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TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING TRANSFORMING
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT FY 2023 COMMUNITIES THE PLANET THE WORKPLACE

STAGE 2: Biodiversity Risk Assessment

The risk and impact identification process crystallizing of the to-be way forward. Accordingly, additional These include:
helps to determine biodiversity risks and biodiversity management practices and measures necessary to 1) Ecosystems most likely to be impacted by daily operations, resulting
impacts from a proposed project achieve our NNL goal are determined, designed and subsequently, in adverse impacts to proximate communities,
construction and operations aspect, within a deployed. 2) Ecosystems on which our operations depend. Further, an ecosystem
10 km radius of the site. This part of the risk • Where operations are likely to adversely impact ecosystems, a dependency and impact assessment may be conducted in order to
and impact identification process aligns with review of priority ecosystem impact is undertaken. identify critical ecosystem services in the area.
regulatory requirements like EIA Notification
2006, and international standard
requirements like Environmental and Social Impacts and dependencies identified in the Biodiversity Risk Assessment
Impact Assessments, Biodiversity
Management Plans, Critical Habitat Studies, Potential impacts on nature include loss of
to name the key evaluation exercises. habitat and/or species and degradation of Biodiversity Risks Mitigation Hierarchy
natural ecosystems, including the impact of
Further, at this stage, Key Biodiversity Areas pollution. Use of natural capital as • Loss of modified habitats due to • Avoid • Offset
construction of infrastructure (high)
(KBA) and Protected Areas (PA) located represented by natural resources like water, - No discharge policy to prevent - Expansion of vegetative cover
pollution of water bodies
in barren/degraded lands
within a 50 km radius of the site are soil, minerals is the other aspect of our • Disturbance due to dust and - Due diligence to avoid/restrict - Restoration of wildlife habitats
pollution from the movement of
screened using IBAT and secondary impact. Today there is heightened awareness vehicles (high) procurement from Critical and corridors
regarding companies’ use of natural capital
literature. Stakeholder consultations are also and the corporate world is moving towards Habitats - Restoration of coastal
extensively held to understand the localized natural capital accounting as a basis for • Habitat degradation due to fugitive - SOPs to prevent introduction of ecosystems including wetlands
emissions from the plant (high)
point of view and any distinctive project cost evaluation. At Vedanta, we invasive species during and mangroves
socio-economic, geographic or climactic recognize our use of natural resources as a • Habitat degradation due to air movement of vehicles and goods • Transform
pollution and vehicular movement
dynamics that may have been overlooked in key dependency, which gets reflected in (medium) • Minimize - Conservation of endangered
the standardized studies. these risk assessments.
• Introduction of invasive species from - EMP to minimize air, noise, water, fauna
vehicular movement (medium) soil pollution - Conservation centres for
Post-evaluation outcomes and actions The biodiversity risk assessment exercise - Afforestation and greenbelt endangered plants
prioritised the sites on the basis of risk and • Faunal injury/fatality due to plantation to reduce disturbance - Wildlife rescue support
After the evaluation metrics furnish their classifies them as: High, Medium and Low. movement of vehicles (medium) - Regulation of and defining routes - Support in prevention of forest
results, sites can be clearly classified on the This assigned priority rating then determines • Loss of animal movement corridor for vehicular movements fires
basis of the biodiversity risk they pose. the nature of Biodiversity Management Plan (medium) - Improved monitoring of habitats - Livelihood improvement and
According to such classifications, the (BMP) to be prepared for the relevant site. • Possible loss of endangered plant engagement with local
conservation actions to be taken are Once the plan is prepared, it is implemented species (low) • Restore community
determined. and helps to manage and mitigate our impact • Freshwater pollution from accidental - Soil & moisture conservation - Public awareness campaigns
on biodiversity against a variety of run-offs (low) activities - Capacity building for forest
• Where sites are in close proximity to parameters. - Plantation of native and personnel
biodiversity rich areas, as has been • Loss of natural/wildlife habitats (low) endangered species - Bamboo fodder development
identified above, three further evaluation A consolidated list of impact-based • Loss of migratory and congregatory - Removal of invasive species
actions are taken. The current status of biodiversity risks and examples of actions to wetlands for birds (low) - Introduction of aquatic
biodiversity is assessed, along with the be taken as per the mitigation hierarchy are • Withdrawal of water resources from vegetation
interaction of biodiversity with operations depicted below: water stressed areas (low) - Restoration of water bodies
at the project site. Further, the biodiversity
conservation approach currently being
followed is also evaluated.
We completed the Baseline Biodiversity Survey this year for all our sites. The baseline establishes a core set of biodiversity assessment criteria or
This leads to a pragmatic understanding of indicators, which form the basis of site-specific impact analysis and guides the shaping and definition of mitigation and management measures.
the as-is conditions, helping in the

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