FLORA FAUNA & MAN, Ecological Services Limited



What we do - Ecology



In this section, we highlight in broad terms what we do / can do in terms of ecological work.

This is however not restrictive and we are happy to discuss.



BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL RESOURCES USE



Context 1:

Ecological impact assessment - prior to a public or private sector development

Typically these projects are undertaken ahead of a private or public sector development proposals being given a go ahead, in order to understand the likely impact of the project and provided guidelines to reduce or eliminate the impact.

The aim is to establish a "before project" reference point to assess how the project developments are likely to alter the situation. Although in some cases alterations may result in positive outcomes, in many instances a negative outcome is established when comparing a with project / without project situation.

In such instances, it is required to develop mitigation measures to reduce the impact to the lowest possible option. Should this not be feasible, offset based mitigation solutions have to be considered, whereby a form of compensation is required.




BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL RESOURCES USE



Context 2:

Research for specific purposes (in the biodiversity and natural resources use field)

Sometimes, there is just no other way forward than to undertake research in order to understand a specific question and develop a solution. In such cases, the aim is to frame the research question carefully to ensure the investigation that follows will answer the question and provide the information needed to develop the solution.

In such instances, the research question has to be considered against a reference background of comparable work in order to identify a best way forward considering time, manpower and budget constraints.

An investigative methodology is then developed and may even need to be field tested prior to full scale implementation. Once this has been confirmed as suitable, the study is implemented. Data are then analysed and results are provided either in the form of a standard reporting format or as scientific articles destined for publication in peer reviewed scientific journal

In such a context, acquiring the correct data represents the key aspect, followed by developing an analysis that provides the required solutions to the question asked. This is quite different from the situation in context 1.

The firm, through its network of established research professionals will provide all the support needed for such projects.



In the biodiversity and natural resources use context, FLORA FAUNA & MAN, Ecological Services Limited (FFMES) can offer the following:

  1. Screening / scoping studies – these are the studies required at the early stages of concept or initial target exploration. The studies afford the developer an option to anticipate projects risks to biodiversity and natural resources, flag whether expensive mitigation will be required, define a way forward and how much detailed work will be required.

  2. Baseline studies – these are the detailed studies required in order to find out what matters. Experts are send to the field to investigate the variety of landscape features and habitats and define the biodiversity and natural resources reference point. These studies are complex as they are time and budget constrained but need to highlight risk in a meaningful manner.

  3. Ecosystem services definition studies – how biodiversity contributes to delivery and maintenance, and where are the services located in the landscape.

  4. Least cost studies - finding out where the best project implantation and development sites would be from a biodiversity and natural resources impact point of view.

  5. IFC Performance Standard 6 Habitat classification process - ensuring the landscape of interest is evaluated in a manner that conforms to the standard prescriptions and that the three standard compliant habitat classes are defined for mitigation hierarchy application.

  6. Impact assessment for biodiversity and natural resources components - a standardised approach allows the definition of impact and measures the efficiency of possible mitigation options, at the end of the process, the best "pathway" to limit impact is suggested.

  7. Minimum ecologically viable areas definition - finding out whether suggestions made are ecologically viable in the long term, there is little point in developing a mitigation strategy if the design is inherently non viable.

  8. Conservation planning - this may be a mitigation strategy and requires defining priorities and chronology of events for developing conservation areas networks.

  9. Wildlife habitat design - yet another option for mitigation, especially valuable when humans and wildlife have to coexist.





FLORA FAUNA & MAN, Ecological Services Limited