karst landscapes;

- Agricultural landscapes;

- Urban areas.

• Inland aquatic ecosystems

- Flowing water - River and streams;

- Open water – lakes and ponds;

- Wetlands – bogs and marshes, seasonally flooded grasslands.

• Marine and coastal ecosystems

- Beaches and rocky coasts;

- Mangroves;

- Coral reefs;

- Sea grass beds.


Species level: The following documents identify rare and endangered species and those prioritised for protection in Vietnam.

• The IUCN Redlist of globally endangered species - www.iucnredlist.org

• Vietnam Redlist of nationally endangered species - Vietnam Red Data Book, 20072

• List of rare and endangered species prioritized for protection according to the Annex 1 of Decree 160/2013/ND-CP.

Genetic level

The agricultural biodiversity conservation and development component of the National Biodiversity Action Plan (2007) aims to complete a national conservation system to eficiently conserve rare and precious, indigenous livestock breeds, plant varieties and agricultural microorganisms of high socio-economic value. It will consider the genetic diversity of crops, livestock, and of harvested species of trees, ish and wildlife and other valuable species conserved, and associated indigenous and local knowledge maintained.

(Please see more information about diversity of ecosystems and species in Vietnam in

the Annex 2).

b. Screening by geographic areas and ecosystem services

The most important screening aspect is the geographic area where the project is located and its biodiversity signiicance. If an area can be identiied as having the following important ecosystem services, the project will require an impact assessment at an appropriate level of detail. (For all other areas, no biodiversity impact assessment may be required, though an EIA may still be required for other reasons).

• Areas with important regulating services in terms of maintaining biodiversity:

- Protected areas: There are various categories of protected areas in Vietnam3 There are 164 Forest protected areas, 16 Marine Protected Areas and 45 Inland Water Conservation Areas. There are globally recognized areas including 5 Ramsar sites, 8 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and 5 ASEAN Heritage Parks. (See Annex 2)

- Areas containing threatened ecosystems outside of formally protected areas, where certain classes of activities would always require an impact assessment;

- Areas identiied as being important for the maintenance of key ecological or evolutionary processes, where certain classes of activities would always require an impact assessment;

- Areas known to be habitat for threatened species, which would always require an impact assessment at an appropriate level of detail. Note that Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) have been identiied in Vietnam, many of which do not have adequate protected area coverage (see Annex 2).

2 Vietnam Institute of Science and Technology, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency – SIDA (2007). Vietnam Red List (2007)

3 Source: 5th National report to Convention on Biological Diversity, 2014. BCA, MONRE


- Areas with important regulating services for maintaining natural processes with regard to soil, water, or air. Examples can be wetlands, highly erodible or mobile soils protected by vegetation (e.g. steep slopes, dune ields), forested areas, coastal or offshore buffer areas, etc;

- Recognised biodiversity corridors - which play an important role in biodiversity conservation at the landscape level and realize a long-term vision for landscape level planning. Corridors connect protected areas together allowing animals and plants to migrate and move, provide opportunities for adaptation to climate change and other habitat modiications. A biodiversity corridor can enhance the role of linking ecosystems through the protection and strengthening the food chain and ecological processes. (see Annex 2).

• Areas with important provisioning services. Examples can be extractive reserves, lands and waters traditionally occupied or used by indigenous and local communities, ish breeding grounds; etc.

• Areas with important cultural services. Examples can be scenic landscapes, heritage sites, sacred sites; etc.

• Areas with other regulating and supporting services (such as lood storage areas, groundwater recharge areas, catchment areas, areas with valued landscape quality, etc.).

Box 2. Criteria deining ecologically sensitive areas

Ecologically sensitive areas are those that support one or more of the following elements of biodiversity:

- Rare ecology, e.g. endemic or Red-Listed species;

- Charismatic species, such as elephants, or spectacular landforms;

- Species with restricted ranges;

- Critical environmental services, such as watershed protection or evolutionary functions;

- Sites of reintroduction of endangered species;

- Areas of exceptionally high species diversity;

- Particularly fragile habitats, e.g. mountain ecosystems or wetlands;

- Areas with important provisioning, regulating and cultural services (e.g., pastures, fuel wood for indigenous people, watershed);

- Other natural heritage assets, such as sacred sites, etc.;

Source: Best practice guidance for biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment. A manual for

practitioners and reviewers in South Asia, 2007


c. Thresholds for biodiversity impact assessment

As speciied under the Annex II of Decree 18/2015/ND-CP, the thresholds for projects involving deforestation or change of land use that require full EIAs are as follows:

• From 05 hectares and upwards of forest of watershed protection, protection against waves, Special Use Forests;

• From 10 hectares and upwards of natural forests;

Using these as a benchmark, the following thresholds for screening for biodiversity impacts indicate that any project involving changes to ecosystems and biodiversity shown in Table 2 should have speciic Biodiversity Impact Assessment as part of the overall EIA:

Table 2: Thresholds for biodiversity impact assessment

Category A: BIA is to be mandatory for: Suggested Threshold

Projects in protected areas – Special use forests, (National Parks, Nature reserves, Landscape protected areas), internationally recognised sites;

All projects inside a PA or SUF

All projects within 5 km outside of a PA or SUF

Projects in threatened ecosystems outside protected areas; e.g. Protection forests;

Projects changing land use, land cover over 5 ha

Projects in ecological corridors identiied as being important for ecological or evolutionary processes;


Projects in areas known to provide important ecosystem services;


Projects in areas known to be habitat for threatened species;


Extractive Projects or Projects leading to a change of land-use occupying or directly inluencing an area of at minimum a certain threshold size;

Changing land use in land or water, (above or underground) over 5 ha

Creation of linear infrastructure that leads to fragmentation of habitats over a minimum length;

Linear infrastructures of more than 10 km


Projects resulting in emissions, efluents, and/or other means of chemical, radiation, thermal or noise emissions in areas providing key ecosystem services;

Radius of 10 km, or 10 km downstream

Introduction or removal of species or Projects leading to changes in ecosystem composition, ecosystem structure or key processes responsible for the maintenance of ecosystems and ecosystem services in areas providing key ecosystem services.

Radius of 10 km, or 10 km downstream

Category B: The need for, or the level of BIA is to

be determined for:

Suggested Threshold

All projects that use land under 5ha of watershed protection forest, forest of protection against waves, special use forest;

Less than 5 ha

All projects that use land in natural forests that do not have Category A characteristics above;

From 01 ha to under 10 ha for natural forest

All projects in other forests that do not have Category A characteristics above;

From 10 ha to under 50 ha for other forest.

Projects resulting in emissions, efluents and/or other chemical, thermal, radiation or noise emissions in areas providing other relevant ecosystem services;

Radius of 1 – 10 km, or 1 – 10 km downstream

Introduction or removal of species Projects leading to changes in ecosystem composition, ecosystem structure, or ecosystem functions responsible for the maintenance of ecosystems and ecosystem services in areas providing other relevant ecosystem services;

Radius of 1 – 10 km, or 1 – 10 km downstream

Extractive Projects, and Projects leading to a change of land-use or a change of use of inland water ecosystems or a change of use of marine and coastal ecosystems, and creation of linear infrastructure below the Category A threshold, in areas providing key and other relevant ecosystem services.

Between 1 - 5 ha


STEP 2 - SCOPING


The scoping stage deines key issues which should be included in a BIA. This section explains how to carry out scoping from a biodiversity perspective, including identiication of whether uses and values of biodiversity should be a key consideration.

Scoping is used to deine the focus of the impact assessment study and to identify key issues, which should be studied in more detail. An important product at this stage are the terms of reference (TOR) for the EIA study and the proposed approach and methodology. Scoping also enables the EIA Department of MONRE and Provincial DONREs and EIA professionals to:

• Guide study teams on signiicant biodiversity issues and alternatives to be assessed, clarify how they should be examined (methods of prediction and analysis, depth of analysis), and according to which guidelines and criteria;

• Provide an opportunity for stakeholders to have their interests taken into account in the EIA;

• Ensure that the resulting EIA report is useful to the decision makers and is understandable to the public.

B. SCOPING TASKS AND DECISIONS

The following guidance is provided for scoping tasks and decisions:

a. Describe the type of project, and deine project activities likely to affect biodiversity and ecosystem services;

b. Deine possible alternatives;

c. Spatial and time issues;

d. Identify stakeholders who should be consulted in BIA process;

e. Identifying the biodiversity expertise required;

f. Developing Terms of Reference for biodiversity impact assessment.

a. Describe the type of project, and deine project activities likely to affect biodiversity and ecosystem services


Screening is used to indicate that there are likely to be adverse impacts on biodiversity from a project. Scoping begins an iterative process of describing and quantifying the impacts. Scoping is often used as an initial assessment of the impacts, from which the TOR for the full impact assessment can be developed, when further questioning or levels of detail may be needed.

Scoping requires a good understanding of project-related activities and of the biological/ecological systems in the project area to deine which activities will have an impact on the biodiversity or ecosystem function and services. Activities should be considered at all stage of a project’s life

• Pre-consent;

• Pre-construction;

• Construction;

• Operation;

• Decommissioning; and

• Restoration.

These are shown in Annex 3 for a large infrastructure project.

The screening process should identify important gaps in knowledge and the surveys required to gather the necessary information for an appropriate BIA. Screening should also provide details on the required methodology and timescale. The following aspects should be considered at the scoping stage:

1. Describe the type of project, and deine each project activity in terms of its nature, magnitude, location, timing, duration and frequency. Annex 3 provides a checklist of potential impacts from road projects;

2. Deine possible alternatives, including “no net biodiversity loss” or “biodiversity restoration” alternatives. Alternatives may include location alternatives, scale alternatives, siting or layout alternatives, and/or technology alternatives;

3. Describe expected biophysical changes (in soil, water, air, lora, fauna) resulting from proposed activities or induced by any socio-economic changes caused by the activity;

4. Determine the spatial and temporal scale of inluence of each biophysical change, identifying effects on connectivity between ecosystems, and potential cumulative effects. Figure 2 shows the zones of inluence of a large hydropower project which will have different types of impact upon the biodiversity;

5. Describe ecosystems and land-use types lying within the range of inluence of biophysical changes;

6. Determine, for each of these ecosystems or land-use types, if biophysical changes are likely to have adverse impacts on biodiversity in terms of composition, structure (spatial and temporal), and key processes. Give indication of the level certainty of predictions, and take into account mitigation measures. Highlight any irreversible impacts and any irreplaceable loss;


7. For the affected areas, collect available information on baseline conditions and

any anticipated trends in biodiversity in the absence of the proposal;

8. Identify, in consultation with stakeholders, the current and potential ecosystem

services provided by the affected ecosystems and determine the values these functions represent for society. Give an indication of the main beneiciaries and those adversely affected from an ecosystem services perspective, focusing on vulnerable stakeholders;

9. Determine which ecosystem services will be signiicantly affected by the proposed project, giving conidence levels in predictions, and taking into account mitigation measures. Highlight any irreversible impacts and any irreplaceable loss;

10. Deine possible measures to avoid, minimise or compensate for signiicant damage to, or loss of, biodiversity and/or ecosystem services; deine possibilities to enhance biodiversity. Make reference to any legal requirements;

11. Evaluate the signiicance of residual impacts, i.e. in consultation with stakeholders deine the importance of expected impacts for the alternatives considered. Relate the importance of expected impacts to a reference situation, which may be the existing situation, a historical situation, a probable future situation (e.g. the “without project” or “autonomous development” situation), or an external reference situation. When determining importance, consider geographic importance of each residual impact (e.g. impact of local/ regional/national/continental/global importance) and indicate how long the impact is likely to last.

The screening process may result in an Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report with detailed terms of reference for the full biodiversity-inclusive EIA. If the IEE indicates that biodiversity impacts are not likely to be signiicant, it may not be necessary to carry out further detailed studies on biodiversity. If however, there are signiicant gaps in knowledge about the situation, e.g. what biodiversity actually exists in the area of inluence, then more comprehensive surveys may be required.

b. Deine possible alternatives

During the scoping phase, promising alternatives can be identiied for in-depth consideration during the EIA study. One of the essential components of a good scoping exercise is the review of all possible alternatives and options to see whether they would have greater or lesser, or different environmental effects. These alternative options may be for:

• Choice of technology; or

• Design features; or

• Mitigation options (e.g. measures for avoiding or reducing biodiversity impacts and restoring or compensating for unavoidable biodiversity loss).


The review of alternatives also controls the scope of work. A project located in a sensitive area would have a more focussed and much larger scope of work compared to others in less sensitive areas. If the project can be located in an alternative, but less sensitive area, then the impacts on biodiversity will be less.

c. Spatial and time issues

The parameters of space and timing of the study are deined in the scoping stage. It is very important to the long-term viability of biodiversity that these deinitions consider ecological processes and components, such as the biodiversity implications of impacts on river hydrology and sediments within a catchment or the migratory or nesting seasons for birds.

Appropriate boundaries are crucial for considering biodiversity in EIAs. It is important to examine the proposal not only for effects at the local level but also for effects at the larger, bioregional ecosystem level. Evaluating the proposal within a larger bio-regional/landscape-level context will ensure that a variety of local and regional biodiversity concerns, including cumulative effects, are addressed. The analysis of effects should cover the largest relevant scale (based on the affected resources and anticipated effects) as well as local scales.

The study area should relect the project footprint and impact types, and it may be necessary to break the project affected area into different impact zones. For example a hydropower project may have impact zones i) around the dam and power house construction areas, ii) in the area to be impounded by the reservoir, iii) downstream of the dam and iv) in the catchment above the reservoir and v) along the access roads and transmission lines. It may have induced or indirect impacts upon the biodiversity in nearby protected areas, e.g. increased logging and hunting, even though the project is not directly built in the PA. (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Impact zones for a large hydropower project

Source: Meynell (2014)


Another approach is to set appropriate temporal and spatial boundaries for the key biodiversity elements e.g. a critical habitat or the range of an endangered species known to be living in the project affected area. The boundaries of the study area should also relect the distribution and patterns of movement of an important species. For example, the boundaries for migratory bird populations may extend beyond the traditional project study area because deterioration or loss of breeding habitat in the project affected area could inluence population levels and resource use over extensive areas (e.g. regional, national, international areas).

A road project or linear infrastructure development should not just consider the width of the corridor as the affected area, but may have impacts within a much wider area. (see Box 3). According to the World Bank Guidance (1997) a scoping map should be produced which gives a total picture of the project site and the areas likely to be affected by the different types of impacts at different stages of the project.

Box 3. Spatial levels to be considered for biodiversity impacts in a road

project

1. Bioregional level

• The nature conservation characteristics of the bioregional area and designated protected areas.

2. Landscape

• The spatial pattern of all the habitats in the landscape;

• Connectivity of habitats including potential wildlife corridors;

• Opportunities for habitat creation/enhancement.

3. Ecosystem/habitat/community levels

• All habitats and communities in the area including priority habitats and species.

4. Species level

• Endangered/threatened species;

• Endemic species;

• Protected species;

• Characteristic species of each habitat;

• Species with low reproductive capacity, e.g. most large mammals;

• Species highly sensitive to disturbance e.g. most birds of prey;

• Species subject to recovery programmes.


5. Population level

• Populations at low levels in cycle,

• Populations at outer limits of their range;

• Declining populations;

• Metapopulations4.

6. Genetic level

• Genomes and genes of social, scientiic or economic importance e.g. agricultural crops, domesticated species;

• Isolated populations;

• Genetic diversity/phenotype.

Source: Biodiversity and Environmental Impact Assessment: A Good Practice Guide for Road

Schemes, 2000

Time scales considered for biodiversity impact assessments are likely to be longer than those normally used EIAs. Seasonal variations in biodiversity should be considered, e.g. the wet season typically between May to November and the dry season between December and April, with the dry season temperatures being cold in December and January and warming to the hottest season in April/May. However, the seasonal variation will also depend upon the latitude and elevation. Species will have different behaviour patterns at different times of year, and during the scoping phase, the critical times of year, e.g. for breeding or migration for important species should be identiied.

If additional biodiversity surveys are required to ill in gaps in data identiied during the scoping, the design of the survey should consider the most appropriate time of year for the group or species being investigated – early wet season, dry season etc. There is no point in carrying out surveys at times of year when the species is dormant or absent from the area.

Some project activities may be particularly damaging to biodiversity if they take place during sensitive times of year, e.g. during breeding, when disturbance from construction or blasting activities might prevent the breeding success of an endangered or migratory species, which at another time of year would not affected to a much lesser extent.

d. Identify stakeholders who should be consulted in BIA process

Impact assessment is concerned with: (i) information, (ii) participation, and (iii) transparency of decision making. Public involvement is a prerequisite for effective EIA and BIAs are not different. This can take place at different levels:

4 A metapopulation is a group of populations that are separated by space, but consist of the same species. These spatially separated populations interact as individual members move from one population to another.


• Consulting (two-way low of information), or

• “Real” participation (shared analysis and assessment).

Public participation is relevant in all EIA stages, but it is generally accepted that public consultation at the scoping and review stage are essential and participation during the assessment study enhances the quality of the process.

With respect to biodiversity, relevant stakeholders in the process are:

• Beneiciaries of the project – target groups making use of, or valuing, known ecosystem services which are enhanced by the project;

• Affected people – i.e. those people that experience intended or unintended changes in ecosystem services that they value, as a result of the project,

• General stakeholders – i.e. formal or informal institutions and groups representing either affected people or biodiversity itself, e.g. conservation groups and research institutes;

• Future generations – “absent stakeholders”, i.e. those stakeholders of future generations, who may rely on biodiversity around which decisions are presently taken.

There are several important groups of stakeholders who should be consulted at the scoping stage because of their knowledge about the biodiversity. They include:

• Local people who both use the biodiversity resources and have expert local knowledge e.g. about what lora and fauna exist in the area, where and when they can be found, behaviour patterns etc;

• Protected area managers and rangers of PAs affected by the proposed development or close by; these will have detailed knowledge about the biodiversity and the trends and pressures upon it. They may also play a part in mitigation measures and biodiversity action plans and offsets;

• The academic and research institutes who may have carried out scientiic studies on particular groups of lora and fauna in the area;

• The conservation specialists may be working to protect the biodiversity of an area and therefore have detailed knowledge. Often these are associated with conservation groups or NGOs;

• Eco-tourism operators who rely upon the landscape and biodiversity of an area for their businesses, and who will have information on the values and sensitivities of the biodiversity.


e. Identifying the biodiversity expertise required

The scoping stage is the opportunity to identify what expertise is required for the full biodiversity-inclusive EIA. Biodiversity impact studies may require a very wide range of expertise covering the different types of lora and fauna expected to be affected by the project.

At the scoping stage, it is probably suficient to have a landscape ecologist or biodiversity conservation specialist or similar who has experience of assessing biodiversity impacts from a range of projects. Box 4 provides qualiications for a specialist to carry out a scoping exercise for a biodiversity impact assessment. This specialist should undertake a review of the literature about the biodiversity in the areas of inluence of the project, consult with the key stakeholders identiied above, and, with the knowledge of the different project activities, make the preliminary scoping assessment or IEE, and develop the detailed terms of reference for the full BIA.

The output of the scoping stage should be the detailed terms of reference for the full BIA. This will include the key biodiversity groups likely to be signiicantly affected and thus to be studied, e.g.:

• Flora – trees, shrubs, grasses and herbs, aquatic plants or specialist threatened groups such as ferns, orchids, mangroves etc;

• Invertebrates – insects, especially butterlies and moths, bees, beetles and aquatic insects and crustacea;

• Fish – migratory and resident species;

• Reptiles and amphibians – snakes and lizards, frogs, toads and newts;

• Birds – migratory and resident species;

• Mammals – large herbivores and carnivores, rodents, bats etc.

Even within these main biodiversity groups, there may need to be specialist studies on the most critically threatened or affected species. Whilst this list will appear to be long, it may be appropriate to limit the detailed studies to those species or groups which are most affected or can be used as indicators of impacts. It is also stressed that these detailed species studies should be focussed on the baseline conditions and the sensitivities of populations to the different activities of the project, especially loss of habitat and disturbance – they should not be detailed academic studies about the biology of the species.


Box 4. Minimum Qualiication Requirements for biodiversity impact specialist for scoping

• Doctorate degree or equivalent in landscape ecology, biodiversity conservation, or a related ield;

• At least 15-years of experience in biodiversity conservation and landscape management, with a minimum of 5 years working in Viet Nam;

• At least 5-years of experience in biodiversity/landscape conservation and ecosystem restoration in Viet Nam, with skills in quantitative and qualitative survey techniques;

• At least 5-years of experience in an organization that deals with biodiversity conservation, forests survey, and other related institutes in Viet Nam;

• Wide experience in assessing impacts on biodiversity from a range of development projects.

Source: Developed for these guidelines.

f. Developing terms of reference for biodiversity impact assessment

Each BIA will be different depending upon the nature of the project, its location and sensitivity of the area and its biodiversity, so it is not possible to specify detailed terms of reference. However, the following sections should be included in the TOR:

1. Background – basic description of the project and its location.

2. Objectives – the preparation of an accurate and effective biodiversity impact assessment and practical biodiversity management plan.

3. Scope of work – expertise required.

4. Task of the work – surveys, consultations, impact analysis, mitigation and management measures.

5. Outputs:

a. Description of baseline conditions, habitats, populations;

b. Threats and trends in absence of the project;

c. Assessment of impacts at different stages of the project;

d. Biodiversity mitigation and management plan;

6. Schedule/working plan and other requirements – noting especially importance of timing to match ecological conditions, bird and ish migrations, breeding etc.


STEP 3 - DESCRIBING

BASELINE CONDITIONS


The purpose of this step is to describe the existing conditions and status of biodiversity in the areas affected by the project, as deined in the scoping stage. The description of baseline biodiversity conditions is very important for subsequent stages of the EIA. Biodiversity in areas likely to be signiicantly affected must be described in suficient detail for impacts to be identiied and evaluated.

Baseline descriptions should cover the different ecosystems and habitats in the impact zones, e.g. using land cover and habitat maps, and the species that are known to occur in the area. If any of the zones are inside or near designated protected areas this should be recorded and mapped. If there are any ecological sensitivities (e.g. presence of red list or priority species), this should be noted. Satellite imagery, including Google Earth images, are very useful for delineating habitats, though such interpretations need to be ground-truthed through the site surveys.

In addition, environmental pressures that will have an impact upon the biodiversity (e.g. expansion of urban settlements, clearance of land for agriculture, water contamination or climate change) need to be considered to anticipate potential biodiversity impacts. It is important to describe the existing pressures and trends in biodiversity in the absence of the project.

The baseline biodiversity conditions will be based on the information provided by consultees, background sources of information and the results of new surveys carried out for the EIA. The links between biodiversity and socio-economic features of the project area must be also carefully identiied either based on outputs of earlier conducted socio-economic studies or by integrating this component in the ecological surveys. Baseline descriptions will normally be carried out primarily using existing data and information, though some additional predictive analysis may be required to predict how biodiversity might be expected to develop and change, for example under climate change.

In all cases, ecological expertise is needed for an accurate and objective interpretation of the data, as well as to analyse trends and identify key issues from the baseline data. The baseline assessment should focus on the components of biodiversity by using the steps identiied in Box 4.


Box 5. Checklist for baseline description

1. Consult widely to obtain existing information on the environmental conditions and biodiversity status of the wider area.

2. Clarify the locations of designated protected areas and other important sites for biodiversity and summarise reasons for designation.

3. Produce land-use and habitat distribution maps for the study area.

4. Describe the existing uses of biodiversity, e.g. collection of NTFPs for local livelihoods, eco-tourism.

5. Draw upon scoping assessments to review project activities and identify areas and biodiversity resources likely to be affected.

6. Describe known threats and pressures on important components of biodiversity within the study area, including:

a. Land-take for agriculture, agroforestry, urban and industrial development;

b. Illegal logging and deforestation;

c. Hunting and wildlife trade;

d. Invasion of non-native or overly dominant species;

e. Air and water pollution (direct and diffuse);

f. Lack of management or changes in traditional use;

g. Habitat isolation and fragmentation;

h. Disturbance, e.g. noise levels and ease of access to forested areas;

i. Climate change.

7. If appropriate (e.g. at smaller scales) carry out walk-over surveys or inventories for areas where biodiversity interest is high and activities are expected to occur.

8. Consult with communities and other stakeholders to conirm key biodiversity interests and uses, including the critical ecosystem functions and processes on which biodiversity depends.

9. Identify key problems for biodiversity. These include:

a. Negative trends in biodiversity over time;

b. Aspects of biodiversity that are worse than, or likely to become worse than, relevant standards, thresholds and targets;

c. Issues where there are not enough data to be able to judge the likely signiicance of future impacts.

Source: Adapted from Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature, Environment Agency,

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - Strategic Environmental Assessment and Biodiversity:

Guidance for Practitioners, June 2004.


B. GUIDANCE FOR CONDUCTING THE BASELINE STUDY

The following guidance is provided for conducting the baseline biodiversity study:

a. Collect and analyse relevant information;

b. Additional survey requirements;

c. Assessing habitat condition;

d. Assessing the importance of biodiversity elements;

e. Assessing baseline ecosystem services.

a. Collect and analyse relevant information

If good sources of background biodiversity information and key scientiic references are available, these should be used to supplement the usual sources of ecological/nature conservation data. Data sources may be published literature and other papers, e.g. descriptions of Protected Areas and earlier EIAs.

The stakeholders, including local communities, conservation NGOs, scientiic institutes, consultants, and local authorities, should be asked for any relevant information. Discussions with local communities should describe local knowledge about biodiversity and use of natural resources. The use of pictures and guidebooks for species that may be found in an area is useful to stimulate such discussions.

In order to describe the existing and future developments in an area, information on past and existing projects may be available. This will help to deine the pressures on biodiversity and trends in the absence of the project.

The consideration of cumulative impacts upon biodiversity will require collection and analysis of information on past, existing and future projects and activities. It will only be feasible to consider future projects and activities that are reasonably foreseeable – the national and provincial planning agencies involved should be contacted for information about these future project proposals.

b. Additional survey requirements

In many areas in Vietnam, there is a shortage of detailed information about the speciic biodiversity. In such cases, it will be necessary to make professional judgements about the biodiversity that is likely to occur there. This can be done extrapolating from information about similar areas and habitats in the same ecological zone. This should then be combined with an assessment of the habitat conditions in the affected areas. A pristine habitat will have a full range of biodiversity, whilst a degraded habitat will have diminished biodiversity.


In order to assess the habitat condition, ield surveys (walk-over surveys) will always be necessary. In addition, more detailed biodiversity surveys may be necessary to assess the status of some important or indicator species. The additional survey work should generate data on the status of biodiversity at each of the appropriate levels, suficient to make defensible and robust impact predictions. The surveys need to be focused on this use of the data; they are not for research or academic purposes.

As biodiversity encompasses variability at various different levels there are a number of different measures of biodiversity. Options for measuring biodiversity include:

• Measuring species richness;

• Family richness;

• Species abundance;

• The presence of certain key species;

• Diversity indices, and

• Biodiversity indicators.

The key challenge is to produce a suficiently detailed impact analysis in the face of: insuficient data; inadequate knowledge of the affected ecosystem(s), habitat(s), or species; and uncertainties over cumulative impacts.

Another option is to use biodiversity indicators if these are available. These would facilitate less cost intensive assessments of biodiversity for use in EIAs. However, detailed analysis of the effectiveness of proposed indicators is at an early stage. Until this work has been completed the use of biodiversity indicators should be treated with caution. In Vietnam, work on indicator species has been started in the wetlands and mangroves of Xuan Thuy National Park, but not for other ecosystems.

A number of practical lessons with respect to the study process have emerged including that the assessment should:

- Allow for enough survey time to take seasonal patterns into account, where conidence levels in predicting the signiicance of impacts are low without such survey;

- Focus on processes and services, which are critical to human well-being and the integrity of ecosystems. Explain the main risks and opportunities for biodiversity;

- Apply the ecosystem approach and actively seek information from relevant stakeholders and indigenous and local communities.

The new surveys must be carried out using good survey practice i.e. as to timing, study area, methodologies, repeated sampling, etc. and these details must be recorded in the EIA report. Information collected at this stage should be made widely available e.g. to local communities and biodiversity information networks.


c. Assessing habitat condition

The habitats of an area may be classiied into three types5:

Modiied Habitat

Modiied habitats are areas that may contain a large proportion of plant and/or animal species of non-native origin, and/or where human activity has substantially modiied an area’s primary ecological functions and species composition. Modiied habitats may include areas managed for agriculture, forest plantations, reclaimed coastal zones, and reclaimed wetlands.

Natural Habitat

Natural habitats are areas composed of viable assemblages of plant and/or animal species of largely native origin, and/or where human activity has not essentially modiied an area’s primary ecological functions and species composition.

Critical Habitat

Critical habitats are areas with high biodiversity value, including:

i. Habitat of signiicant importance to Critically Endangered and/or Endangered species;

ii. Habitat of signiicant importance to endemic and/or restricted-range species;

iii. Habitat supporting globally signiicant concentrations of migratory species and/or congregatory species;

iv. Highly threatened and/or unique ecosystems; and/or

v. Areas associated with key evolutionary processes.

Note that critical habitats can occur within larger areas of natural and modiied habitats. Even modiied habitats may contain important biodiversity resources. This classiication can then be used in developing the mitigation and management measures (see Step 6).

Note also that the Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) approach is a consistent methodology for identifying and mapping important natural habitat at this site scale — the scale of individual protected areas, concessions and land management units. See Annex 2.

It may also be useful to assess the habitat condition within these three types. This can be a measure of the degree of naturalness or degradation of the habitat. Note that there are very few habitats that have not been affected by human activity in some ways. The habitat condition may be used as an indicator of the capacity of the habitat to support its characteristic biodiversity. The habitat condition may be graded on a scale of 1 – 4, or other scales.

5 IFC Performance Standard 6. (2012)


• Score 1 – Low, Degraded

• Score 2 – Low – Medium

• Score 3 – Medium – High

• Score 4 – High, Near natural

Even modiied habitats can be assessed in this way, since though modiied they can be more or less degraded or suitable for biodiversity. There are established methods for assessing habitat condition (see Annex 4).

d. Assessing the importance of biodiversity elements

The factors on which the evaluation of importance of biodiversity is made are:

• Scale at which the feature matters (e.g. international, national, regional or local);

• Importance of a feature (e.g. the reasons why a Protected Area was designated);

• Rarity: the abundance of the habitat/feature relative to the surrounding area or region and its trend, where known, (e.g. in relation to NBSAP targets);

• Substitution possibilities: a judgement on whether the habitat/species are substitutable.

These are shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Assessment criteria

Biodiversity

element

Criteria Reference (national legislation,

international convention…)

Sites and habitats

Scientiic interest • Numbers of scientiic papers that have been written about the site of habitats

Historical and cultural importance

• Historical sites

Livelihood importance • Uses for biodiversity

Geographical level of importance e.g. international, national, regional, district or local

• Protected areas,

• Important Bird Areas,

• World Heritage Sites

• Ramsar sites,

• Biosphere Reserves,

• ASEAN Heritage Parks.


Biodiversity

element

Criteria Reference (national legislation,

international convention…)

Species

Rarity and vulnerability • IUCN red List

• CITES Appendices, Appendices of Decree 32/2006/ND-CP or 160/2013/ND-CP,

• Red Data Book of Vietnam 2007

Ecosystem importance • Keystone species6

• Species characteristic of the habitat

Heritage value • National heritage lists

• ASEAN and

• World Heritage

Source: Adapted from Biodiversity and Environmental Impact Assessment: A Good Practice

Guide for Road Schemes, 2000.

e. Identifying baseline ecosystem services

Ecosystem services are the beneits human populations derive from ecosystems, such as food and freshwater, raw materials, regulation of natural processes including buffers against natural disasters and nonmaterial contributions of ecosystems to human wellbeing.

Ecosystem services are usually divided into four categories:

i. Provisioning services are the goods or products obtained from ecosystems, such as food, timber, medicines, ibre, and freshwater;

ii. Regulating services are the beneits obtained from an ecosystem’s control of natural processes, such as climate, disease, erosion, water lows, and pollination, as well as protection from natural hazards;

iii. Cultural services are the nonmaterial beneits obtained from ecosystems, such as recreation, spiritual values, and aesthetic enjoyment;

iv. Supporting services are the natural processes that maintain the other ecosystem services, such as nutrient cycling and primary production.

6 A keystone species is a plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. All species in an ecosystem, or habitat, rely on each other. For example, top predators, pollinators.


A detailed list of the different ecosystem services is provided in Part C. During the baseline description process, this list of ecosystem services may be used to identify the most relevant and important services provided by the area affected by the project. In some cases, it may be necessary to put a value on these services, but this can be dificult and time consuming to do, and a simpler qualitative assessment of the importance of the ecosystem services may be conducted, in consultation with the local communities that beneit from them.

If more detailed valuation of ecosystem services is required, more quantitative valuations may be carried out. The system of Payments for Forest Ecosystem Services (PFES) for the protection of watersheds and reduction of soil erosion is an example that has been developed in Vietnam that puts a value on the ecosystem service provided by maintaining forest cover.7

Information required for valuation of beneits needs to consider all inputs and outputs for main beneits from economic activities that are either directly or indirectly supported by the ecosystem services. It is important to understand the baseline livelihoods status and on-site and off-site livelihood beneits to local communities that are dependent upon ecosystem provisioning services.

A combination of statistical records and participatory assessment techniques can be used to determine the size of the population, their socio-economic composition, main livelihoods, and social and economic relations within the ecosystem and in terms of linkages with ecosystem services. Detailed interviews should yield information on land and resource tenure; social relations; livelihood and coping strategies; cause of vulnerability and stress; and perceptions of changes in livelihoods and ecosystem management over time.

Participatory environmental valuation techniques can be used to calculate the economic value of ecosystem (provisioning) services to local livelihoods for different local groups, and to quantify the relative worth and importance of different livelihood components. This involves ranking and quantifying the relative importance of different livelihood components in terms of a locally-important wealth indicator which is convertible in monetary terms by undertaking to:

• List main ecosystem products and their uses by local communities;

• Derive the quantity of ecosystem products collected in different seasons;

• Agree on an indicator of value that is relevant to the household/village, which can be easily translated into cash amount and has local and individual value;

• Rank the ecosystem product according to their economic importance, and relative to the locally important indicator of value;

• Deriving a price of each product in relation to the indicator value.

7 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Ministry of Finance (MoF) issued the joint Circular No: 62/2012/TTLT-BNNPTNT-BTC on the mechanism of managing and using the payment for forest environment services in November 2012.


STEP 4 - IMPACT PREDICTION

AND SSESSMENT


During scoping and evaluating the importance of biodiversity in the assessment of baseline conditions, the potential impacts on biodiversity will have been identiied. The next stage is impact prediction and assessment.

The EIA process should be iterative process in that initial identiication of impacts, leads to more detailed assessment and redeinition of the impacts and re-designing and comparing of alternatives and mitigation measures. The main tasks of impact analysis and assessment are:

• Improving the understanding of the potential impacts identiied during screening and scoping and described in the terms of reference. This includes the identiication of indirect and cumulative impacts, and of the likely cause and effect chains;

• Identiication and description of relevant criteria for decision-making can be an essential element of this stage;

• Review and redesign of alternatives; evaluation of impacts; consideration of mitigation and enhancement measures, as well as compensation of residual impacts; planning of impact management; and comparison of the alternatives;

• Reporting of study results in EIA report.

Assessing impacts usually involves a detailed analysis of:

• Their nature;

• Magnitude;

• Extent and duration; and

• Whether temporary or permanent.;

• Whether reversible or irreversible;

• Judgement of their signiicance, i.e., whether the impacts are acceptable to stakeholders and society as a whole, require mitigation and/or compensation, or are unacceptable.


Available biodiversity information is usually limited and descriptive, and cannot be used as a basis for numerical predictions. There is a need to develop biodiversity criteria for impact evaluation and measurable standards or objectives against which the signiicance of individual impacts can be evaluated. The priorities and targets set in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan can provide guidance for developing these criteria. Tools will need to be developed to deal with uncertainty, including criteria on using risk assessment techniques, precautionary approach and adaptive management.

There are methods available that allows for semi-quantitative assessments of the impacts, based upon professional judgements of the factors outlined above, e.g. Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix, (RIAM), which is particularly useful where biodiversity data is lacking (see Annex 5).

A number of practical suggestions for carrying impact predictions and assessment include:

• Consider the full range of factors affecting biodiversity. These include direct drivers of change associated with a proposal (e.g. land conversion, vegetation removal, emissions, disturbance, introduction of invasive alien species or genetically modiied organisms, etc.) and, to the extent possible, indirect drivers of change, including demographic, economic, socio-political, cultural and technological processes or interventions;

• Evaluate impacts of alternatives with reference to the baseline situation. Compare against legal standards, thresholds, targets and/or objectives for biodiversity. Use the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans and other relevant documents for information and objectives. The vision, objectives and targets for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity contained in local plans, policies and strategies, as well as levels of public concern about, dependence on, or interest in, biodiversity provide useful indicators of acceptable change;

• Take account of cumulative threats and impacts resulting either from repeated impacts of projects of the same or different nature over space and time;

• Recognise that biodiversity is inluenced by cultural, social, economic and biophysical factors. Cooperation between different specialists in the team is thus essential, as is the integration of indings, which have bearing on biodiversity;

• Provide insight into cause and effect chains. Also explain why certain chains do not need to be studied;

• If possible, quantify the changes in biodiversity composition, structure and key processes, as well as ecosystem services. Explain the expected consequences of the loss of biodiversity associated with the proposal, including the costs of replacing ecosystem services if they will be adversely affected by a proposal;


• Indicate the legal provisions that guide decision-making. List all types of potential impacts identiied during screening and scoping and described in the terms of reference and identify applicable legal provisions. Ensure that potential impacts to which no legal provision applied are taken into account during decision-making.

