Biodiversity and Mining Governance: Senegal and Turkey

The document outlines the mitigation hierarchy (avoidance, minimization, rehabilitation, and offsets) as a tool for mining companies to achieve no net loss or a net positive impact on biodiversity. It provides detailed case studies of the Mako gold project in Senegal and the Öksüt gold mine in Turkey, demonstrating how baseline studies and strategic planning can reduce ecological footprints and support national conservation goals.

• The mitigation hierarchy (MH) is a four-step framework designed to reduce negative mining impacts on biodiversity, prioritizing avoidance first, followed by minimization, rehabilitation/restoration, and finally offsets as a last resort.
• At the Mako gold project in Senegal, the operator achieved biodiversity avoidance by reducing the mine footprint to approximately 300 ha—half the original plan—and rerouting the main access road to protect western chimpanzee habitats.
• The Mako project's biodiversity offset program involves a partnership with Senegal's national parks department and the NGO Panthera to manage a 1,800 km2 intervention zone in the Niokolo-Koba National Park.
• The Öksüt gold mine in Turkey implemented a biodiversity baseline through vantage point surveys to ensure its powerline did not intersect migration bottlenecks for birds of conservation concern, such as saker and red-footed falcons.
• To address residual impacts on vulnerable flora and the Irano-Anatolian steppe, the Öksüt mine set offset targets at 120% of the expected net loss to create a safety buffer.
• Governments can improve biodiversity governance by adopting national policies that commit to the mitigation hierarchy, requiring mining companies to share biodiversity data, and establishing clear guidelines for offsets.

APA

Crawford, A., & Furnell, S. (2022). Biodiversity and Mining Governance: Senegal and Turkey. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-07/igf-case-study-biodiversity-mining-senegal-turkey.pdf

Chicago

Crawford, Alec, and Simon Furnell. Biodiversity and Mining Governance: Senegal and Turkey. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2022. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-07/igf-case-study-biodiversity-mining-senegal-turkey.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Crawford |first1=Alec |last2=Furnell |first2=Simon |title=Biodiversity and Mining Governance: Senegal and Turkey |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2022 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-07/igf-case-study-biodiversity-mining-senegal-turkey.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{crawford2022biodiversity, author = {Crawford, Alec and Furnell, Simon}, title = {{Biodiversity and Mining Governance: Senegal and Turkey}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2022}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2022-07/igf-case-study-biodiversity-mining-senegal-turkey.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }