Biodiversity

Our approach

We operate in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. This region is recognised and valued for its biodiversity. Traditional Owners have also long understood the interconnectedness of the environment and place great value on livelihood, spiritual and customary resources.

We seek to have a "net positive impact" on biodiversity. We aim to minimise the impacts of our business and contribute to biodiversity conservation to ensure a region ultimately benefits from our presence. To achieve this, we first seek to understand the biodiversity elements of the regions where we operate, as well as the "values" placed upon those elements. We then prioritise our actions, focusing on the biodiversity elements that have the highest conservation significance.

A biodiversity action plan was developed in 2008 for the Hunter Valley region. The plan adopts a regional approach to managing biodiversity risks and opportunities and is focused on increasing our understanding of threatened and endangered ecological flora and fauna communities and species known (or suspected) to be present on and adjacent to our sites.

Each species or ecological community is summarised by its legislative status and assessed on its vulnerability. By taking a risk-based approach, the species or communities with the highest biodiversity risk are identified and appropriate actions prioritised.

2009 activity

During the year each site continued implementing the actions outlined in the regional biodiversity action plan. Hunter Valley Operations hosted a delegation from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in September, while Bengalla held bird watching events. To find out more about our biodiversity activities, select one of our biodiversity case studies from the right hand menu.