What's Included in the Biodiversity Module?

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Initially, the Biodiversity Module provides access to:

• The spatial boundaries and locations of nationally and internationally designated protected areas, linked to
  supporting textual information
• The distribution of warm-water coral reefs
• The distribution of seagrass beds
• WWF® Ecoregions (including Global 200® priority ecoregions) from the WWF - World Wide Fund for Nature (formerly World Wildlife Fund)

Together, these datasets enable you to track potential impacts not only in legally protected areas, but also priority conservation areas that may not have legal protection, but have high biodiversity value. View usage scenarios for biodiversity data in E&P.

Under this partnership, combined spatial datasets from IHS (E&P data) and UNEP-WCMC (the Biodiversity Module) are integrated by IHS product teams for direct access from IHS map-based analysis products, such as EDIN-GIS, PROBE and Spatial Layers. These layers are “active layers,” allowing users, for example, to click on a protected area of interest and retrieve more information about the site, such as whether it is nationally or internationally designated, its size, when it was designated, and what IUCN management category objectives it is managed under.

As part of this partnership, additional biodiversity datasets will be added to the Biodiversity Module in the future in response to user feedback.

Global Protected Areas Data

One of the more obvious actions mankind has taken to conserve biological diversity is the establishment of protected areas. The concept of setting aside natural and semi-natural areas for protection and special or restricted use has a long history. Indeed records show that wildlife reserves were set aside by Indian Kings in the second and third centuries BC.

Governments and non-governmental organizations all over the world have been designating sites for conservation purposes in the modern sense for many years. The world's first national-level protected area was established in the United States, at Yosemite, in 1867.

Protected areas differ widely in their establishment or management purpose. Some are established for scientific purposes, while others may be created to preserve cultural or landscape values. The Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN) defines protected areas as:

"An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means."

Protected areas data licensed through the Biodiversity Module fit this definition and are derived from the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA), for which UNEP-WCMC is the custodian.

The WDPA is the largest and most comprehensive global repository of information on national and international protected areas, and includes information on more than 100,000 protected areas recognized under this definition. These areas extend over a total area of more than 18 million square kilometers, or 12% of the world's land surface.

Protected areas information delivered via the Biodiversity Module is available as two components: current spatial extent, and attribute information for more detailed analyses. Information on both nationally and internationally designated areas, such as World Heritage Sites and Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), is also included. Limited information on some proposed protected areas is included as it becomes available.

Protected Areas and O&G Data: Integration adds value

In this example, national and international protected area data, sourced from the WDPA and provided in the Biodiversity Module via UNEP-WCMC, is mapped in EDIN-GIS for part of offshore Brazil. Completed exploration surveys (red and yellow squares), exploration wells (black dots) and leased and bidding blocks (yellow and green blocks along the coast) are highlighted in the same view .

Key facts:

• Protected areas data has been collated and maintained for over 20 years by UNEP-WCMC.

• Data show a continued increase in the growth of the world's protected area network, both in the number of protected areas and the total extent of the earth's surface that they cover. This unprecedented growth is a global phenomenon that is expected to continue, making it critical for oil companies to back up best practices with access to the most comprehensive data on such areas available.

• The information is dynamic and changing on a daily basis as new areas around the world are designated or enlarged in size. Oil company subscribers will be provided with regular monthly updates to protected areas information through the IHS & UNEP-WCMC partnership. Read more about growth of protected areas.

• Data and information on new and existing sites is gathered by UNEP-WCMC on an on-going basis from a broad range of sources, including national government authorities. Special effort is made to ensure that government agencies with direct responsibility for protected areas' establishment and management have provided the most up-to-date and valid data. In addition, every 3-5 years major updates are made on a global scale in support of the 5-yearly preparation and publication of the United Nations List of Protected Areas (the UN List) and other global biodiversity assessment processes.

• Since 2003, the gathering of information has been further supported through the efforts of the WDPA Consortium, a coalition of internationally operating conservation organizations, thereby broadening the reach of the collection effort and ensuring more comprehensive worldwide coverage.

• The Biodiversity Module provides licensed access to information on both nationally designated sites (e.g. national parks, nature reserves, wildlife reserves and parks, forest reserves and private protected areas) and internationally designated sites. This includes:
  • World Heritage Sites
  • International Wetlands of Importance (Ramsar) sites
  • UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) Reserves
  • Natura 2000 sites
  • Asean Heritage sites

• Attribute details supplement spatial information about a site. This includes information about a site's legal designation, area, year of designation, geographic co-ordinates, changes in the extent of site boundaries, IUCN management category and international protection status (where relevant). Although all protected areas meet the general purposes contained within IUCN's definition, in practice the precise purposes for which protected areas are managed differ greatly. This classification of one of six (I-VI) categories is an internationally recognized guidance that identifies broad management objectives that may be common to many sites.