B. GUIDANCE FOR IMPACT PREDICTION AND ASSESSMENT

The following guidance is provided for predicting and assessing impacts on biodiversity:

a. Methods of impact prediction;

b. Trends in biodiversity without the project;

c. Determine the nature of the potential impacts;

d. Assessment of impact signiicance;

e. Review and propose implementation alternatives;

f. Preliminary assessment of mitigation/enhancement measures for negative/ positive impacts;

g. Assessing the uncertainty of forecasts and explain the reasons.

a. Methods of impact prediction

Types of effects to be assessed should include direct, indirect, secondary, cumulative, short, medium and long-term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects of the project. In relation to biodiversity it is particularly important to consider indirect and cumulative effects as well as direct effects. Some deinitions may help to identify these types of impact:

Direct Impacts:

Direct impacts occur through direct interaction of an activity with an environmental, social, or economic component. For example, a discharge of an industry into a river may lead to a decline in water quality in terms of high biological oxygen demand (BOD) or dissolved oxygen (DO) or rise of water toxins and this may have a negative impact upon the aquatic biodiversity driving them to less polluted areas or causing mortality. Other direct impacts include the land use change and destruction of habitats.

Indirect Impacts:

Indirect impacts on the environment are these which are not a direct result of the project, often produced away from or as a result of a complex impact pathway. The indirect impacts are also known as secondary or even third level impacts.

An example of indirect impact is the decline in water quality due to rise in temperature of water bodies or coastal areas receiving cooling water discharge from a thermal power station. This may, in turn, lead to a secondary indirect impact on aquatic lora in that


water body and may further cause reduction in ish population. Reduction in ishing harvests, affecting the income of ishermen is a third level impact. Such impacts are characterized as socioeconomic (third level) impacts. The increase access to protected areas through roads or hydropower plants will often have the indirect impact of increasing illegal logging, hunting and the wildlife trade.

Cumulative Impacts:

Cumulative impact consists of an impact that is created as a result of the combination of the project evaluated in the EIA together with other projects causing related impacts. These impacts occur when the incremental impact of the project is combined with the cumulative effects of other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future projects. Cumulative impacts upon biodiversity include the changes in habitats of a river on which there is a cascade of hydropower dams. Fragmentation of habitats and protected areas may also be cumulative when the impacts of a road are combined with other infrastructure such as reservoirs and transmission lines.

Induced Impacts:

Induced impacts are often related changes in the pattern of land use or additional road network, population density or growth rate (e.g. around a power project). In the process, air, water and other natural systems including the ecosystem may also be affected. They usually have no direct relationship with the action under assessment and represent the growth-inducing potential of an action. New roads leading from those constructed for a project, increased recreational activities, and construction of new service facilities are examples of induced actions. The large numbers of construction workers in a rural area with high biodiversity will induce increased demand for wildlife products and hence pressure upon the biodiversity in the area.

For BIA, following methods of impact prediction could be applied8:

• Direct measurements e.g. of areas of habitat lost or affected, proportionate losses from species populations, habitats and communities;

• Flowcharts and networks can be used to identify chains of impacts and are therefore useful for identifying knock-on effects from direct impacts and classifying indirect impacts into secondary, tertiary, etc.;

• Quantitative predictive models are useful as they can provide rigorously tested impact predictions as opposed to vague generalisations. However, the resource and time constraints for project EIAs often limit the use that can be made of models;

• Geographical information systems (GIS) are extremely useful for producing models of spatial relationships e.g. constraint maps;

• Information from previous projects can be valuable, especially if impacts were quantiied and monitored;

8 Byron H. - Biodiversity and Environmental Impact Assessment: A Good Practice Guide for Road Schemes, 2000


• Expert opinion is always needed for the interpretation of data. Where there is insuficient quantitative data, impact prediction has to rely on knowledge of potential impacts and biodiversity elements. Ideally, predictions based on expert opinion will be based on consultations of relevant experts;

• Description and correlation observed correlations between distribution and abundance of species and physical factors e.g. water regime, noise, can be used to predict the likely composition of biodiversity at a site where future physical conditions can be speciied;

• Experimental systems and ield trials can be used to quantify and validate ecosystem responses, but they can be costly and dificult to set up and will not always yield useful results within an EIA timescale.

Methods for Impact prediction may be subjective e.g. based upon professional judgement or objective, e.g. based upon scientiic modelling. Table 4 below provides some advantages for selecting BIA methods appropriate to each speciic case. In many cases there is insuficient data to use more objective methods, and greater reliance placed upon more subjective methods.

Table 4: Advantages of subjective and objective methods for impact

prediction

Subjective methods Objective methods

• Provide reliable information based on the available period and budget

• Support to analyse trends of biodiversity factors

• Assist in identiication and description of uncertainties

• Support to assess development alternatives/scenarios

• Easy for stakeholders to understand and discuss

• Capacity for collection, analysis and provision of information

• Requirements of the steps in assessment process

• Characteristic of biodiversity issues to be assessed

• Characteristic of biodiversity objects affected

• The quality and quantity of available data

• Available expertise of consultant team

Source: Adapt to MONRE – General guidelines on SEA, 2009.

b. Trends in biodiversity without the project

In all EIAs it is usual to compare the impacts of the project with what would happen if the project was not implemented, i.e. how would the habitats, species and ecosystem services change without the project.


The “without-project” scenario should include:

• A description of the predicted “without-project” changes - the trends in the biodiversity and livelihood uses. Usually these will be changes linked to trends in land-use, over the expected lifetime of the project, especially during construction.

• A focus on the biodiversity and use features that the project is most likely to affect.

• A description of the starting conditions that the project intends to improve.

The “without-project” scenario describes what is expected to happen to the biodiversity in the project area if the project is not undertaken. This provides a baseline against which the biodiversity impacts caused by the project will be measured.

A project’s impacts on biodiversity are not measured by comparing

the post-project conditions with the pre-project conditions, but rather

with the conditions predicted to have occurred if the project had never

taken place.

If they are available, the “without-project” scenario for biodiversity may be partly based on quantitative predictive models of habitat degradation, but it is dificult to predict how animal communities will react to the destruction of a deinite area of habitat lost or degraded. However, usually such models will not be available and qualitative techniques will have to be used to describe the “without-project” scenario. So, in most cases, the “without-project” scenario is simply a story about how the site’s current biodiversity is likely to change over time, based on their best understanding of current impacts and future risks to biodiversity.

It is perfectly acceptable to tell a story that is 100% qualitative, but “without-project” scenarios need to be well-reasoned and substantiated. It should not be too vague with predictions of general worsening of biodiversity conditions.

The “without-project” scenario represents the baseline against which future conditions must be compared, and those comparisons must be both speciic and rigorous. Such scenarios help to sort out the changes in biodiversity that are due to the project from those that would occur anyway; this may be important when the project is criticized for future losses in biodiversity, which would have happened anyway.

Constructing an adequate “without-project” scenario will require knowing which biodiversity indicators are to be tracked over the lifetime of the project. For example, if it is planned to monitor erosion rates or the diversity of aquatic invertebrates in streams, then the “without–project” scenario should include predictions about the likely trends in erosion and stream invertebrate diversity in the project’s absence.


c. Determine the nature of the potential impacts

For the purpose of highlighting the important impacts on biodiversity beneits, functions and characteristics that require implementation of mitigation measures, it is important to determine the signiicance of individual impacts associated with proposed development proposals. The following criteria are suggested for determining adverse impacts9:

• Loss of rare or endangered species;

• Reductions in species diversity;

• Loss of critical/productive habitat;

• Transformation of natural landscapes;

• Toxicity impacts on human health, e.g. through consumption of ish or wildlife exposed to toxic discharges;

• Reductions in the capacity of renewable resources to meet the needs of present and future generations;

• Loss of current use of land and resources for traditional purposes by indigenous and ethnic groups;

• Loss of future resource use or production.

Box 6. ADB Guidance on assessing the nature and signiicance of biodiversity impacts

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2009) requires the borrower/client to assess the signiicance of project impacts and risks on biodiversity and natural resources as an integral part of the environmental assessment process. The assessment will focus on the major threats to biodiversity, which include destruction of habitat and introduction of invasive alien species, and on the use of natural resources in an unsustainable manner. The borrower/client will need to identify measures to avoid, minimize, or mitigate potentially adverse impacts and risks and, as a last resort, propose compensatory measures, such as biodiversity offsets, to achieve no net loss or a net gain of the affected biodiversity.

The ADB uses the following checklist of questions to evaluate the nature of the potential impacts from projects:

• Will the project create unwarranted losses in precious or irreplaceable biodiversity or other resources?

• Will the project induce an unwarranted acceleration in the use of scarce resources and favour short-term over long-term economic gains?

• Will the project result in unwarranted hazards to endangered species?

9 Best practice guidance for biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment. A manual for practitioners and reviewers in South Asia, 2007


d. Assessment of impact signiicance

The key issues in impact prediction and assessment are identifying biodiversity elements likely to be affected and assessing the signiicance of impacts – either absolutely or by using a deined scale. Good impact prediction/assessment practice is summarised in Box 6.

Box 7. Summary of good impact prediction and assessment practice

• If possible, present the magnitude or physical extent of predicted impacts in quantiiable terms e.g. areas of land taken, percentage of habitat lost or numbers of communities, species or individuals affected. Place these in an international, national, regional or local context where appropriate;

• Provide information on the nature of the impact, i.e. impact magnitude, duration, timing, probability, reversibility, potential for mitigation and likely success of mitigation, signiicance of impact before and after mitigation. It may be useful to summarise this information for each impact in a table. Information also needs to be provided on the cumulative effects of different impacts;

• Seek to identify and address indirect impacts, which, in some cases, may be more important than direct impacts. They are however more dificult to predict and appropriate prediction methods should be used;

• Describe the elements of biodiversity affected, their importance, sensitivity, and ability to escape, relocate or adapt/habituate;

• Describe impacts which may occur during construction and, if appropriate, decommissioning phases of the project as well as those arising during the operational phase;

• Consider short or medium term as well as long term or permanent impacts; consider positive effects which might enhance nature conservation interest as well as negative effects;

• Specify uncertainties in prediction;

• Assess the signiicance of impacts likely to arise from the project against the projected baseline data rather than against existing conditions revealed in the ield surveys. The EIA report should describe the likely changes in biodiversity that would result without the project going ahead.

• State the predicted post-mitigation signiicance of impacts i.e. the signiicance of residual impacts after all proposed mitigation measures have been taken into account.


Schemes, 2000


The assessment should inish with a statement of the signiicance of the identiied impacts, requiring interpretation of indings and valuing the conclusions. This process is necessarily subjective and should therefore be undertaken by an experienced ecologist. It is essential that the criteria by which impact signiicance are judged are clearly set out in the EIA.

Table 5 shows the criteria that may be used to deine the impact magnitude upon biodiversity affected. These criteria use the concepts of signiicance and integrity of a site, i.e. the ecological structure and function, across its whole area that enables it to sustain the habitat, complex of habitats and/or levels of populations.

Note: There may be confusion between the magnitude of an impact upon biodiversity and its signiicance. The magnitude is usually expressed as a quantity such as area of habitat lost in hectares. The impact assessment team should relate that area of habitat, to the total area of similar habitat in the surrounding area, or district or province, or in the country. If the area lost is a large proportion of the total area, then the signiicance of the loss will be high. If the habitat lost is relatively rare or uncommon, then the signiicance will also be high.

Similarly the impact upon a population of a species is more signiicant if the decline projected for the population is a large proportion of the total population in the surrounding area or province. If the species is endangered, then the signiicance will be increased. If the species is relatively common, then the signiicance of the impact upon the species will be lower. If the decline is temporary and the population expected to recover, then the signiicance will be lower.

Table 5: Impact Magnitude Categories

Impact Magnitude

category

Criteria

Major negative impact (High –ve)

If the proposed project may adversely affect the integrity of a site, or results in major loss of a species or population from the area.

Intermediate negative impact (Medium –ve)

If the site’s integrity will not be adversely affected, but the effect on the site is likely to be signiicant in terms of its ecological objectives.

If there are declines in populations of key species, but not a major loss.

If it cannot be clearly demonstrated that the proposal will not have an adverse effect on integrity, then the impact should be assessed as major negative.

Minor negative impact (Low –ve)

If neither of the above apply, but some minor negative impact is evident.


Impact Magnitude

category

Criteria

Neutral impact (0) If none of the above apply, that is, no observable impact in either direction.

Minor positive impact (Low +ve)

Where there is a net positive wildlife gain. E.g.:

• a mitigation package where previously fragmented areas were united through habitat creation work (concept of connectivity),

• a scheme which diverts trafic away from a designated site,

• proposals which provide general wildlife gain through new design features such as hedges, ponds, ditches, scrub, linear woodland, grasslands and geological exposures.

Many such improvements, while being very useful, will not provide a signiicant gain to the biodiversity interest within the natural area; these should be assessed as minor positive.

Intermediate positive impact (Medium +ve)

Where a signiicant net gain is evident, the features should be assessed as intermediate positive.

Major positive impact (High + ve)

If the net gain is one of national importance

Source: Adapted from Biodiversity and Environmental Impact Assessment: A Good Practice

Guide for Road Schemes, 2000.

Setting the criteria for what amounts to a “high”, “medium” or “low” magnitude impact for a particular project involves deciding what amount of change is acceptable in that case (sometimes referred to as the “limits of acceptable change”). Ideally these criteria should be derived from appropriate objectives/targets for individual habitats and species. For example, the targets for habitats and priority species e.g. identiied in the National Biodiversity Action Plan (2007), can be used to set the magnitude criteria; for natural areas or designated sites the conservation objectives or reasons why the site was initially designated can be used.

Where there are no appropriate targets/nature conservation objectives, speciic criteria will need to be developed on a case by case basis based on expert opinions/professional judgements. Ideally, the criteria will not be determined by the EIA consultant alone, but will involve all stakeholders.


e. Review and propose for implementation alternatives

The EIA report must outline the reasons for selecting the alternatives that have been considered and explain how alternatives were selected and assessed. Table 6 gives some questions that could be useful for identifying options and alternatives related to biodiversity.

Table 6: Identifying options and alternatives

Aim Questions to ask Checks to carry out

• Help identify options or alternatives for a project that avoid, minimise, reduce or compensate for loss of or damage to biodiversity.

• Help identify opportunities for biodiversity protection and enhancement or recovery.

• Are development activities needed (no/ minimum action alternative)?

• What would be the best alternative for biodiversity?

• If key problems for biodiversity have been identiied during baseline assessment, what are ways of addressing the problems?

• Can alternatives be ine-tuned to enhance biodiversity or minimise impacts on it?

• Have appropriate alternatives been considered at the strategic as well as the detailed stages of plan-making?

• Have the alternatives that proposed by other stakeholders been considered?

• Are the alternatives considered “real”, or are they being used to justify the preferred alternative?

Source: Adapted from Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature, Environment Agency,

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, June 2004.

The results of review for implementation alternatives will emphasise that project-decision should follow a sequential approach (see Step 5):

• Avoid impacts where possible;

• Reduce them if this is not possible;

• Compensate for any remaining ones; and

• Seek opportunities to enhance biodiversity at all times, e. g. by consolidating or connecting habitats.


f. Preliminary assessment of mitigation/enhancement measures for negative/

positive impacts

Potential mitigation or compensation measures have to be included in an impact study in order to assess their feasibility. When an EIA discusses the signiicance of impacts this should be the signiicance after proposed mitigation measures have been taken into account, so it is clear what residual impacts will occur if the scheme proceeds. The EIA should give a precise description of the mitigation measures proposed, how these will be implemented, their status (i.e. whether the developer has given a irm undertaking to carry out measures or whether they are “recommendations”) and a clear assessment of likely success of the proposed mitigation/ enhancement measures.

In this step, BIA should distinguish between the types of mitigation measures proposed i.e. whether they are avoidance, mitigation, compensatory or genuine enhancement measures.

g. Assess the uncertainty of forecasts and explain reasons

As impact predictions will generally involve a level of uncertainty, it is vital that the conidence or uncertainty in the predictions are discussed in the EIA report10. Ideally, an EIA report should propose an explicit and consistent scale for expressing and ranking the uncertainty or conidence in the predictions (see Table 7).

10 IAIA – Biodiversity in Impact Assessment. Special Publication Series No. 3, July 2005


Table 7: Suggested scale for ranking conidence in impact predictions

Level of

conidenceDescription Example

Low • Not enough local knowledge to describe the habitat or species in the area

• Not enough scientiic information available to make prediction

• Predictions with too many cause and effect assumptions

• Unveriied stakeholder opinions about impacts

• U n s p e c i f i c statements of impacts

Medium • Good local knowledge to support biodiversity descriptions

• Professional judgement based upon knowledge of species behaviour and experience of impacts

• Predictions based upon information of impacts and ecological linkages of similar habitats or species

• Response of a species or population to partial loss of habitat or isolation

• Response of habitat to loss of keystone species

High • Cause and effect linkage proven scientiically

• Demonstrated impact in same type of projects

• Models of biological response to pressures

• T o x i c i t y thresholds of ish to certain compounds

• Barrier effects of large dams on ish migration

• Complete loss of habitat

Source: Developed for this document

A matrix of the signiicance of the impact which could be used or adapted is shown in Table 8. This is similar to a risk assessment process and allows for scales for the signiicance of the residual impact (High, Medium and Low), the level of conidence in this assessment of signiicance. It then further breaks down the likelihood of the impact into the probability of occurrence (High, Medium and Low), and the scientiic certainty (High, Medium and Low).


Table 8: Level of conidence in predictions

Biodiversity Component

Phase Residual

environmental

effects

signiicance rating for each

impact

Level of

conidenceLikelihood

Probability

of

occurrence

Scientiic certainty

Construction E.g. MAJOR, MODERATE, MINOR based on the signiicance criteria adopted for a particular EIA

E.g. LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH

Probability of occurrence based on professional judgement E.g. LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH

Scientiic certainty based on scientiic information and statistical analysis or professional judgement E.g. LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH

Operation

…


Schemes, 2000



STEP 5 - MITIGATION, MANAGEMENT

AND ENHANCEMENT OF BIODIVERSITY

IMPACTS


Mitigation includes any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate adverse effects. This may be done by controlling the sources of impacts, or by reducing the exposure of biological and ecological components to them.

Mitigation in EIA looks for ways to achieve the project objectives while avoiding negative impacts or reducing them to acceptable levels, as well as enhancing the environmental beneits. The EIA should make sure that the public or individuals do not bear costs which are greater than the beneits. The purpose of mitigation is to identify measures and options that safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Mitigation is both a creative and practical phase of the BIA process that aims to:

• Develop measures to avoid, reduce, remedy or compensate signiicant adverse impacts of development proposals on biodiversity and well-being of the community/communities affected;

• Enhance beneicial effects and lower costs for biodiversity conservation as an outcome of development where possible;

• Create opportunities to beneit biodiversity and human well-being;

• Ensure that mitigation options both practical and economic.

Even modiied habitats may contain areas or species of biodiversity and conservation value, though not endangered, and so every effort should be made to minimise any further degradation or habitat conversion.

Signiicant modiication of natural habitats should be avoided, except when:

• There are no technically and cost-effective viable alternatives to implementing the project in the natural habitat;

• The biodiversity mitigation hierarchy has been properly implemented and appropriate mitigation measures have been designed; and

• The opinions and concerns of affected communities, as identiied through the consultation process, have been addressed in the design of the mitigation measures; and


• Mitigation measures should achieve either net beneit or no net loss of biodiversity.

