The documentation of the workshop “Wind Power and Biodiversity: Tools to Measure, Avoid and Compensate Impacts” held on June 29, 2012 in Lisbon is now available. About 40 participants discussed how impacts on biodiversity by wind energy projects could be decreased. The speakers showed the participants practical solutions to real world problems. The workshop was organised together with EDP, Bio3 and the Fundacion Global Nature.

Wind power has become a major energy source in the last years and has been accompanied with environmental concerns. Following the mitigation hierarchy, pratical tools and case studies on how the environmental aspects can be measured properly and be taken into account most effectively were shown during the workshop organised by EDP, Bio3 and the Global Nature Fund on June 29th 2012.

The event brought together 43 experts from several European public and private entities. The background of the participants ranged from industry and production of wind energy to environmental assessment and monitoring of impacts on biodiversity. The workshop was moderated by António Sá da Costa, president of APREN (Portuguese Renewable Energy Association), who led the work throughout the day: twelve oral presentations and three working groups for a "World Café” discussion session.

Key discussions were:

• What instruments can be used to measure and quantify impacts on flora and fauna during operation in a cost-effective way? A site and species-specific methodology is needed.
• How to avoid and minimize the negative effects: Selecting the best location and conducting a proper environmental impact assessment (EIA).
• When and how can unavoidable impacts be compensated: EIA as an open process.
• What offset measures can be applied to compensate the negative impacts? How to select target-species, how to conduct habitat management and how to manage prey populations recovery.

You can download the documentation below.

European Business & Biodiversity Campaign

European Business & Biodiversity Campaign

The European Business and Biodiversity Campaign, led by the Global Nature Fund (GNF) was initiated by a consortium of European companies and NGOs.

The goal of the project is to show the big importance of biodiversity, also from an economic point of view, and to motivate the private sector for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The European Business and Biodiversity Campaign supports companies through Biodiversity Checks, workshops and regional biodiversity forums. Experts and other stakeholders can present their profile, company profile and case studies for free.

The European Business and Biodiversity Campaign is co-financed by the LIFE+ Programme of the European Union and collaborates with the Biodiversity in Good Company initiative that published the Corporate Biodiversity Management Handbook.

More information about the European Business and Biodiversity Campaign: http://www.business-biodiversity.eu/

Why is biodiversity important for your business? Using a business case model the European Business & Biodiversity Campaign explains how companies benefit from biodiversity and how they can contribute to the protection of species and ecosystems. As a first step, the potential problems and risks arising when the company does not engage in biodiversity management are presented. As a following step, solutions are shown for each problem. The simpleshow graphically animated video demonstrates, on the one hand, the effects that companies have on the environment and illustrates, on the other, the dependencies of companies on ecosystems.

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