  For O&G professionals, IUCN categories can assist in determining the management objectives of a protected area. For example if an area has an IUCN management category of Ia ( Strict Nature Reserve), its management objectives are likely to be focused on managing the area mainly for science, with access to the area only permitted by license and for scientific research-based activities. In contrast, a protected area with an IUCN category of VI (Managed Resource) is likely to be an unmodified natural system which provides a sustainable flow of natural products to meet local community needs.

  Knowing such information early in the E&P process can help you identify whether a site is likely to permit extractive-industry interaction at a very early stage. While further consultation will be required with local legislation, the dialogue with local communities by oil companies can start very early in the process with such knowledge, supporting an emerging best practice in many oil & gas companies.

  • View information about IUCN categories
  • View CERA expert interview on local community engagement (video)

Marine Information Accessible via the Biodiversity Module

As oil and gas exploration increases in continental shelf and deepwater regions, the wide range of activities that can impact sensitive marine ecosystems spans the E&P lifecycle – from seismic surveys, to exploration and development drilling, to pipeline and gathering systems routing, to tanker-based transport of oil and finally, decommissioning.

Growth in Shelf and Deepwater Leases

As deepwater and shelf leased acreage – shown in deep blue and light blue in this chart – continue to grow, potential impacts on sensitive marine life must be considered across the oil and gas lifecycle.

The marine and coastal biodiversity information in the Biodiversity Module can help you consider biodiversity risks and potentially avoid marine biodiversity losses by providing access to the most comprehensive source of global mapped data available on warm-water coral reefs and seagrasses.

Corals & Seagrasses

In this example, sensitive areas for corals and seagrasses, provided in the Biodiversity Module via UNEP-WCMC, is mapped in EDIN-GIS for part of offshore Brazil. Completed exploration surveys (red and yellow squares), exploration wells (black dots) and leased and bidding blocks (yellow and green blocks along the coast) are highlighted in the same view.

Key facts:

• Coral reefs and their associated shallow-water ecosystems support the livelihoods of more than 25% of marine life, and more than 1 billion people. Already 27% of the world's coral reefs are permanently lost, with another 30% at risk.

• UNEP-WCMC has been working with international marine experts to assemble a global warm-water coral reef GIS dataset since 1994. This information has been compiled from hundreds of sources using a network of government institutions, non-government organizations, hydrographic offices (naval charts), and individual specialists from around the world.

• In 2001 many years of coral reef mapping activity culminated at UNEP-WCMC with the publication of the first global warm-water coral reef GIS dataset. This data has since been widely published and distributed in a variety of publications and analyses by the global community.

• Work on coral reef mapping is an on-going activity at UNEP-WCMC. Since 2001 the contribution of interpreted remotely sensed coral reef data into the global dataset has expanded and continues to do so. Inclusion of such data allows for more detailed interpretation of the extent and condition of coral reefs to be ascertained.

• Like corals, seagrasses are of considerable ecological and economic importance. They are:
  • The base of the food chain for productive coastal fisheries
  • Act as a nursery ground for many juvenile marine fish and mammal species; and
  • They reduce coastal erosion, by stabilizing bottom sediments

• UNEP-WCMC began developing a global seagrass dataset in the late 1990's from scientific literature review and outreach to expert knowledge. It provides information on the distribution of seagrasses in more than 120 countries and territories worldwide, and is now the most comprehensive global map of seagrass occurrence in existence.

  Maintenance and updating of seagrass data is an on-going activity at UNEP-WCMC.

WWF® Ecoregions

Many oil companies have publicly stated their intentions to avoid harm to areas of high biodiversity value. One challenge they face, however, is identifying sensitive areas that cross political boundaries, making legal protection difficult, or that promote biodiversity on the broadest size scale.

The WWF Ecoregion dataset from WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature assists in filling this gap. It is an important resource for O&G professionals who may be considering frontier regions, or whose companies already have operations in an area WWF has designated as being part of a broad-scale ecosystem or set of ecosystems.

WWF has decades of experience in the field of both biodiversity conservation and the impacts of the oil sector. As a result WWF has developed views on where and how exploration and production should take place. For more information, visit WWF at www.panda.org.

WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions

In this example, WWF Terrestrial Ecoregions, sourced from the WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature and provided in the Biodiversity Module via UNEP-WCMC, is mapped in EDIN-GIS for part of offshore Brazil. Completed exploration surveys (red and yellow squares), exploration wells (black dots) and leased and bidding blocks (yellow and green blocks along the coast) are highlighted in the same view.

A WWF Ecoregion is defined as a large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities that share a large majority of their species and ecological dynamics, share similar environmental conditions, and interact ecologically in ways that are critical for their long-term persistence.

Key facts:

• This dataset covers the global, high-priority terrestrial, marine & freshwater habitats, and includes regional biodiversity analysis.

• It is comprised of 825 terrestrial ecoregions identified across the globe, and a set of approximately 500 freshwater ecoregions.

• WWF has also identified the "Global 200" - the most biologically distinct ecoregions on the planet.

• The dataset includes "biodiversity visions" within each ecoregion offering information on the precise sensitivities and issues to be addressed.