The ADB and IFC safeguards specify that losses or damage to critical habitats should be avoided wherever possible, and if unavoidable, losses should require compensation in the form of biodiversity offsets, with a net positive gain for biodiversity (see Table 9).

Table 9: Mitigation and Offset standards for three habitat types

Habitat Type Description Offset Standard

Critical Habitats Habitats essential for the persistence of Critically Endangered or Endangered species

“Net Gain”

Natural Habitats Habitats that contain a high biodiversity value, may be more or less disturbed

“No Net Loss”

Modiied Habitats Substantially modiied habitats, but may still contain important biodiversity

Mitigate residual impacts

B. GUIDANCE FOR MITIGATION AND ENHANCEMENT

The following guidance is provided for mitigating and enhancing impacts on biodiversity:

a. Deine measures to avoid, reduce, remedy or compensate signiicant adverse impacts

b. Assess feasibility, effectiveness, likelihood of success for each mitigation measure

c. Biodiversity offsets

Tools and examples for mitigation measures are included in Annex 6.

a. Deine measures to avoid, reduce, remedy or compensate signiicant adverse impacts

Guiding principles are suggested to help manage adverse impacts on biodiversity and include:

• The mitigation hierarchy (Figure 3) should be followed in designing biodiversity mitigation measures.

• Avoid impacts on biodiversity and create opportunities for enhancement of biodiversity wherever possible by route selection and scheme design.

• Where this is not possible identify the best practical mitigation and enhancement option to ensure that there is no signiicant loss of biodiversity.

• Compensation should be viewed as a last resort.


Figure 3: Mitigation hierarchy

Source: Ch. Imboden, Gross, D., Meynell, P-J., Richards, D., and Stalmans, M.

(2010) Biodiversity Management System: Proposal for the Integrated Management of Biodiversity

at Holcim Sites. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN 113pp.

Adapted from: Rio Tinto (2004)

Desirabiltyof actionsdependenton currentbiodiversityatatus,ranty andtargets

Improvement

Enlargement

Avoidance

Minimisation

Rectiication

Compensation

CreationCreate new habitat (s) of hightbiodiversity value or that achievedesired conservation targets

Ameliorate the quality of currenthabitats to achieve biodiversitygains

Eniarge areas dedicated tobiodiversity conservation

Seizing opportunities

Mitigating impacts

Enhancing depleted biodiversity

Mitigating biodiversity

Alternative sites or technologies toavoid impact

Actions to minimise impacts duringdesign, construction, operation

Actions to rehabilitate or restoreaffected ecosystems

Last resort create compensatorybiodiversity value eisewhere (offsets)

Des

irabi

lity

Fihure 8: Biodiversity mitigation and enhancement measures


Remedial action can take several forms, i.e.

• Avoidance or prevention,

• Mitigation by considering changes to the scale, design, location, siting, process, sequencing, phasing, management and/or monitoring of the proposed activity, including protecting biodiversity through improved site or protected area management.

• Restoration or rehabilitation of sites, and

• Compensation often associated with residual impacts after prevention and mitigation).

Examples of mitigation measures for different projects are provided in Annex 6.

A “positive planning approach” should be used, where avoidance has priority and compensation is used as a last resort measure. Note that compensation will not always be possible: there are cases where it is appropriate to reject a development proposal on grounds of irreversible damage to, or irreplaceable loss of, biodiversity.

The package of mitigation and management of biodiversity impacts is developed into the Biodiversity Management Plan described in Step 6.

b. Assess feasibility, effectiveness, likelihood of success for each mitigation

measure

The EIA should set out how the mitigation measures will be implemented. It is important that the EIA integrates biodiversity mitigation measures with other mitigation measures (e.g. landscape, water, cultural, etc.) to avoid conlicts between the objectives of the different mitigation measures. Mitigation should aim to:

• Keep options open and lexible, so that further measures or other strategies can be put in place in the future;

• Involve “no-regret” options which deliver beneits that exceed their costs;

• Find win-win options that contribute to the project’s desired outcomes and also improve biodiversity;

• Avoid decisions that will make it more dificult to improve biodiversity in the future;

• Avoid decisions that will make it more dificult to improve biodiversity in the future.

The effectiveness of recommended mitigation measures are evaluated on the following basis:

• Poor – some mitigation but little overall reduction in impact.

• Limited – the mitigation measures reduce the impact to some degree.

• Moderate – reasonable mitigation, but original impact will still be felt to a signiicant degree.

• Substantial – almost complete mitigation.


c. Principles of biodiversity offsets

Biodiversity offsets are a particular form of compensation for the loss of ecosystems, habitats and species that result from large infrastructure and development projects causing changes in land use.

Biodiversity offsets involve exchanging a residual biodiversity loss at one place for a biodiversity gain at another. The gains in the offset site, which should have similar ecological character lost from the project site (like-for-like), have to be achieved through improved biodiversity management measures, funded by the project.

Offset principles are a set of factors that need to be taken into account during design and implementation to ensure that offsets are used appropriately and that No Net Loss is achieved.

The Business and Biodiversity Offsets Programme (BBOP) deines biodiversity

offsets as:

“Measurable conservation outcomes resulting from actions designed to

compensate for signiicant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after appropriate prevention and mitigation

measures have been taken.

The goal of biodiversity offsets is to achieve no net loss and preferably a

net gain of biodiversity on the ground with respect to species composition,

habitat structure and ecosystem function and people’s use and cultural

values associated with biodiversity.” (BBOP, 2009).

Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP) (2012) deined 10 offset principles. Effective application of these principles aims to reduce business risk and improve biodiversity outcomes by ensuring that offsets are fair, sustainable, bring real change and involve appropriate stakeholders.



Figure 4: Biodiversity offsets position within the mitigation hierarchy

MONRE is exploring the potential for developing biodiversity offsets in Vietnam, and an introductory paper and Road Map for this is has been prepared as part of the ADB project to mainstream biodiversity safeguards (ADB, 2015). An example of calculations on estimating the areas of mangrove and mudlat habitats lost for an industrial complex in Vietnam, and the requirements for an offset site where these habitats would be protected and enhanced is shown in Annex 7.

Mea

sure

dbi

odiv

ersi

tyga

in a

t the

offs

et s

ite

Mea

sure

d bi

odiv

ersi

ty lo

ssat

the

deve

lopm

ent s

ite

BiodiversityLoss at theProject Site


BiodiversityOffset

Avoid

Minimise

Restore &Rehabilitation


Avoid

Minimise

Restore &Rehabilitation


AvoidAvoid

Minimise


Measuredbiodiversity lossunder the referencescenario

Measuredbiodiversity lossavoidedrelative to thereference scenario

Measuredbiodiversity lossminimize relativeto the referencescenario

Measured residualbiodiversity loss isdefined after al avoidance,minimization andrestoration actionsare quantified

Biodiversity offsetis equivalent to theresidualbiodiversity loss atthe developmentsite


STEP 6 - DEVELOPMENT

OF BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

AND MONITORING

A. PURPOSE OF THE STEP

Management plans, programmes and systems, including clear management targets, responsibilities and appropriate monitoring should be established to ensure that mitigation is effectively implemented, unforeseen negative effects or trends are detected and addressed, and expected beneits (or positive developments) are achieved as the project proceeds.

The Biodiversity Management Plan is part of the overall Environmental Management Plan, and should be costed and funded by the project proponent. Implementation costs should be included in the overall project costs.

Monitoring and auditing are used to see what actually occurs after project implementation has started. Predicted impacts on biodiversity should be monitored, as should the effectiveness of mitigation measures proposed in the environmental impact assessment. Proper environmental management should ensure that anticipated impacts are maintained within predicted levels, and unanticipated impacts are managed before they become a problem and the expected beneits (or positive developments) are achieved as the project proceeds.

B. GUIDANCE FOR DEVELOPING A BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT

AND MONITORING PLAN

The following guidance is provided for developing a biodiversity management and monitoring plan:

a. Development of a biodiversity management/conservation plan

b. Development of a biodiversity monitoring system

c. Institutional arrangements for biodiversity management and monitoring

d. Costs and inancing the biodiversity management plan.

Tools and examples for monitoring of biodiversity impacts are included in Annex 7.


a. Development of a biodiversity management/conservation plan

The Environmental management plan (EMP) can be a separate document, but is considered part of the EIA report. The EMP should deine responsibilities, budgets and any necessary training for monitoring and impact management, and describe how results will be reported and to whom.

EMPs can provide a framework for implementation of mitigation measures, carrying out monitoring and on-going management of a project. They need to include: prescriptions, a work programme, schedules, be for an appropriate time scale (e.g. new habitats will require long term management), targets, a monitoring programme, a quality control mechanism for reviewing the monitoring data, and provisions for remedial action if the mitigation/management targets are not achieved.

The EMP that incorporates the mitigation plan for biodiversity as part of the EIA report must clearly relect the ecological impacts, economic objectives of various mitigation measures that are proposed and possibly the stage at which these should be implemented and by whom with possible indicators of risks and constraints. Development of a biodiversity action or management plan (BAP or BMP) is a possible mechanism by which the objectives and targets for biodiversity conservation can be achieved. The BAP can either be a stand-alone plan or be integrated into the EMP. These BAPs should set out targets for the conservation and enhancement of particular species or habitats, measures needed to essentially achieve them and in the allocation of responsibilities for implementing various measures.

The BAP or BMP may include actions in and around the construction site or in the wider impact area of the project. Thus the BMP may include protection and management of biodiversity in nearby protected areas and biodiversity corridors or in the wider landscape.

In many cases, there will be insuficient information about the biodiversity in the areas of impact, and the BMP may include additional surveys and research work e.g. on animal behavior, and appropriate conservation measures.

If biodiversity offsets are considered, a speciic biodiversity offset management plan (BOMP) should be developed for the protection, management, and enhancement of biodiversity on the offset scheme site.

b. Development of a biodiversity monitoring system

Monitoring focuses on those components of biodiversity most likely to change as a result of the project. It is appropriate to use indicator organisms or ecosystems that are most sensitive to the predicted impacts to provide the earliest possible indication of undesirable change. Since monitoring often has to consider natural luxes as well as human-induced effects, complementary indicators may be appropriate in monitoring. Indicators should be SMART - Speciic, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. Where possible, the choice of indicators should be aligned with existing indicator processes.


The results of monitoring provide information for periodic review and alteration of environmental management plans, and for optimising environmental protection through good, adaptive management at all stages of the project. Biodiversity data generated by EIA should be made accessible and useable by others and should be linked to biodiversity assessment processes being designed and carried out at the national and global levels.

Ecological monitoring involves the systematic observation and measurement of ecosystems (or their components) to establish their characteristics and changes over time. It is important that the monitoring programme is well structured. Ideally the monitoring programme will include monitoring at each of the project stages (i.e. pre-construction and during construction as well as once the project is in operation). It is crucial that standard techniques/methods of data collection are used and clearly described, so that the data can be used for comparative purposes. A good monitoring programme should be structured to address clearly deined questions, it will provide for repeatability and control and will have established appropriate timing and frequency in relation to the biodiversity elements being measured and the nature of the intended/implemented project. There needs to be a quality control mechanism for assessing the monitoring data that should be independent to have credibility.

Many of the elements necessary for adequate monitoring will have been developed as part of project planning. This include the following:

• Gathering data;

• Establishing baseline conditions;

• Identifying ecological elements at risk;

• Selecting ecological goals and objectives;

• Predicting the likely project impacts;

• Establishing the objectives of mitigation.

The following additional monitoring-speciic steps can build upon these elements:

• Formulate speciic questions to be answered by monitoring;

• Select indicators;

• Identify control areas/treatments;

• Design and implement monitoring;

• Conirm relationship between indicators and goals and objectives;

• Analyse trends and recommend changes to management.

The breadth and speciicity of the monitoring program will be determined by the biodiversity goals and objectives established as part of project. Note that the baseline description used for the EIA report may not be speciic or detailed enough for the


monitoring programme, so speciic biodiversity surveys may be required focused on the indicator habitats and species selected. These baseline surveys should be done before construction starts.

c. Institutional arrangements for biodiversity management and monitoring

Usually the developer or project proponent does not have the specialist expertise to be able to design, implement or monitor biodiversity management and monitoring plans. Specialist agencies and organisations will be required to do this and will need to contract the appropriate organisation for the habitats and species involved. A list of such specialist agencies in Vietnam is provided in Annex 10.

Whatever the contractual arrangements for implementation, the government agencies, e.g. MONRE and the provincial DONREs, MARD and protected area managers will be responsible for approval of the Biodiversity Management Plan and the associated monitoring plan. All implementation and monitoring reports of the BMP should be shared with these agencies at the appropriate level, in order to ensure compliance with the BMP and the overall EMP. In the event that the BMP is not being implemented effectively, MONRE has the responsibility for enforcement.

d. Costs and inancing the biodiversity management plan

According to Vietnam regulations, the costs and inancing of mitigation and enhancement measures are clearly the responsibility of the project proponents. While it is dificult to specify the cost ranges of a biodiversity management plan, various points should be borne in mind:

• Construction phases usually involve the greatest threats to biodiversity, because this is when land use is being changed and habitat lost. Acute impacts may be temporary, but may be long lasting beyond the construction phase.

• Operation phase is likely to have different types of impact and these are likely to persist for the lifetime of the project.

• Some management costs will be one-off or of limited duration, e.g. landscaping and tree planting for site rehabilitation

• Biodiversity management is likely to be required for the lifetime of the project, which may be 50 years or more. Recurrent costs for biodiversity protection and management should be built into the operation and maintenance costs of the project.

• Biodiversity offset costs should continue for the lifetime of the project.

• Contributions to the management costs for nearby protected areas, should be considered as a long term cost.


PUBLIC CONSULTATION


PURPOSE OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Stakeholder engagement on biodiversity issues is central to the integration of biodiversity into the EIA process. Therefore, it is not a discrete stage, but rather an activity that runs throughout the EIA process.

The need to consult and involve different stakeholders, and in particular to involve indigenous people, is strongly highlighted both in the CBD COP 7 decision and in other documents. This is underlined by the close relationship between social impacts and environmental/biodiversity impacts. As information about biodiversity is rarely complete, stakeholder involvement may identify additional, unoficial resources and help ensure that all relevant biodiversity concerns are noted. This is especially relevant where biological resources have both functional and cultural importance for communities. In such areas, potential operations must fully understand the overall value of biodiversity resources accorded by those stakeholders.

An eficient BIA process is dependent on effective consultation, as this is often the only way of rapidly identifying key issues. The establishment of communication channels between the developer and the assessment team/s, as well as the relevant environmental authorities, stakeholder groups (including provincial biodiversity and heritage oficers, and NGOs) and individuals, is critical to ensure the full integration of the BIA methodological stages. It ensuresa thorough consideration and examination of all relevant biodiversity data, as well as biodiversity conservation priorities and perceptions.

The adoption of a dynamic and proactive communication approach to BIA will help in:

• Obtaining information and expert judgment on potential biodiversity effects early in the process;

• Providing a more comprehensive understanding of the baseline environment and associated issues and values;

• Identifying any critical data gaps and lagging up any technique and database updates throughout the assessment;

• Through increased understanding, avoiding unnecessary controversy and delays; and

• Promoting transparency in the planning and decision-making processes.


METHODS OF PUBLIC CONSULTATION

Identify, in consultation with stakeholders, the current and potential ecosystem services provided by the affected ecosystems or land-use types and determine what values these functions represent for society. Give an indication of the main beneiciaries and those adversely affected from an ecosystem services perspective, focusing on vulnerable stakeholders (see Box 7).

Box 8. Stakeholders and participation

With respect to biodiversity, relevant stakeholders in the process are:

• Beneiciaries of the project – target groups making use of, or putting a value to, known ecosystem services which are purposefully enhanced by the project;

• Affected people – i.e. those people that experience, as a result of the project, intended or unintended changes in ecosystem services that they value;

• General stakeholders – i.e. formal or informal institutions and groups representing either affected people or biodiversity itself;

• Future generations – “absent stakeholders”, i.e. those stakeholders of future generations, who may rely on biodiversity around which decisions are presently taken.

There are a number of potential constraints to effective public participation. These include:

• Deicient identiication of relevant stakeholders may make public involvement ineffective;

• Poverty: involvement requires time spent away from income-producing tasks;

• Rural settings: increasing distance makes communication more dificult and expensive;

• Illiteracy: or lack of command of non-local languages, can inhibit representative involvement if print media are used;

• Local values/culture: behavioural norms or cultural practice can inhibit involvement of some groups, who may not feel free to disagree publicly with dominant groups;


11 MONRE – General guidelines on SEA, 2009

• Languages: in some areas a number of different languages or dialects may be spoken, making communication dificult;

• Legal systems: may be in conlict with traditional systems, and cause confusion about rights and responsibilities for resources;

• Interest groups: may have conlicting or divergent views, and vested interests;

• Conidentiality: can be important for the proponent, who may be against early involvement and consideration of alternatives.


Schemes, 2000./

A BIA process is commonly initiated by a scoping workshop – commonly supported by an “issues paper” that is previously prepared and distributed, and where the main potential issues are presented for debate. The number and expertise of representatives participating in such workshop will vary depending on the nature and scale of the project, but also on time-frame and resources. Previously gathered information and maps could be used to support discussions.

The popular public consultation methods (as shown in the table below11) can be applied effectively in the BIA.

Table 10: Public participation toolsz

Public participation

tool

Enables key features

Range of printed material inviting comments

√ √ $

Displays and Exhibits √ √ $

Pro

vis

ion

of

info

rma

tio

n

Ga

the

rin

g o

f

co

mm

en

ts

Co

lla

bo

rati

ve

pro

ble

m s

olv

ing

Usu

al c

ost

of

ap

plic

ati

on

Pro

ble

m-

so

lvin

g a

bilit

y

Ea

se

of

co

mm

en

tin

g


Public participation

tool

Enables key features

Staffed displays and exhibits

√ √ √ $$ •

Information hotline √ √ $

Internet/web-based consultations

√ √ √ $ •

Questionnaires and response sheets

√ $$

Surveys √ $$

Public hearings √ √ $

Workshops √ √ √ $ • •

Advisory committee √ √ √ $ • •

Notes:

Enables √ Yes

Usual cost of application $ Lower

$$ Higher

Problem-solving ability • Low

• • Moderate

Ease of commenting Moderate

High


PUBLIC CONSULTATION IN BIA STEPS

Impact assessment is concerned with (i) information, (ii) participation, and (iii) transparency of decision-making. Public involvement consequently is a prerequisite for effective EIA and can take place at different levels: informing (one-way low of information), consulting (two-way low of information), or “real” participation (shared analysis and assessment). Actually, in all stages of EIA public participation is relevant. Recently, the Decree No.18/2015/ND-CP regulates the developer should deliver the draft of EIA report to the Commune People Committee and other organisations affected for organizing public consultation. However, according to the CBD guidelines, public consultation should implement in all steps of BIA process, or at least it is essential at the scoping and review stage; and participation during the assessment study is generally acknowledged to enhance the quality of the process.

Public involvement, including the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities, is important in various stages of the BIA process. The following directions aim to promote the establishment of proactive communication and consultation mechanisms during the steps of BIA process12.

