Mainstreaming Flora Conservation Strategies into the Mitigation Hierarchy to Strengthen Environmental Impact Assessment

Abstract

The application of the mitigation hierarchy (MH) to mining projects is challenging in situations of locational overlap between endemic flora and mineral deposits. We review flora surveys conducted in connection with the environmental impact assessment of several iron ore mining projects in an area of high degree of endemism in Eastern Amazon to discuss the practical implications of anticipating conservation strategies. Desktop studies and secondary data review were conducted to guide field searches to determine the distribution of endemic flora, resulting in 45 out of 46 endemic plant species having their known distribution extended to new areas. A framework for positioning flora conservation strategies in the MH is presented. Specific habitat requirements and scarce knowledge about endangered and endemic flora species are a conservation obstacle, since essential information to define species conservation strategies may be lacking. We show that anticipating conservation strategies can minimize time-lag uncertainties related to restoration success and biodiversity offsets. The more effort is placed in the preventative steps of the MH, the smaller the time-lag between impact (biodiversity losses) and conservation outcomes (biodiversity gains), decreasing uncertainties and reducing risks to biodiversity.