IBAT The new IBAT tool will enable companies to access critical biodiversity information to integrate it into early stage project planning Zoom In

Unique new tool helps key industries factor in biodiversity

21-10-2008

A coalition of conservation organisations and businesses has launched a new tool that will enable companies to access critical biodiversity information by using a single, Web-based tool. The new tool, called the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) for business, allows companies to integrate biodiversity considerations at the earliest stages of project planning, which permits companies to consider alternative projects, approaches or locations at a time when such changes are still economically viable.

The new tool is the result of a three-year collaboration between conservation non-governmental organizations and the private sector. Founding partners from the conservation community include: BirdLife International, Conservation International (CI) and the United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently participating as an observer. Private sector founding partners include: BP, Bank of America, Cargill, Chevron, and JP Morgan Chase. The initial partners represent a diverse selection of business user needs, drawing on experience in the investment, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors.

The launch of IBAT represents a significant milestone towards enabling the private sector to practically integrate conservation priorities within project decision-making processes.

“IBAT is only the first instrument in this broader vision to support decision-makers” —Leon Bennun, BirdLife

Before IBAT’s creation, decision makers had to compile what biodiversity information on potential project sites they could find by contacting individual organizations and collecting available information from a suite of Web sites, books and reports. The process was arduous at best, and was often not completed before crucial decisions needed to be made about a site. With the new tool, businesses are now provided with integrated information simply by going on-line.

Through IBAT, users can also explore supporting information as to why these sites are important, such as information on protected areas, lists of key species at each site and information on those key species. Identifying these priority conservation targets can then guide environmental impact assessment studies, required of companies by national governments, and management plans that are required by many national and international laws and policies.

“IBAT is only the first instrument in this broader vision to support decision-makers”, said Leon Bennun, Director of Science and Policy at BirdLife International. “We will be working together to develop new IBAT applications, each tailored to a specific user group, that will help all kinds of decision-makers comprehend these critical data and make them useful to a wide range of planning processes."