Screening and scoping

• Consult environmental authorities at scoping stage to fulil statutory requirements. Due consideration should also be given to engaging community and other relevant stakeholders to gather their views and promote best practice;

• To facilitate communication at this point, clear consultation requests should be provided to provincial authorities and stakeholders. (Currently in Vietnam, the Commune People Committee is responsible for organizing public consultation at local level and stakeholders include all organizations related to biodiversity conservation, especially the Protection Area Management Boards). In addition, consideration should be given to organizing an EIA scoping/screening workshop. Consideration should also be given to consulting the planning authority at EIA scoping stage;

12 The Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland - Integrated Biodiversity Impact Assessment Streamlining AA, SEA and EIA Processes. Best Practice Guidance, 2010


• Identify key stakeholders and affected parties and initiate communication with them early in the process.

Baseline

• Check relevant websites, and where appropriate, consult informally with community and other relevant organizations (e.g the Protection Area Management Boards and NGOs) for any updates in biodiversity-relevant information. This is particularly relevant at the baseline and impact assessment stages. Note that the emphasis in this process is on communication rather than formal consultation. Communication is essential to identify all relevant issues and potential data sources for the assessment;

• Engage with previously identiied stakeholders to ensure that no biodiversity issues are overlooked when establishing the baseline. Their involvement may also be relevant at other procedural stages (e.g. deinition of alternatives and impact assessment).

Deinition of alternatives

• Hold a workshop for the deinition of alternatives at project level. This should include representatives from the project and EIA teams and, ideally environmental authorities (especially DONRE, DPC Division of Environment) and the Protection Area Management Boards. It all cases, the workshop should ensure inclusion of ecological and, where relevant, hydrological experts. Where feasible, engage previously identiied stakeholders.

Impact assessment

• Consult informally with community and other relevant organizations (especially, the Protection Area Management Boards) and, where appropriate, the scientiic community for any updates in biodiversity-relevant information, and to verify that no potential biodiversity impacts are overlooked in the assessment process;

• Engage with previously identiied stakeholders. especially the local community to tap into their expertise and ensure that no potential biodiversity concerns are overlooked in the assessment process.

Mitigation and monitoring

• Engage with previously identiied stakeholders to ensure that proposed mitigation measures are appropriate and to support monitoring arrangements.


Reporting

• Where ecological sensitivities have been identiied, the Protection Area Management Boards and Provincial DONRE should be consulted at project pre-application stage to verify that no biodiversity-relevant issues have been overlooked;

• Submit the to the consent authorities (MONRE or DONRE) and, where relevant, to the Protection Area Management Boards;

• Disseminate assessment indings (e.g. publish them online).;


GUIDANCE FOR REVIEWERS OF BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENTS


PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW

The purpose of the review of the environmental impact statement is to ensure that the information for decision makers is suficient, focused on the key issues, and is scientiically and technically accurate. In addition, the review should evaluate whether:

• The likely impacts would be acceptable from an environmental viewpoint;

• The design complies with relevant standards and policies, or standards of good practice where oficial standards do not exist;

• All of the relevant impacts, including indirect and cumulative impacts, of a proposed activity have been identiied and adequately addressed in the EIA. To this end, biodiversity specialists should be called upon for the review and information on oficial standards and/or standards for good practice to be compiled and disseminated.

Reviewers should also ensure that the information provided in the environmental impact statement is suficient for a decision maker to determine whether the project is compliant with or contradictory to the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.


13 Source: Developed for these guidelines

IDENTIFICATION OF EXPERTS FOR

REVIEW

The expertise required for EIA review is essentially the same as that required for preparing the EIA report. The criteria for selecting reviewers should relect the academic qualiications, professional background and competence, area of expertise, experience of conducting reviews of EIAs and number of EIAs reviewed.

a. General requirements for EIA review panel

According to the existing regulations, the EIA approval committee involves a Chairman, Vice-Chairman (if necessary), secretary member, opponent members and other member. The member of should be environmental specialists or experts in ields related to the reviewed project with at least 3 years of experience (7 years of experience for opponent members).

b. Criteria for BIA reviewers

Where impacts upon important species are signiicant, the review panel should include specialists in those species or related taxonomic groups. The minimum qualiications for reviewers of a speciic biodiversity impact assessment, should include the following13.

• Doctorate degree or equivalent in landscape ecology, biodiversity conservation, or a related ield;

• At least 15 years’ experience in biodiversity conservation and landscape management, with a minimum of 5 years working in Viet Nam;

• At least 5 years’ experience in biodiversity/landscape conservation and ecosystem restoration in Viet Nam, with skills in quantitative and qualitative survey techniques;

• At least 5 years’ experience in an organization that deal with biodiversity conservation, forests survey, and other related institutes in Viet Nam;

• Wide experience in assessing impacts on biodiversity from a range of development projects.


REVIEW CRITERIA FOR

MAINSTREAMING BIODIVERSITY

ISSUES

The outputs of a good review can determine if (i) biodiversity is suficiently and appropriately integrated in environmental planning and implementation of effective mitigation, and if (ii) the results of biodiversity assessment will be able to contribute to balanced decision-making. Box 8 provides examples of speciic information that should be reviewed.

The key objective of the review is essentially to ensure the following:

• Completeness and conformity with the national guidelines on EIA;

• Accuracy and veracity as deined by general acceptable scientiic criteria (for example, quality assurance and quality control procedures for analysis of sampling data) and use of acceptable methods for the assessment of environmental impacts;

• Clarify of description of environmental impacts, recommended mitigation measures, environmental monitoring plan and environmental management plan.

Box 9. Speciic information to be reviewed for biodiversity components

• Review of executive summary;

• Review of table of contents;

• Review of project details for triggers for biodiversity;

• Review of alternatives for ensuring that the report is based on least impacting option for biodiversity;

• Review baseline section for speciic information on biodiversity;

• Review subsequent sections on impact evaluation to assess the coverage of biodiversity related issues;

• Review Environmental Management Plan (EMP) for incorporation of speciic action plan for safeguarding biodiversity;

• Review appendices for copies of various permissions ( e.g. land diversion, permits for exploration and right of use of site) maps, photographs, checklist of animals and plants for familiarity with biodiversity issues and nature of likely impacts;

• Review of recommended mitigation plan and budgetary allocation for building conidence in eficacy of recommended remedial measures.


practitioners and reviewers in South Asia, 2007.


It is suggested to implement the review process through the use of suggested mainstreaming criteria for biodiversity shown in Table 11. These criteria are intended to help the reviewers in making a clear distinction between reviewing the quality and adequacy of an EIA report and determining the usefulness of the information in appraisal of the project proposal.

Table 11: Review criteria for mainstreaming biodiversity issues in the stages of EIA

Biodiversity

issues

Review criteria Quality of information Adequacy of information

Usefulness of information

Good Average Poor Adequate Not adequate

High Low Nil

Coverage of biodiversity issues in introduction and project background

Recognition of biodiversity as a component of EIA Recognition of triggers for biodiversity change

Scoping Incorporation of biodiversity targets in TOR.

Biodiversity as targets for assessments

Biodiversity components include habitats, species, communities

Deining biodiversity values

Conservation priorities, protected status, protected area, protected species, unique ecosystems, specialized habitats, economic importance links with livelihoods

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High Low Nil

Scale of biodiversity assessments

Organization level Gene, species, ecosystem Ecosystem structure and function Ecosystem process, good & services Geographic scale Site, landscape, region Temporal Immediate, short term, long termDescription of methodologies Based on ield surveys Use of ecological modelling, GIS Software, distribution maps

Biodiversity issues included in baseline information

Single or multiples species A b s e n c e / p r e s e n c e /abundance of protected species Population dynamics and other habitat attributes (loss, modiication, fragmentation) Movement, dispersal and extinction threats

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High Low Nil

Considerations for prediction of impacts on biodiversity

Recognition of the drivers of change in biodiversity Cause effect relationship Relevance of variables Primary, secondary and tertiary impacts

Time consideration in biodiversity assessment

Distinction in construction and operation phases Short term and long term impacts

Presentation of information for evaluation of impact speciically on biodiversity

Species inventories, historical information of indicator species, resource inventory, resource dependency estimates Recognition of linkages with livelihoods

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High Low Nil

Mitigation measures and eficacy

Identiication of speciic measures for biodiversity (conservation plan, restoration plan) in EMP Consideration of mitigation hierarchy (avoidance, mitigation, compensation and enhancement) Financial allocation for biodiversity related action planAllocation of responsibilities for mitigating impacts

Monitoring plan Whether a follow up monitoring programme included as a part of EMP

Source: Best practice guidance for biodiversity-inclusive impact assessment. A manual for practitioners and reviewers in South Asia, 2007

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ANNEXES: TOOLS, DATA

SOURCES AND EXAMPLES

This part of the guidelines uses the examples of a number of

biodiversity impact assessments in Vietnam to illustrate the tools

and data sources that can be used at the different stages of

biodiversity impact assessments. They are provided to illustrate

good practice, and may be used and adapted to it the needs of a speciic biodiversity impact assessment. They are not the only tools that can be used.


ANNEX 1: LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

FOR BIODIVERSITY IMPACT

ASSESSMENT

OBJECTS OF BIODIVERSITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT (BIA)

The objects of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) are subjected to Articles 13 and 18 of the Law on Environmental Protection 2014 (LEP 2014).

OBJECTS OF STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT:

Under the Clause 1 of Article 13 of the LEP 2014, the following objects have to carry out SEA:

• General strategy and planning for socio-economic development of socio-economic regions, key economic regions, corridors and belts;

• General planning for socio-economic development of centrally-governed cities and provinces and special administrative – economic units;

• Strategy and planning for development of economic, processing and exporting, high technology, and industrial zones;

• Strategy and planning for extraction and utilization of natural resources that require an inclusion of 02 or more provinces;

• Strategy, planning and proposal for industrial and sectorial development at the national, local and provincial level that can signiicantly affect the environment;

• Adjustment to the strategy, planning and proposal for speciied objects described at Points a, b, c, d and e of this Clause.

Objects of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Under the Clause 1 of Article 18 of the LEP 2014, the following objects have to carry out EIA:

a. Projects subject to the decision on investment intentions made by the National Assembly, Government and the Prime Minister;

b. Projects that use land of natural conservation zones, national parks, historical – cultural monuments, world heritage sites, biosphere reserves, scenic beauty areas that have been ranked;


c. Projects that can cause bad effects on the environment.

The objects of SEA and EIA shall be detailed at the Appendix 1 (List of SEA) and Appendix 2 (List of EIA) attached hereby the Decree No 18/2015/NĐ-CP dated 14/02/2015 on Master Plans of Environmental protection, Strategic Environmental Assessment, environmental impact assessment and environmental protection plan.

SUBJECTS AND TIME TO CONDUCT

For Strategic Environmental Assessment:

Subjects of SEA:

Article 14, LEP 2014 provides that: “The agencies tasked with the preparation of strategy, master plan and plan as stipulated in Clause 1 Article 13 of this Law shall have to be responsible for preparing or hiring an advisory organization to prepare the report on strategic environment assessment.

The hired advisory organization for conducting SEA must assure all the conditions as stipulated in Article 9 of Decree No 18/2015/ND-CP.

Time to conduct SEA:

The strategic environmental assessment must be conducted concurrently with the process for preparing the strategy, master plan or plan (Clause 2, Article 14 of the LEP 2014).

FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Subjects of EIA:

The Clause 1, Article 19 of the LEP 2014 provides that: Owners of projects regulated in Clause 1 Article 18 of this Law shall carry out, on his own, or hire an advisory organization to carry out the environmental impact assessment and take statutory responsibility for the conclusive result after carrying out such assessment.

The hired advisory organization for conducting EIA must assure all the conditions as stipulated in Article 13 of Decree No 18/2015/ND-CP.

Time to conduct EIA:

Under the Clause 2, Article 19 of the LEP 2014, the environment impact assessment must be performed in the preparatory stage of the project.

SCOPE OF BIA

As description in the Article 3 of the Law on Biodiversity, biodiversity means the abundance of genes, organisms and ecosystems in the nature; Conservation of biodiversity means the protection of the abundance of natural ecosystems which are important, speciic


or representative; the protection of permanent or seasonal habitats of wild species, environmental landscape and the unique beauty of nature: the rearing, planting and care of species on the list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection; and the long-term preservation and storage of genetic specimens. Therefore, BIA mainstreaming in the process of conducting SEA, EIA might understand that are analysis and forecast of impacts on the abundance of genes, organisms and ecosystems in the nature by development strategy, mater plan, plan or speciic projects when they are carried out.

Genetic resource:

Under the Clause 2, Article 3 of the Law on Biodiversity, genetic resource includes all species and genetic specimens in nature, conservation zones, biodiversity conservation facilities and scientiic research and technological development institutions and in nature. The Law on Biodiversity does not stipulate on the limitation of scope of genetic resource conservation, thus, it can understand that all genetic resources have to be conserved.

Organisms or species:

According to the provisions of the Law on Biodiversity, scope of organisms or species conservation is not only precious, rare wild species prioritized for protection or endangered species, wild species banned from exploitation or permitted for conditional exploitation in nature, endemic species but also endangered precious and rare crop plant varieties, domestic animal breeds, microorganisms and endangered, precious, rare fungi.

The Article 37 of the Law on Biodiversity stipulates that species to be considered for inclusion in the list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection include: “a) Endangered precious and rare wild fauna and lora species; b) Endangered precious and rare crop plant varieties, domestic animal breeds, microorganisms and fungi.”

Natural ecosystems:

Relating to ecosystems, the Law on Biodiversity only mentions to conservation and sustainable development of natural ecosystems. The Article 34 of this law provides that “Natural ecosystems shall be surveyed and assessed and their sustainable development mechanisms shall be determined.” Provisions of Article 34, 35 and 36 of the Law on Biodiversity divides natural ecosystems into: Natural forest ecosystems, Natural marine ecosystems, Natural ecosystems of natural wetlands, Natural ecosystems on limestone mountain areas and unused land areas.

CRITERIA FOR BIA

For genetic resources:

Genetic resources of all species are uniformly managed, conserved and developed. Genetic resources of endangered precious and rare wild species prioritized for protection,


endemic species... are managed, protected under different regimes because of their speciic characteristics. Genetic resources of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection are strictly protected much more than genetic resources of normal species.

For the species

The Article 4 of Decree No 160/2013/ND-CP dated 12/11/2013 on criteria for deinition and regulations on management and protection of species in the list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection, provides that: species meet major criteria as mentioned following will be included in the list of endangered precious and rare species prioritized for protection:

• The number of unit is very few or threatening extinction;

• Endemic species or species have special scientiic, medical, eco, landscape, environmental and cultural – historical values.

The speciic criteria for determining the species with number of unit is very few or threatening extinction or species have special scientiic, medical, eco, landscape, environmental and cultural – historical values are stipulated in the Articles 5, 6 of the Decree No 160/2013/ND-CP.

For ecosystem:

Natural ecosystem means an ecosystem that forms and develops in line with natural rules while still retaining its wild features (Clause 10 Article 3 of the Law on Biodiversity. Natural ecosystems shall be surveyed and assessed and their sustainable development mechanisms shall be determined. Based on biodiversity levels and values and sizes (articles 17, 18, 19 and 20 of the Law on Biodiversity), classiication criteria mentioned in article 7 of Decree No 65/2010/ND-CP dated 11/6/2010 to specify and guideline some articles of the Law on Biodiversity, ecosystems shall be conserved and developed in the conservation zone system, includes: national park; Nature reserves; Species/habitat conservation zones; Landscape conservation zones.

Forest ecosystems:

Forest is an ecological system consisting of the population of forest fauna and lora, forest microorganisms, forestland and other environmental factors, of which timber trees and bamboo of all kinds or typical lora constitute the major components with the forest canopy cover rate of 0,1 upward (Clause 1 Article 3 of the Law on Forest protection and development).

Natural forest ecosystems are conserved and developed in the conservation zones – special used forest. Special used forests, which are established under the provisions of the Law on forest protection and development, used mainly for conservation of nature, specimens of the national forest ecosystems and forest biological gene sources; for scientiic research; protection of historical and cultural relics as well as landscapes;


in service of recreation and tourism in combination with protection, contributing to environmental protection, including: (1) National parks; (2) Nature conservation zones, including nature reserves and species-habitat conservation zones; (3) Landscape protection areas, including forests of historical or cultural relics as well as scenic landscapes; (4) Scientiic research and experiment forests.

The formulation of special used forests are based on criteria for special scientiic, medical, eco, landscape, environmental and cultural – historical values which stipulated in Article 5 of the Decree No 117/2010/ND-CP on institution and management of the system of special used forests.

Marine ecosystems:

Natural marine ecosystems shall be surveyed and assessed and their sustainable development mechanisms shall be determined according to the law on isheries and other relevant laws (Clause 3, Articles 34 of the Law on Biodiversity). The marine areas determined to have fauna and lora with scientiic, educational, tourism values and importance will be formulated and managed under the regulations of marine conservation zones.

Marine conservation zones include: national parks; species and biotope conservation zones; and natural aquatic resource reserve zones (Article 9 of the Law on isheries; article 2 of Decree No 57/2008/ND-CP enacting the Regulations on managing marine conservation zones of national and international importance).

The speciic criteria for classiication of marine conservation zones of national and international importance are stipulated Article 2 of the Decree No 57/2008/ND-CP. The marine conservation zones of provincial level shall be formulated under the criteria which stipulated in Circular No 29/2013/TT-BNN&PTNT dated 4/6/2013 (enacted by Ministry of Agriculture and rural development) on provisions of formulation and management of marine conservation zones of provincial level.

Wetlands’ ecosystems:

Natural wetlands are marsh, peaty or permanently or temporarily wet areas, including sea areas of a depth not exceeding 6 meters at the lowest tide level (Article 35 of the Law on Biodiversity).

The Article 1 of Decree No 109/2003/ND-CP provides that: Wetlands include: wetlands with typical ecosystem, high biodiversity or function of maintaining water resource and eco balance, having international or national importance. The conservation zones of inland water areas mentioned in article 5 of Decree No 27/2005/ND-CP are also protected under the regime of wetlands. “The conservation zones of inland water areas are localized as the wetlands to strictly protect typical ecosystem, having international or national importance, high biodiversity to balance ecosystem and protect species living in the conservation areas”.


SOME NOTES RELATING TO BIODIVERSITY IN THE CIRCULAR

27/2015/TT-BTNMT

The following references relevant to biodiversity impact assessment are made in the Circular27/2015/TT-BTNMT dated 29/5/2015 on SEA, EIA and environmental protection plan.

NOTES OF BIODIVERSITY WHEN MAKING SEA REPORT

These references are found in Appendix 1.3 issued by Circular 27/2015/TT-BTNMT

Brief description of the contents of strategy, planning, plan:

In this content, it is required to describe briely on “the orientation of biodiversity conservation (if any).

The status of the natural components of environment

It is required to have a general description of characteristics of ecosystems, biological diversity (richness of genes, species) on land and water in areas potentially affected by strategy, planning, plan (negative and positive) include: characteristics of vegetation cover (forest), the natural conservation zones; the endemic rare wild species and endangered species and exotic species and the ecosystem services are being exploited and potential in the area of strategy, planning, plan.

The selected views, objectives of environmental protection

Listing the views and objectives of environmental protection, adaptation and mitigation of climate change are selected from the relevant oficial documents such as: resolutions and directives of the party; legal documents of the State; strategy, planning of environmental protection, the conservation of biodiversity; strategy and planning of exploitation and use of natural resources; climate change and other related documents..

Forecast the trend of the key environmental issues if strategy, planning, plan

implemented/not implemented;

Assess impacts to environment when strategy, planning, plan implemented; determine clearly impacted subjects, spatial and time scales of impact, serious level and probability of impacts.

Note: need to assess positive and negative impacts, direct, indirect and cumulative

impacts.

Comment on the speciic level, reliability and unsure issues of the forecasts

Determine and mention unsure, unreliable issues in SEA, especially forecast, impact assessment, and serious level, scope of space and time of impacts,...

State clearly on reasons and causes of each unsure, unreliable issue such as: data, igures (lack of necessary information, data; outdated data, igures, unreliability...); assessment method (appropriation, reliability of method...); professional level of experts and other reasons.


Consultation with the community

Explain clearly the content of consultations, the subjects are selected in consultation and foundation for choosing these subjects. Describe the consultation process, the ways of consultation; state clearly the consultation is performed in which steps of the SEA process.

Note: The consultation may be performed many times in the SEA process and must

specify the content of each consultation.

State the orientation of the environmental impact assessment (EIA):

Orient content requirements of EIA for the investment projects proposed in strategy, planning and plan, in which indicates the environmental issues need to pay attention to, regions, sectors / areas need to be concerned about the environmental impact assessment in the process of project implementation and the solutions of mitigation, adaptation to climate change.

Conclusions and recommendations and commitments

Provide/Present conclusions about the negative impact level of the strategy, planning and plan to the environment; the degree of negative, positive impact of strategy, planning and plan to environmental issues and climate change; the negative environmental impacts that cannot repair and give causes; the issues are not with the consistency between development requirements and environmental protection;

Specify the environmental issues should be further studied in the process of implementing strategy, planning and plan.

NOTES OF BIODIVERSITY WHEN MAKING EIA REPORT

These references are found in Appendix 2.3 Structure and contents of environmental impact assessment report.

Brief description of the project:

Clearly describe the geographical location (including coordinates under current regulations, boundaries...) of the project implementation area in relation to: The natural objects (roads systems; systems of rivers, lakes and other water sources, forests, biosphere reserves, national parks, natural conservation zones, world natural reserves...).

Assess current state of the natural environment and socio-economics of the

project area:

Data and information on terrestrial biodiversity may be affected by the project, including: habitat and sensitive ecological areas (interior wetlands, natural conservation zones, biosphere reserves, the world natural heritage in and around the project area); distance from the project to closest sensitive ecological areas; area of forest types (if any); list and the current state of the wildlife species, including endangered species, rare that prioritized protection, endemic species in the area that may be affected by the project;


Data and information on marine biodiversity and coastal wetlands may be affected by the project, including the characteristics of marine ecosystems and coastal wetlands, the list and status of species of plankton, benthic fauna, ish and aquatic resources, other seafood (if any).

Assess and forecast the impact to environment in the project phases:

Ensure requirements:

• Each source of impact must be assessed under the impacted subject, the scope and degree of impact, probability of impact and the recoverable of the impacted subjects;

• Need to clarify the source of impacts related to waste: concretize the waste quantity, load and concentration of all parameters characterizing waste of the project and compare with current standards and technical standards regulations, specifying spatial and time of waste generation;

• Need to clarify the source of impacts unrelated to waste (noise, vibration, erosion, slide, collapsed, land subsidence, erosion of river, stream, lake, coast; silting river, stream, lake, seabed, changing water level surface and underground water; salinization; alkaline intrusion, deforestation, vegetation, wildlife, impacts on sensitive ecosystems, impairment environmental degradation components of physical and biological biodiversity change, the impacts of climate change and the impact source unrelated to other waste);

• The most important negative/positive impacts should be evaluated and forecast including: impact on natural environment components; impacts on biodiversity; impact on public health; impact on climate change;

• The assessment and forecast of the impact on public health must clarify the degree of the impacts associated with the scale and scope of affected communities.

Provide comments on the level of detail, the reliability of the assessment and

forecast results

Reviews objectively on the reliability, details of the results of the assessment and forecast of the environmental impacts likely occurred during the project implementation. For the outstanding issues that lack of reliability, must clearly state the objective, subjective reasons, (such as lack of information, data; outdated data, igures; data and igures that self-creation is not suficient accuracy, reliability, lack or reliability of assessment methods are limited; professional level of EIA staff are limited; other causes).

Note: The assessment and prediction of impacts unrelated to waste (such as noise,

vibration, erosion, slide, collapsed, land subsidence, erosion of river, stream, lake,

shore marine; siltation of river, stream, lake, seabed, changing water level surface and

underground water; salinization; alkaline intrusion, deforestation, vegetation, deterioration

of the physical components of the environment; loss, declining biodiversity, etc. ..) must

be clariied the scope and degree of the impacts associated with the factors of time and impacted subjects.


ANNEX 2: TOOLS AND DATA

SOURCES FOR SCOPING AND

SCREENING

A. STRATEGIES

The National Biodiversity Strategy has the following vision for the different levels of biodiversity.

National Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, Vision to 2030

• Improving the quality and the increase the area of protected ecosystems, ensuring that the area of terrestrial PAs account for 9% of the total territorial area;

• MPAs account for 0.24% of the sea area, forest coverage reaches 45%, primary forest remains at 0.57 million hectares coupled with effective protection plans; mangrove forests, sea grass beds, and coral reefs are maintained at the current levels;

• 15% of degraded critical ecosystems are restored;

• the number of internationally recognized PAs are increased to 10 Ramsar wetlands, 10 biosphere reserves and 10 ASEAN heritage parks (AHP);

• Enhancing the populations of rare, threatened and endangered species; and establishing priorities for protection ensuring that no new case of species extinction are reported, signiicantly improve the status of endangered, rare and threatened species;

• Compiling an inventory, store and conserve native, endangered, rare and precious genetic resources (including animals, plants and microorganisms) to ensure that they are not impaired or eroded.


B. ECOLOGICAL REGIONS IN VIETNAM

The following ecological regions are recognised in Vietnam as shown in Figure 5. BIAs should state the ecological regions where they are located, and relate the changes in land use and loss of habitat within these regions.

Figure 5: Ecological regions in Vietnam

A. Terrestrial B. Coastal and Marine

1. North East2. Hoang Lien Son Range3. Red River delta4. North West5. North Central6. Centre Central7. South Central8. Tay Nguyen Plateau9. South East10. Mekong River delta

1. Mong Cai-Do Son2. Do Son river mouth - Lach Truong3. Lach Truong River Mouth - Mui Ron cape4. Mui Ron- Hai Van5. Hai Van pass - Dai Lanh cape6. Dai Lanh - Vung Tau7. Vung Tau- Ca Mau8. South West9. Far Islands (Hoang Xa, Truong Sa)


C. CLASSIFICATION OF FOREST LAND IN VIET NAM

In Vietnam, forest land is divided into three categories:

• Production Forest are earmarked for exploitation in compliance with approved management plans

• Protection Forests are designated to protect land and water sources in critical areas and their exploitation is restricted to mainly non-timber forest products in natural forests.

• Special Use Forests are designated on the basis of their importance for conservation of Vietnam’s biodiversity, science, tourism or cultural and historical heritage. They are further sub-divided into:

- National Parks

- Nature Reserves - this was further divided into two sub-categories:

+ ‘nature reserves’ and

+ ‘habitat/species management areas’;

- Cultural, Historical and Environmental sites (Landscape conservation areas).

Table 12: Types of Special Use Forests

Types of SUFs Number Area (ha)

Natural Park 30 1,077,236

Nature Reserve 58 1,060,959

Species PAs 11 38,777

Landscape PAs 45 78,129

Forests for empirical research 20 10,653

Total 164 2,198,744

Source: Report of Projects on reviewing planning of SUFs (Forest Inventory and Planning Institute,

2007), MARD 2010

D. PROTECTED AREAS IN VIETNAM

The protected area system in Vietnam is divided into four categories:

• Category I - 30 National Parks covering an area of 1,107,236 ha (IUCN Category II);


• Category II - 58 Nature Reserves to cover 1,060,958 ha (IUCN Category III);

• Category III - 11 Species and Habitat Reserves covering 38,777 ha (IUCN Category IV); and

• Category IV - 45 Landscape Protected Areas to encompass 78,129 ha (IUCN Category V).

Under the January 2001 new regulation, Decision No. 08/QD-TTg, Article 7 of Decision 08/2001 for the management of Special Use Forests, three sub-zones have been spelt out. These are;

• Strictly protected;

• Ecological rehabilitation areas; and

• Service and administrative – management speciic facilities but also envisages research facilities, tourism, recreation facilities, and entertainment aspects.

Figure 6: Distribution of protected areas in Vietnam


Table 13: List of National Parks in Vietnam

Region Name of

National

Park

Year

established

Area

(km2)

Location

North west Hoang Lien 2002 298.45 Lao Cai

North East Ba Be 1992 76.10 Bac Kan

North East Bai Tu Long 2001 157.83 Quang Ninh

North East Xuan Son 2002 150.48 Phu Tho

North East Tam Đao 1996 368.83 Vinh Phuc, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang

Red River Delta Ba Vi 1991 73.77 Ha Tay

Red River Delta Cat Ba 1986 152.00 Hai Phong

Red River Delta Cuc Phuong 1994 222.00 Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh

Red River Delta Xuân Thuy 2003 71.00 Nam Đinh

North Central Coast

Ben En 1992 147.35 Thanh Hoa

North Central Coast

Pu Mat 2001 911.13 Nghe An

North Central Coast

Vu Quang 2002 550.28 Ha Tinh

North Central Coast

Phong Nha-Ke Bang

2001; 857.54 Quang Binh

North Central Coast

Bach Ma 1991 220.30 Thua Thien-Hue

Tay Nguyen Chu Mom Ray

2002 566.21 Kon Tum


Region Name of

National

Park

Year

established

Area

(km2)

Location

Tay Nguyen Kon Ka Kinh 2002 417.80 Gia Lai

Tay Nguyen Yok Don 1991 1155.45 Dak Lak

Tay Nguyen Chu Yang Sin

2002 589.47 Dak Lak

Tay Nguyen Bidoup Nui Ba

2004; 648.00 Lam Dong

Dong Nam Bo Cat Tien 1992 738.78 Dong Nai, Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc

Dong Nam Bo Bu Gia Map 2002 260.32 Binh Phuoc

Dong Nam Bo Con Dao 1993 150.43 Ba Ria–Vung Tau

Dong Nam Bo Lo Go-Xa Mat

2002 187.65 Tay Ninh

Mekong Delta Tram Chim 1994 75.88 Dong Thap

Mekong Delta U Minh Thuong

2002 80.53 Kien Giang

Mekong Delta Cape Ca Mau

2003 418.62 Ca Mau

Mekong Delta U Minh Ha 2006 82.86 Ca Mau

Mekong Delta Phuoc Binh 2006 198.14 Ninh Thuan

Mekong Delta Nui Chua 2003 296.73 Ninh Thuan

Mekong Delta Phu Quoc 2001 314.22 Kien Giang


I. Internationally Recognized Biodiversity Areas

By 2013, Vietnam had established the following internationally recognized biodiversity areas:

• 9 x Biosphere Reserves:

- Cat Ba Island Biosphere Reserves;

- Biosphere Reserves of the Red River Delta;

- Western Nge An;

- Cat Tien National Park;

- Biosphere Reserves of Ca Mau;

- Coastal islands Biosphere Reserves in Kien Giang;

- Biosphere Reserve of Can Gio Mangrove Forest; and

- Cu Lao Cham Biosphere Reserve;

- Lang Bian (Lam Dong).

• 2 x Natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites:

- Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park; and

- Bai Tu Long National Park of Ha Long Bay.

• 6 x Ramsar sites:

- Xuan Thuy National Park, Nam Dinh;

- Bau Sau site of Cat Tien National Park, Dong Nai;

- Ba Be Lake, Bac Can;

- Tram Chim National Park, Dong Thap;

- Ca Mau National Park, Ca Mau;

- Con Dao National Park.

• 4 x ASEAN Heritage Sites:

- Hoang Lien National Park;

- Ba Be National Park;

- Chu Mom Ray;

- Kon Ka Kinh.

II. The national system of Inland Water Protected Areas (IWPAs)

Decision No 1479/QD-TTG of October 13 2008 approved the national system of 45 IWPAs to be established by 2020. This includes, but is not limited to, important river sections, natural lakes, man-made reservoirs, lagoons, estuaries, and seasonally inundated grasslands14. Between the years 2009-2011 the Ministry of Agriculture and

14 Decision 1479/QĐ-TTg dated October 13th, 2008 Approving the planning on the system of inland water conservation areas up to 2020.


Rural Development developed a detailed plan for ive national inland water PAs including: Da-Lo-Thao River, Lak Lake, Ca Mau coastal area, Red River estuary and Hau River.

iii. National system of Wetland Protected Areas

Vietnam is reported to have over 10 million hectares of land classiied as wetlands. In 2001 MONRE proposed to protect 68 wetland areas with high biodiversity, and of these sites the Prime Minister approved 17 sites to be included in the SUF national system. Some sites have piloted and demonstrated approaches to management of these wetlands in line with guidance from the Ramsar Convention (e.g. Ramsar sites as Xuan Thuy in Nam Dinh, and Bau Sau in Dong Nai).

Table 14: Wetland sites of national and international importance by

geographical distribution

No. Region Number of

wetland site

Area (ha)

1 Northwest 1 20,800

2 Northeast 4 54,110

3 Red River Delta 16 45,519

4 North Central 6 114,519

5 South Central Coast 15 50,870

6 Highlands 11 20,217

7 Southeast 4 70,600

8 Mekong Delta 10 75,478

Source: Vietnam Environment Administration (2009)

iv. The national system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

On 26 May 2010 the Government issued Decision No.742/QDTTG 2010 approving the plan for a national system marine protected areas to be established by 2020 including 16 MPAs with an area of 169,617 ha of coastal and marine territory. The goal by 2015 is irstly to have at least 0.24% of Vietnam’s waters contained within MPAs, and secondly to have at least 30% of the area of each MPA be strictly conserved15. There are ive MPAs currently operating, namely: Nha Trang Bay, Cu Lao Cham, Nui Chua, Phu Quoc and Con Dao.


Table 15: Vietnam’s national system of MPAs

No MPA Local Region Area (ha) Marine

area

(ha)

1 Tran Island Quang Ninh Northeast 4,200 3,900

2 Co To Quang Ninh Northeast 78,500 4,000

3 Bach Long Vi

Hai Phong Red river delta 20,700 10,900

4 Cat Ba Hai Phong Red river delta 20,700 10,900

5 Hon Me Thanh Hoa North Central 6,700 6,200

6 Con Co Quang Tri North Central 24,900 2,140

7 Hai Van- Son Tra

Hue-Da Nang North Central / South Central

17,039 7,626

8 Cu Lao Cham

Quang Nam South Central 8,265 6,716

9 Ly Son Quang Ngai South Central 7,925 7,113

10 Nam Yet Khanh Hoa South Central 35 20,000

11 Nha Trang Bay

Khanh Hoa South Central 15 12,000

12 Nui Chua Ninh Thuận South Central 29,865 73,52

13 Phu Quy Binh Thuan South Central 18,980 16,680

14 Hon Cau Binh Thuan South Central 12,500 12,390

15 Con Dao Ba Ria-Vung Tau

Southeast 29,400 23,000

16 Phu Quoc Kien Giang Mekong Delta 33,657 18,700

Source: According to 742/QĐ-TTg Decision No. 26/5/2010 by the Prime Minister

15 Decision 742/QĐ-TTg dated 26th May, 2010 approving the planning of inland water protected area system by 2020


v. Nature Reserves

There are 14 Nature Reserves, which are distributed over the total land area of the country, including coastal zones. These are:

• South Eastern area - Cần Giờ Biosphere Reserve;

• Central Highlands - Kon Cha Rang Nature Reserve.

• South central region -

- Ba Na Nui Chua Nature Reserve; and

- Cu Lao Cham Nature Reserve.

• North central region - the Pu Luong Nature Reserve.

• North western region

- Muong Nhe Nature Reserve;

- Pa Co-Hang Kia Nature Reserve;

- Sop Cop Nature Reserve;

- Thuong Tien Nature Reserve; and

- Xuan Nha Nature Reserve.

• Mekong Delta

- Lung Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve;

- Nui Cam Nature Reserve;

- Thanh Phu Nature Reserve; and

- Vo Doi Nature Reserve.

vi. Key Biodiversity Areas

The Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) approach is a consistent methodology for identifying and mapping important natural habitat at this site scale — the scale of individual protected areas, concessions and land management units. These sites are identiied at a national level by local stakeholders using a set of transparent and globally standardized criteria, most notably building from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, BirdLife International’s Important Bird Areas, Plantlife International’s Important Plant Areas, IUCN’s Important Sites for Freshwater Biodiversity, and sites identiied by the Alliance for Zero Extinction. To meet the KBA criteria, a site must contain:

• One or more globally threatened species;

• One or more endemic species which are globally restricted to the site or surrounding region;


• Signiicant concentrations of a species (e.g. important migratory stops, nesting sites, nurseries or breeding areas); and/or

• Globally signiicant examples of unique habitat types and species assemblages.

The identiication of Key Biodiversity Areas in Vietnam is helpful for planners and developers to identify those areas of the country that are particularly important for biodiversity. Any development projects in these areas would need to have a biodiversity impact assessment undertaken as part of the EIA, especially where the area has limited protected area coverage.

IBAs are sites identiied as a conservation priority for bird species based on four criteria: presence of globally threatened species; signiicant populations of restricted range species; a representative sample of biome-restricted species; important congregations of species. This model of site prioritization was pioneered by BirdLife International and has been used by other organizations to deine similarly important sites for other groups of species, culminating in the development of the KBA concept.

Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites are the last refuges for some of the highest threatened species on the planet. AZE sites are discrete areas that contain 95% of the known global population of an Endangered (EN) or Critically Endangered (CR) species or 95% of one life history segment (e.g. breeding or wintering) of an EN or CR species. The loss of an AZE site would result in the extinction of a species in the wild. These sites are effectively the subset of Key Biodiversity Areas and Important Bird Areas which are the most immediate priority for conservation action.

Figure 7: Map of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in Vietnam

Hoang Sa

Truong Sa


Table 16: Protected area coverage of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in Vietnam

All KBAs Terrestrial/

inland water

KBAs

Coastal/

Marine

KBAs

Number of KBAs 62 56 6

% KBAs with complete (>98%) coverage

30.7% 32.1% 16.7%

% KBAs with partial coverage 17.7% 19.6% 0.0%

% KBAs with no (<2%) coverage 51.6% 48.2% 83.3%

Mean % area of each KBA covered 37.8% 40.0% 16.7%

Source: The KBA statistics presented here derive from a spatial analysis of Important Bird and

Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), Alliance for Zero Extinction sites (AZEs) and data from the World

Database of Protected Areas (WDPA). The analysis was undertaken using the January 2013

release of the WDPA (with supplementary data for Estonia and Australia), the 2010 update for

AZEs and the March 2013 spatial dataset for IBAs (supplemented with local knowledge where

available). KBAs identiied as part of the CEPF hotspot proiling process were not included unless they are also an IBA or AZE site.

Figure 16 shows the list of KBAs and AZEs in Vietnam that lie outside protected areas. Further information and facts sheets on each of these sites can be obtained from the IBAT for conservation website https://www.ibat-alliance.org/ibat-conservation/login.


Table 17: List of KBAs and AZE sites with zero or partial coverage (≤98%) by protected areas

Site name Percentage of area protected

A Yun Pa 0.0%

An Hai 0.0%

Ba Tri 0.5%

Bac Lieu 0.0%

Ban Bung 0.0%

Ban Thi-Xuan Lac 0.0%

Bat Dai Son Nature Reserve 0.0%

Bi Dup-Nui Ba 73.0%

Binh Dai 0.0%

Ca Mau 0.0%

Can Gio 0.0%

Che Tao 0.0%

Chu Prong 0.0%

Chua Hang 0.0%

Cong Troi 4.7%

Dak Dam 0.0%

Dakrong 0.0%

Du Gia 0.0%

Ea So 0.0%

Fan Si Pan 60.2%

Ha Nam 0.0%

Ha Tien 6.6%

Khe Net (part of Ke Go and Khe Net complex AZE)

1.6%

Kien Luong 0.1%


Kon Plong 0.0%

Lang Sen 0.0%

Nghia Hung 0.0%

Ngoc Linh 60.4%

Phong Dien 0.0%

Phuoc Binh 9.3%

Sinh Long 0.0%

Tay Con Linh 0.0%

Thai Thuy 0.0%

Tien Lang 0.0%

Tra Co 0.0%

Tra Cu 0.0%

Trung Khanh 30.3%

Tuyen Lam 7.4%

U Minh Thuong 87.3%

Van Ban 0.0%

Ya Lop 0.0%

List of AZEs with zero or partial coverage (≤98%) by protected areas

Bat Dai Son Nature Reserve 0.0%

Khe Net (part of Ke Go and Khe Net complex AZE)

1.6%

Trung Khanh 30.3%

Source: BirdLife International, IUCN, Conservation International and UNEP World Conservation

Monitoring Centre (2015). IBAT for Research and Conservation planning country factsheet:

Vietnam.

vii. Sourcebook of Existing and Proposed Protected Areas in Vietnam.

A useful reference for protected areas in Vietnam is the Sourcebook of Existing and Proposed Protected Areas in Vietnam.


Sourcebook of Existing and

Proposed Protected Areas in

Vietnam: Second Edition

The Sourcebook of Existing and Proposed Protected Areas in Vietnam provides a comprehensive overview of Vietnam’s protected areas systems (Special-use Forests, marine protected areas and wetland protected areas). It is aimed protected area planners and practitioners; provincial and central government agencies; research institutions; NGOs; and donor agencies.

The irst edition of the Sourcebook was published in 2001 by the BirdLife International Vietnam Programme and the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), with inancial support from the European Union. The second edition of the Sourcebook (2004), which has been compiled by BirdLife International in Indochina and MARD, with inancial support from the World Bank and the Royal Netherlands Government, builds on the irst, providing a comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the information currently available on existing and proposed protected areas in Vietnam. In particular, the second edition is intended to provide:

• Reliable, up-to-date information on the location, status and values of Vietnam’s protected areas, as a resource for planners and decision-makers at international, national and provincial levels;

• Baseline data for monitoring the impacts of national and provincial policies and plans on protected areas;

• A resource for training, awareness and educational activities, of particular potential value at the provincial, district, site and project levels; and

• A tool to support the implementation of the Vietnam Conservation Fund.

The Sourcebook contains site cards for 208 existing and proposed protected areas in Vietnam. Each site card summarises the existing information available about the site, and directs the reader to more detailed sources of information. The Sourcebook has been produced in loose-leaf format, to facilitate copying and updating. Users are encouraged to copy and use the information contained herein for conservation and environmental awareness purposes. The Sourcebook is available in both Vietnamese and English, and is also available in CD Rom and on-line versions.

http://thiennhienviet.org.vn/sourcebook/source_book_vn/index_VN.html


E. MAPPING PROTECTED AREAS

Biodiversity Impact Assessments should identify all Protected Areas close to the project area, especially if the project is located inside a PA. Trung Son Hydropower Project lies within 5 – 10 km of three Nature Reserves – Xuan Nha, Pu Hu and Hang Kia – Pa Co. Whilst the dam construction and reservoir inundation does not directly affect these Nature Reserves, the EIA recognized the impacts that dam construction would have upon the disturbance, logging and use of wildlife from these nature reserves, due to increased access. The EMP for the project committed to working to support the management of these nature reserves e.g. through construction of ranger posts and provision of equipment (Figure 8).

Figure 8: The Trung Son Hydropower Project is located close to three Nature

Reserves

Source: Integrated Environments Ltd for Trung Son Hydropower Project Management Board

(2009) Trung Son Hydropower Project – Supplementary Environmental and Social Impact

Assessment.

The SEA of the Vu Gia Thu Bon river basins prepared a map showing the distribution of the three different forest types – Production, Protection and SUF forests in the two river basins Figure 12 4. The map clearly shows the wide distribution of Production forests with speciic of Protection Forest areas being used to protect watershed. The Special Use Forests tend to be in the higher parts of the catchment, although there are some patches of SUF lower down.


Figure 9: Classiication of forest types in the Vu Gia- Thu Bon catchment

Source: ICEM, 2008, Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Quang Nam Province

hydropower Plan for the Vu Gia-Thu Bon River Basin. Prepared for the ADB, MONRE,

MOITT and EVN. Hanoi, Vietnam

F. ECOSYSTEM-BASED APPROACH

The ecosystem-based approach has been demonstrated in a number of different areas:

• Facilitating green corridors linking PAs in Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, and Gia Lai Provinces,

• Promoting integrated coastal zone management in Nam Dinh, Thua Thien-Hue and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces;

• Eco-regional based approach in the initiative for biodiversity conservation for Central Annamite Conservation;

• Landscape-based watershed management for Ca River (Nghe An), A Vuong River (Quang Nam), and Dong Nai River;

• Ecosystem-based management of Bau Sau wetlands, Cat Tien National Park;

• Ecosystem-based biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in the Lower Mekong River Basin;

• Application of the ecosystem-based approach for biodiversity conservation in Yok Don National Park (Dak Lak) and Ba Be National Park (Bac Kan).

Thu Bon River Basin. Prepared for the ADB, MONRE, MOITT and EVN. Hanoi, Vietnam


G. RECOGNISED BIODIVERSITY CORRIDORS

Biodiversity corridors connect protected areas together allowing animals and plants to migrate and move, provide opportunities for adaptation to climate change and other habitat modiications. A biodiversity corridor can enhance the role of linking ecosystems through the protection and strengthening the food chain and ecological processes. The following corridors have been recognised in Vietnam and any development projects in these areas would need biodiversity impact assessment.

“Green Corridor” Project

The “Green Corridor” Project (2004-2008) focused on building models to protect and maintain the value of important forest landscapes. The project planned green corridors to connect Phong Dien Nature Reserve with Bach Ma National Park in Hue Province. This area is vital for the biological integrity of the wider landscape of Truong Son eco-region. The corridor is large with area of 134,000 ha, located on the territory of 11 communes in the 3 districts of A Luoi, Huong Thuy and South-east.

Lam Dong biodiversity corridor

The small- scale project titled “Pilot program to develop biodiversity corridor in Lam Dong,

Vietnam” 2005-2006 was supported by the World Bank (WB). The selected corridor is a part of expanding forest landscape from Chung Yang Sin National Park (Dak Lak) to Ta Dung SUF (Dak Nong) of Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park, under the management of Da Nhim Protection Forest Management Board.

Corridor linking Kon Ka Kinh National Park to Kon Chu Rang nature reserve

From April 2006-2010 the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded the project “Develop

Corridors and Sustainably Manage Kon Ka Kinh National Park and Kon Chu Rang Nature

Reserve”. The goal of the project was to build plans, foundations and management to maintain biodiversity and connect Kon Ka Kinh National Park with Kon Chu Rang Nature Reserve with the long term aim to preserve and sustainably conserve the unique biodiversity characteristics of Central Truong Son.

Biodiversity Conservation Initiative (BCI) in the Mekong sub-region

Critical Environmental Programs - Biodiversity Conservation Initiative (CEP-BCI) pilot was implemented in Quang Tri and Quang Nam from 2006 to 2011. This was expanded to Cao Bang, Quang Tri and Quang Nam, which were located in Central Truong Son from 2010-2012. The area faces a high level of fragmentation of habitat due to road construction including the East - West economic corridor, and the Ho Chi Minh Highway from North to South.


The Quang Tri - Quang Nam BCI proposed developing six biodiversity corridors with a total area of 130,000 hectares, including a system within the Vu Gia River’s upstream area, Thu Bon River, Quang Nam and Phong Dien Nature Reserve, a part of A Luoi, upstream of Ta Trach River, Thua Thien-Hue, North Huong Hoa Nature Reserve, Dak Rong Nature Reserve and Northern Huong Hoa. The corridor system is currently being further developed by the project named the Greater Mekong Sub-region Biodiversity

Conservation Corridors Projects (Vietnam component) - Phase 2 (2011-2019).

Pilot activities in Cao Bang - Guangxi were initiated in 2010 in the trans-boundary biodiversity corridors to improve ecological connectivity in the border area. The project aims to enhance biodiversity connections between the newly established Bangliang Guangxi Nature Reserve, China, to Cao Bang, Vietnam, to protect Cao-vit, the Black-crested Gibbon and the Eastern Black-crested Gibbon (Nomascus nasutus) which are globally threatened.

The Greater Mekong Sub-region Biodiversity Conservation Corridors Projects

(Vietnam component) - Phase 2 (2011-2019).

Biodiversity corridors will be established between three provinces, namely Quang Nam, Quang Tri and Thua – Hue, with a total area of 227,860 ha, of which 193,516 hectares is forest, connecting the Phong Dien Nature Reserve, Ho Chi Minh road (A Luoi District), upstream of Ta Trach river (Nam Dong district) in Hue province and Dak Rong and Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserves in Quang Tri.

H. USING AND MAPPING BIODIVERSITY

The ICEM (2008) SEA of Biodiversity and hydropower development identiied key biodiversity datasets in ive main layers:

• Topography – generated from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) produced by the NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission and distributed through the US Geological Survey. This model has a resolution of 90 m. Small voids (which existed predominantly in mountainous regions) were illed using a minimum ilter, creating a seamless DEM for whole of Vietnam;

• Karst areas and peat swamps – based on a 2002 land cover map for Vietnam prepared by the Forest Inventory and Planning Institute (FIPI)16;

• Rivers – extrapolated from the DEM;

• Terrestrial natural habitats - based on a 2002 land cover map for Vietnam prepared by FIPI and using a methodology from Wege et al. (1999)17 with modiied thresholds (identiied at the SEA scoping workshop of key stakeholders). FIPI land cover classiications considered natural18 were separated by ecoregion19 and


16 Classify ‘rocky mountain with tree cover’ & ‘rocky mountain without tree cover’ as karst area, ‘swamp’ as peat swamp.

17 Wege, D. C., Long, A. J., Mai Ky Vinh, Vu Van Dung and Eames, J. C. (1999) Expanding the protected areas network in Vietnam for the 21st Century: An analysis of current system with recommendations for equitable expansion. BirdLife International Vietnam Programme, Hanoi.

18 These comprised bamboo forest, deciduous forest, mangrove forest, medium forest, mixed broadleaf and bamboo forest, mixed broadleaf and coniferous forest, natural coniferous forest, natural timber forest (uncategorised), poor forest, medium and rich regeneration forest, rich forest, rocky mountain with and without tree cover, semi-deciduous forest, swamp, waterbodies, and young forest. These classiications are just some of those on the most recent oficial forest classiication in Vietnam [FIPI (1997) Classiication of forest types, unpublished report] and using the most recent land use/land cover map [FIPI 2002]. This dataset is currently under revision, in part to reduce the current overlaps between classes of ‘natural forest’ and classes of ‘timber forest’.

19 Olson, D. M, E. Dinerstein, E.D. Wikramanayake, N.D. Burgess, G.V.N. Powell, E.C. Underwood, J.A. D’amico, I. Itoua, H.E. Strand, J.C. Morrison, C.J. Loucks, T.F. Allnutt, T.H. Ricketts, Y. Kura, J.F. Lamoreux, W.W.Wettengel, P. Hedao, & K.R. Kassem. 2001. Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth. BioScience 51: 933-938.

20 Tordoff, A. W., Tran Quoc Bao, Nguyen Duc Tu and Le Manh Hung eds. (2004) Sourcebook of existing and proposed protected areas in Vietnam. Second edition. Hanoi: BirdLife International in Indochina and MARD

21 Key Biodiversity Areas are internationally important sites for the conservation of biodiversity, identiied according to objective, scientiic criteria (Eken, G., Bennun, L., Brooks, T. M., Darwall, W., Fishpool, L. D. C., Foster, M., Knox, D., Langhammer, P., Matiku, P., Radford, E., Salaman, P., Sechrest, W., Smith, M. L., Spector, S. and Tordoff, A. (2004) Key Biodiversity Areas as site conservation targets. BioScience 54 (12): 1110-1118.)

22 CEPF (in prep) Ecosystem proile: Indo-Burma Hotspot, Indochina Region. Washington DC: Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

23 IUCN, MoNRE, and FIPI (2001) Cac Vung Dat Ngap Nuoc: Co gia tri da dang sinh hoc va moi truong cua

Viet Nam [Wetlands of Biodiversity and Environmental Importance in Vietnam] IUCN, MoNRE and FIPI, Hanoi

altitudinal band width (<300, 300-800, 800-1,200, and >1,200 m) giving 638 classes of ‘natural habitats’ in Vietnam; and

• Critical natural habitats - prepared by overlaying a map of existing and oficially proposed protected areas (based on the data included in Sourcebook of Existing and Proposed Protected Areas in Vietnam20) with a map of Key Biodiversity Areas21

(based on data in the Ecosystem Proile for the Indochina Region ) and a map of nationally important wetlands.

I. ENDANGERED SPECIES IN VIETNAM

The 5th national report to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2014) states that the Vietnam Red List (2007) identiied 882 species (418 animals and 464 plants) as threatened and endangered. This represented an increase of 161 species considered as threatened from the irst assessment (1992-1996 – the irst edition of the Vietnam Red List). Also between the irst and second assessment were ten species that moved from being classiied as “Endangered – EN” to “Extinct in the wild-EW”.


Table 18: Vietnam Red List (2007): Classiication of threatened status and number of species

Taxon EX EW CR EN VU LR DD

Flora 1 37 178 210 4

Magnoliophyta - Dicots - Monocots

1 294

9669

14734 3

Pinophyta 4 4 18 1

Pteridophyta 1 1

Lycophyta 1

Rhodophyta 5 2

Phaeophyta 4

Mycophyta 3 3

Fauna 4 5 48 113 189 17 30

Mammalia 4 1 12 30 30 5 8

Bird 11 17 25 11 9

Reptile-Amphibian 1 11 22 19

Fish 3 4 28 51 3

Invertebrate 10 16 64 1 10

Note: EX: Extinct; EW: Extinct in the wild; CR: Critically endangered; EN: Endangered; VU:

Vulnerable; LR: Low risk; DD: Data Deicient

Source: 5th National report to Convention on Biological Diversity, 2014. BCA, MONRE

Important information on the threatened status of species can be found in the IUCN Red List http://www.iucnredlist.org/ and in the BirdLife Data Zone http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/home and in the Protected Planet website http://www.protectedplanet.net/, which is the online interface for the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), a joint project of IUCN and UNEP, and the most comprehensive global database on terrestrial and marine protected areas.


The ranges of species can be identiied using the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) for Research and Conservation Planning provides integrated information at the site scale – at the level of individual parks, concessions or other ine-scale management units, and information on globally threatened species. IBAT allows users to explore supporting information behind these data, and helps users understand the extent of data quality and coverage. IBAT also situates this data within the wider context by including information on broad-scale global conservation priorities. https://www.ibat-alliance.org/ibat-conservation.

J. LANDSCAPE LEVEL ASSESSMENTS FOR IMPACTS ON RANGES

OF ENDANGERED SPECIES

The Environmental Management Plan for the Trung Son Hydropower Project (TSHPP) noted how close the proposed project was to known ranges of the Tiger, Panthera tigris corbetti. The EMP mapped the Tiger Conservation Landscapes in Indo-China, and tigers are known to occur in the vicinity of the dam. The Forest Protection Department of MARD has proposed a Tiger Action Plan (2005 – 2010) to ensure the survival of existing tiger populations and their habitats as part of Vietnam’s biodiversity conservation. The long term goal of the Tiger Action Plan is to improve the protection and management of key tiger populations and their habitats in top priority conservation landscapes, through measures that can be sustained over the long term by governments, local communities and stakeholders. The EMP of the project has committed to working with MARD and MONRE to supporting the Tiger Action Plan as part of the TSHPP biodiversity and Protected Area plan.



Figure 10: Tiger Conservation Landscapes and the Trung Son

Hydropower Project

Source: EVN, Trung Son Hydropower Project Management Board (2011) Environmental

management Plan of Trung Son Hydropower Project.


ANNEX 3: TOOLS FOR SCOPING

A. SCOPING CHECKLISTS

Scoping is a key step for identifying possible impacts before studying the detail during the baseline and impact assessment stages. Table 20 provides a checklist to identify potential impacts on biodiversity at different phases of a project. Table 21 provides a checklist of potential impacts associated with different activities during road construction.

Table 19: Scoping checklist to identify potential impacts on biodiversity

Phase Activity Sources of potential effects upon

biodiversity

Issues

for

inclusion

in BIA

Pre-

Consent

Site selection Potential changes in land use that may affect wildlife habitats (and thereby conservation prospects), resource crisis for dependent communities and increased conlict

Site investigation/exploration

Physical impacts to site from exploratory activities involving movement and use of equipment for drilling and testing

Environmental surveys

Disturbance and other impacts resulting from sampling and surveys



biodiversity

Issues

for

inclusion

in BIA

Pre-

Construction

Site acquisition/ requisitioning

Abandonment of normal land use once land is acquired, neglect or removal of trees and destruction of other habitat components.

Advance mitigation

Earth moving, planting and other mitigation works in advance of commencement of main construction

Site preparation

Permanent and temporary land take, earth moving, soil stripping, overburden removal and disposal, increased access and physical disturbance, water abstraction and drainage works, fencing.

Construction

Stages

Construction Storage and handling of materials, construction activities, earth moving, soil and sub soil compaction and stripping, blasting, drilling, piling, water abstraction and drainage works, tunnels, culverts, labour camps, resource use, access by vehicles, accidental spillages, noise, vibration, light, disruption of access to public and wildlife habitats

Restoration of construction works

Translocation from other sites, seeding, turing, planting and cultivating, use of equipment, local resources, vehicular access, storage of materials, movement, soil and sub soil handling, testing and site investigations /surveys.

Commissioning Inspection, testing, repairing, altering, moving and otherwise modifying project, often at short notice



biodiversity

Issues

for

inclusion

in BIA

Operation

Operational phase

Gaseous and particulate emissions, noise, vibration, disturbance, efluents, light, water abstraction and discharges, vehicular access and parking, increased vulnerability of local lora and fauna to threats.

Monitoring Frequent use of site for monitoring, natural resource use investigations, surveys etc., repair, maintenance, replacement, emergencies (foreseen and unforeseen), maintenance and repair as project progresses in time

Decommiss-

ioning and

Restoration

Decommiss-ioning

Run-down in outputs, changes in balance of emissions and efluents, changes in noise and disturbance, light, water abstraction and discharges, luctuations in outputs and activity

Demolition/ removal

Storage and handling of materials, demolition activities, earth moving, soil compaction, blasting, drilling, water abstraction and drainage works, tunnels, culverts, access by vehicles and equipment, compounds, parking, accidental spillages, noise, vibration, light, disruption to public access and resource use

Restoration Translocation from other sites, seeding, turing, planting and cultivating. Compounds, use of plant and equipment, vehicular access, storage of materials, movement, soil and sub soil handling, testing and site investigations/surveys.



biodiversity

Issues

for

inclusion

in BIA

After Care Testing and site investigations/surveys, continuing effects of translocation from other sites, seeding, turing, planting and cultivating

Ongoing management

Restrictions on after use of land and ongoing management options as a result of project having occurred


practitioners and reviewers in South Asia, 2007

Table 20: Checklist for scoping impacts of large infrastructure

projects, e.g. roads

Potential impact Scale of

impactQuantiication/

description

0, Low,

Medium, High

Habitat loss effects

Permanent habitat loss on site;

Temporary habitat loss on site e.g. land taken up by construction equipment/ temporary roads;

Physical removal of soils and vegetation.

Habitat fragmentation effects

Reduced habitat connectivity in the landscape – can disrupt the established relationships between different habitats or patches of the same habitat e.g. routes linking sleeping or roosting areas to feeding grounds or migration routes may be physically interrupted;




description

0, Low,

Medium, High

Barrier effects on species – can affect the movement of wildlife: population viability may be affected if populations of a scarce species are separated especially if they have poor dispersal activities;

Increased mortality due to wildlife casualties;

Edge effects – if vegetation is removed the new linear gap creates a new microclimate and a change in physical conditions which can extend varying distances from the road edge. This newly created habitat may provide habitat for edge species and facilitate dispersal for some species;

Reduced patch size - may reduce populations of key plant species, which in turn may affect the abundance of insects. These require a minimum area to sustain viable populations and may in turn affect other species e.g. predatory birds. Also small patch size may not be able to support the range of habitat structure needed to sustain a range of different species.

Changes in habitat quality and other indirect impacts

Changes to natural processes

Groundwater regimes - changes in the groundwater regime may adversely affect habitats dependent on the water table e.g. marsh, fen and bog. Depending on the geology, lowering the water table can impact habitats a considerable distance from the development;




description

0, Low,

Medium, High

Stream/river lows - Increases or reductions in natural rates of low e.g. lash looding from hard surfaces may affect aquatic ecosystems. Accumulation of construction spoil can alter low, volume and composition of water. These increased solids increase turbidity which can cause abrasion damage and gill blockage in ish and lead to the disappearance of ilter feeding invertebrates;

Flooding regimes;

Soil leaching and changes in soil structure;

Soil erosion patterns.

Water pollution

Water pollution from accidental spillages, chemicals, runoff and road spray can lead to adverse changes in aquatic biodiversity as can changes in sediment and solid loads in watercourses.

Soil pollution

Road spray, vehicle emissions and dust and other particulates (including aggregate and sealant materials used in road construction) can be deposited directly on the land or by polluted precipitation and by polluted groundwater. These can change soil pH and structure. Soil conditions can also greatly alter the effective toxicity of pollutants.

Air pollution




description

0, Low,

Medium, High

Emissions of lead, zinc, nitrogen and particulates such as dust can affect biodiversity.

Changes to microclimate

Light and radiation emissions may alter the microclimate. These microclimatic changes may be suficiently great to alter the performance of some species of plants and animals.

Disturbance

Fauna can be disturbed by noise, lighting and vibrations from trafic and by road lighting.

Introduction of exotics

The edge habitat or ecotone and trafic on the road may facilitate dispersal for some species. This may result in dispersal and establishment of alien and invasive species or pest species that may have secondary effects on biological communities.

Changes to habitat management

E.g. frequency of verge cutting.

Public pressure

Surrounding habitats may be placed under increasing public pressure, because of access, leading to effects including the disturbance of animals, and physical destruction of ground lora. Also litter may accumulate along roads.




description

0, Low,

Medium, High

Off-site habitat losses and changes in habitat quality

In relation to the obtaining and disposal of materials e.g. mining for aggregates for road building.

Cumulative effects

Even relatively minor habitat loss, fragmentation and indirect impacts of an individual road project can, when added to other past, present and reasonably foreseeable future impacts of other projects and activities, contribute to signiicant impacts in an area. All relevant types of future projects and activities should be considered (i.e. not just other road projects) including induced development.

Positive effects

Habitat enhancement

Improved habitat management

New structures e.g. bridges and tunnels may provide habitats for some species e.g. bats

Habitat creation


Schemes, 2000


C1 Vegetation & soil stripping X X X X X X X X X

C2 Other earthworks X X X X X X X X X X

C3 Noise & vibrations (blasting &

excavations)

X X X

C4 Construction of structures and

hard surfaces

X X X X X X X X X X X X X

C5 Construction of barriers to

wildlife movement (berms,

fences, median barriers)

X X X X X

C6 Construction camps (including

waste disposal and disturbed

area) within the core zone

X X X X X X X X X X X X

C7 Construction site drainage X X X

C8 Air pollution & dust suppression X X X X X X

B. SCOPING MATRICES

Scoping matrices are often used to summarise potentially impacting activities and the biodiversity components that may be affected. Table 22 shows the example of a scoping matrix of activities with potential biodiversity impacts for the EIA of the road through Chu Yang Sin National Park. This is divided into both construction and operational activities (C1-C18 = construction phase activities, O1-O7 = operational phase activities).

Table 21: Matrix of potential impacting activities upon biodiversity components in

the road EIA through Chu Yang Sin NP.

BP1

Hab

itat i

nteg

rity

BP2

Hab

itat q

ualit

y

BP3

Hab

itat c

onne

ctiv

ity

BP4

Spec

ies

com

posi

tion

BP5

Rar

e/en

dang

ered

spe

cies

BP6

Spec

ies

inte

ract

ion

BP7

Land

scap

e/ae

sthe

tic q

ualit

yB

P8Su

rface

wat

er q

ualit

yB

P9R

iver

mor

phol

ogy

BP1

0To

pogr

aphy

& s

oils

SC1

His

toric

site

sSC

2Pa

rk a

cces

sibi

lity

SC3

PMB

ina

ncia

l sel

f-suf

icie

ncy

SC4

Eco-

tour

ism

SC5

Nat

iona

l Par

k st

atus

SC6

Com

mun

ity[1

] dev

elop

men

tSC

7C

omm

unity

-CYS

NP

conn

ectiv

ity

ENVIRONMENTAL COMPONENTS

POTENTIAL IMPACT-ING ACTIVITIES


C9 Cut disposal/removal X X X X X X X X X X X

C10 Temporary access routes X X X X X X X X X X X

C11 Lighting X X X X

C12 Movement of vehicles &

machinery

X X X X X X X

C13 Disturbance associated with

presence of construction staff

X X X X X X

C14 New planting X X X X X X

C15 Environmental incidents &

accidents

X X X X X

C16 Fill and construction material

stockpiling, including location

of quarries and borrow pits

X X X X X X X X X X

C17 Enlargement of disturbance

corridor for machinery access

X X X X X X X X

C18 Wildlife exploitation by

construction workforce

X X X

O1 Trafic use X X X X X X X X X X

O2 Operational drainage X X X

O3 Lighting & additional

infrastructure

X X X X X X X

O4 Management of planting/

embankment stabilisation

X X X X

O5 Maintenance operations and

scheduling

X X X X X X X X

O6 Rest stops/sightseeing points X X X X X X X X X X X

O7 Checkpoint & access

management

x x X X X X X X X

Source: ICEM (2010) Assessment of proposed road & trail developments in the core zone of Chu

Yang Sin National Park. For Birdlife International & Chu Yang Sin Park Management Board.


C. DEVELOPING TERMS OF REFERENCE

The following questions were used for deining the terms of reference for ICEM’s Pilot Strategic Environmental Assessment in the hydropower sub-sector – Vietnam.

Box 10: Questions identiied in the Terms of Reference

• What are the cumulative biodivessity impacts of the proposed hydropower plan?

• What are the alternative approaches to illing critical information gaps?

• What are the options for mitigating the programme’s potential impacts?

• How effective are existing project by project mitigation approaches?

• What are alternative/complementary approaches such as offset measures?

• What are the recommended approaches to on-site mitigation and program and programme – level mitigation and compensation?

• What are the resource implications of alternative approaches?

Source: ICEM and BirdLife International (2007) Risks to Biodiversity in the 6th Power Development

Plan. Prepared for the World Bank, MONRE, MOIT and EVN.


ANNEX 4: DESCRIBING THE BASELINE

BIODIVERSITY CONDITIONS

A. IDENTIFYING THE GEOGRAPHIC AREAS OF IMPACT

It is important to identify the different areas that will be impacted by different parts of the project and to map these impact zones. The project activities in these zones will have different types and scales of impacts. The Supplementary EIA for the Na Hang Dam, Tuyen Quang Province, carried out in 2002, focused upon the impacts of the dam upon nearby populations of the Critically Endangered Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey. A map, Figure 11, was used to identify the different impact areas, and alternative dam sites. These included the dam sites, the quarries and the reservoir area. The impacts at the dam site includes all construction type impacts, as well as changes in low in the river; the reservoir area impacts include loss of forest habitat and looding of the river gorge; the quarry site impacts include loss of habitat, blasting and disposal of waste material and rehabilitation.

Figure 11: Map showing the three alternative dam sites, reservoir area and

quarries for the Na Hang dam, Tuyen Quang

Source: IUCN, 2002, Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment of the Tuyen Quang

Dam, Vietnam. Final Report, PARC Project VIE/95/G31&031, Government of Vietnam (FPD)/

UNOPS/UNDP/IUCN, Ha Noi.

( d)2

are

)

)


B. MAPPING OF HABITATS

One of the irst tasks for developing the baseline will be to map the habitats. This can be done using GIS tools from aerial photography, satellite imagery or Google earth, though it is important to ground-truth the interpretation of the habitats (see Figure 12).

Figure 12: Habitat map from the Biodiversity offset assessment for the

Long Son Petrochemical complex

Source: ERM (2014) Biodiversity offset survey for Long Son Petrochemical Complex


C. HABITAT CONDITION

The Biodiversity Indicator and Reporting System (BIRS) is a method that has been developed for assessing the condition of a range of different habitats (Forests, woodlands and shrublands, grasslands, bare rock, agricultural landscapes, rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, wetlands, mangroves, salt marsh and coasts) speciically for biodiversity management in the cement and aggregates sector. It was developed by an IUCN expert panel for Holcim, the global cement company, and has been considered for the limestone karst quarries at Hon Chong, Kien Giang. However this method is also applicable more generally.24 This BIRS system can be used on an annual basis to monitor changes and improvements in the condition of the habitats affected or used as offsets.

The method uses a series of simple questionnaires applied at a sampling sites within the habitats, which gives a score for the condition of the habitat. An example of the questionnaire for forest habitats is shown below. When the habitat condition score is multiplied by the area of the habitat, this gives a igure for Habitat hectares. The steps outlined are as follows:

• Step 1 – Identify and delineate the habitats in the affected area

- Subdivide the site into different habitat types and delineate on a map.

• Step 2 – Estimate the area of each habitat type

- Estimate the surface are in hectares for each identiied habitat type, rounding to the nearest hectare for large areas and the nearest 0.25 ha for smaller areas and water bodies

- Each habitat block larger than 1 ha should be identiied and evaluated. Disconnected areas of same habitat type can be combined.

• Step 3 – Determine the context factor of each habitat/habitat block

- Habitat context factor is determined by the answers to four questions

• How widespread it eh habitats in the surrounding landscape?

• What is the intrinsic biodiversity value of the habitat likely to be?

• What is the degree of threat to this habitat nationally?

• What is the ecological importance of this habitat in the surrounding landscape?

• Step 4 – Assess condition of each habitat

- Step 4a – Decide on survey method

- Step 4b – Choose survey locations

- Step 4c – Record the condition of the habitat


• Step 5 – Evaluate the Habitat Condition class

- Step 5a – Record possible habitat enhancements

- Step 5b – Record the habitat threat score

- Step 5c – Calculate Habitat Condition Class

• Step 6 – Determine the overall site Biodiversity Condition Class

- This value is derived from the extent of each habitat type, and the context factor and condition index of those habitats.

Figure 13: Forest questionnaire for Biodiversity Indicator and Reporting

system (BIRS)


D. BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SPECIES

The special biodiversity impact assessment of the Trung Son Hydropower Project on Fish Biodiversity and Fisheries considered biological characteristics of key ish species occurring in the Ma River – catish and Bong ish in Hoi Xuan and Chinese gizzard shad and carp in Cam Thuy. Description of the biological characteristics helps to identify possible impacts, important locations and habitats for the species, e.g. breeding, and the critical times of year (see Table 24).

Table 22: Biological characteristics of key ish species in the Ma River affected by the Trung Son Hydropower project

Biological

characteristic

Catish (Bagarius

rutilus)

Ca Bong

(Spinibarbus

denticulatus)

Chinese

gizzard shad

(Clupanadon

thrissa)

Carp

(Cyprinus

carpio)

Time of laying eggs

March to June

February - April

July - October

February - May, most in April

Lasts, but m o s t l y M a r c h - June, August - September

Place for laying eggs

In the middle to higher s e c t i o n s of the river where the river lows strongly and has much gravel at the bottom

At branch r i v e r s . J u v e n i l e s live near bank of tr ibutaries, when adult they move to deep water in the main rivers

Near banks in main rivers in mid to lower sections

In middle and higher s e c t i o n s of the rivers. They always lay eggs after downpours and in cool water

Time for catching adult ish

Dry season Dry season Around the year


Biological

characteristic

Catish (Bagarius

rutilus)

Ca Bong

(Spinibarbus

denticulatus)

Chinese

gizzard shad

(Clupanadon

thrissa)

Carp

(Cyprinus

carpio)

Time for catching juvenile ish

Rainy season Rainy season

Dry and wet season

Migration pattern

After laying eggs, ish move to sea in June-July.

I n September – October they go out to sea to look for food. From October to F e b r u a r y they live near the coast and at the river mouth

Distribution Muong Lac to Vinh Loc

Muong Lac to Vinh Loc

Ba Thuoc to sea

Moung Lac to Hoang Hua

E. IDENTIFYING AND ASSESSING ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Ecosystem services are an important aspect for biodiversity impact assessment. Table 25 shows the beneits of protected areas for water resource-based development, with some examples. Table 26 provides a checklist of different ecosystem services for identifying key ecosystem services provided by the project-affected areas and the potential for impacts upon them.


Table 23: Beneits of Protected Areas for water resource-based development

Source: ICEM, 2003. Vietnam National report on Protected Areas and Development. Review

of Protected Areas and Development in the Lower Mekong Region. Indooroopilly, Queensland,

Australia. 60pp.


Table 24: Check list of ecosystem services potentially affected

by the project

Ecosystem service Absent Present/Importance Potential

project

impactsLow Medium High

Regulating services responsible for maintaining natural processes and dynamics

Biodiversity-related regulating services

Maintenance of genetic, species and ecosystem composition

Maintenance of ecosystem structure

Maintenance of key ecosystem processes for creating or maintaining biodiversity

Land-based regulating

services

Decomposition of organic material

Natural desalination of soils

Development /prevention of acid sulphate soils

Biological control mechanisms

Pollination of crops

Seasonal cleansing of soils

Soil water storage capacity



project


Coastal protection against loods

Coastal stabilisation (against accretion/erosion)

Soil protection

Suitability for human settlement

Suitability for leisure and tourism activities

Suitability for nature conservation

Suitability for infrastructure

Water related

regulating services

Water iltering

Dilution of pollutants

Discharge of pollutants

Flushing/cleansing

Bio-chemical/physical puriication of water

Storage of pollutants

Flow regulation for lood control

River base low regulation



project


Water storage capacity

Ground water recharge capacity

Regulation of water balance

Sedimentation/retention capacity

Protection against water erosion

Protection against wave action

Prevention of saline groundwater intrusion

Prevention of saline surface-water intrusion

Transmission of diseases

Suitability for navigation

Suitability for leisure and tourism activities

Suitability for nature conservation

Provisioning services: harvestable goods

Natural production

Timber

Firewood



project


Grasses (construction and artisanal use)

Fodder & manure

Harvestable peat

Secondary (minor) products

Harvestable bushmeat

Fish and shellish

Drinking water supply

Supply of water for irrigation and industry

Water supply for hydroelectricity

Supply of surface water for other landscapes

Supply of groundwater for other landscapes

Genetic material

Nature-based human

production

Crop productivity

Tree plantations productivity

Managed forest productivity



project


Rangeland/livestock productivity

Aquaculture productivity (freshwater)

Mariculture productivity (brackish/saltwater)

Cultural services providing a source of artistic, aesthetic, spiritual, religious, recreational or scientiic enrichment, or non-material beneits

Cultural services

Supporting services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services

Soil formation

Nutrients cycling

Primary production.

Evolutionary processes


Schemes, 2000.



E. TREND ANALYSIS

One way of illustrating trends is by comparing historic changes in land use or land cover over time, and projecting forward. The following example comes from the Biodiversity Action Plan, prepared by IUCN for Holcim Vietnam Ltd., the cement company, in Hon Chong, Kien Giang, where in the space of ive years, a highly diverse pattern of land cover, dominated by mixed forest lands, has changed to irrigated rice and shrimp farms, with a few remaining patches of Melaleuca forest.

Figure 14: Changes in land cover in Kien Luong District

Source: IUCN (2012) Biodiversity Action Plan for Hong Chong Plant, Kien Luong District, Kien

Giang Province, Vietnam. For Holcim Vietnam Ltd.

The ICEM SEA of biodiversity impacts from hydropower development (ICEM 2007) considered three types of historic trend, based upon the Pressure – State – Response model of environmental impacts:

• Trends in Pressure

- Population growth

- Economic growth

- Consumption patterns

• Climate change


• Trends in State

- Forest cover

- Coastal wetlands

- Extinction threats – population sizes of globally threatened species

• Trends in Response

- Special Use Forests

- Wetland designations

- Vietnam capacity in biodiversity conservation

G. VALUING BIODIVERSITY

Putting an economic value on biodiversity and ecosystem services can be dificult and full of assumptions, but can provide a convincing argument for justifying conservation and management activities. In the Supplementary EIA of the Na Hang dam, Tuyen Quang, the economic value of the Tonkin Snub-nosed monkeys was estimated (Table 27).

Table 25: Total economic value of the endangered monkeys potentially

impacted by the Na Hang hydropower project

Source: PARC Project VIE/95/G31&031, Creating Protected Areas for Resource Conservation

using Landscape ecology. Supplementary Environmental Impact Assessment of the Tuyen

Quang Dam, Viet Nam.


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