Special supplement: Green approach to business

Alcoa actively endorses the concept of conservation of biodiversity by operating worldwide in a manner that minimizes deleterious effects on natural habitats and biological resources.

Alcoa upholds a commitment not to explore or mine in World Heritage Sites. The firm is also committed to avoiding legally designated protected areas where nature conservation is the management objective. More broadly, Alcoa endorses the concept of multiple land use where possible, having successfully operated mines in sensitive native ecosystems and demonstrated its ability to avoid impacting on protected species and complex ecosystems.

Accordingly, biodiversity conservation is a key consideration in the planning of new or expanded operations, divestment of assets no longer operated, and the day-to-day management of lands Alcoa owns. Alcoa's basic approach is to avoid sensitive areas where possible, minimize disturbance of the original habitat, and work closely with communities and regulatory stakeholders to restore those lands to the most productive use possible, including, where feasible, re-establishing pre-operating conditions.

With the increasing concern for controlling greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on climate change, Alcoa also looks to incorporate carbon offsetting opportunities in the revegetation and restoration work it performs.

Impact on biodiversity

Alcoa operations can affect biodiversity in several ways.

Its mining activities, although usually limited to relatively small pits where bauxite exists, can affect a region because the pits must be connected by haul roads or conveyors. Alcoa works successfully to prevent the isolation of wildlife and the disruption of stream flows.

The company also maintains vegetation cover and the quality and quantity of surface and groundwater. Its Western Australia operations have extensive programs involving the management of soil erosion, weeds, feral animals, and forest pathogens to minimize any impact on biodiversity.

Alcoa will be adapting such programs in Juruti, Brazil, and elsewhere as the firm progresses. A key objective at its mines is to minimize the footprint of disturbed land by implementing a program of progressive land rehabilitation.

Large water storage or residue disposal lakes used at Alcoa's refineries are attractive to migrating birds.

Alcoa controls operations that may affect biodiversity through air emissions of materials like fluoride in order to protect vegetation and grazing animals in a smelter's vicinity. It has sampling, monitoring, and emission control programs in place at all major sources of these emissions to ensure that the impact on the environment is acceptable.

Alcoa's facilities use water from streams, lakes, and catchments as well as groundwater. This water use can affect biodiversity, as can the discharge of wastewater from its processes. These situations are monitored and managed to preserve biodiversity.

Alcoa's use of hydroelectric facilities to generate power can also have an effect on biodiversity. These effects can be positive when the reservoirs and water releases are properly managed. Alcoa has completed detailed studies of the effects of hydroelectric projects in the southeastern part of the United States and is committed to managing and operating all hydro facilities to minimize the impact on biodiversity.

In the past, products such as detachable aluminum pull tabs on beverage cans and certain types of plastic packaging materials, when improperly discarded, affected wildlife and certain marine species. However, the redesign of these products has significantly reduced or eliminated concerns about such impacts.

Environmental impact assessments

Prior to constructing new facilities or expanding existing ones, Alcoa engages external consultants to conduct an environmental impact assessment to determine what, if any, effects the project will have on the environment.

This thorough analysis documents the ecosystem and species diversity using expertise and techniques, procedures, and information generally accepted by the international scientific community. Measures to minimize adverse impacts on ecologically significant ecosystems or species are identified and incorporated into the detailed design of the planned facilities. Particular attention is given to the conservation of rare, endangered, or threatened species or communities.

One method Alcoa uses to gather biological information for a planned Alcoa facility is the Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) from Conservation International (CI).

Under CI's direction, small RAP teams of expert international and host-country field biologists conduct rapid first-cut assessments of the biological value of selected areas over a short time period (three to four weeks).

The teams provide conservation recommendations based on the area's biological diversity, the degree of endemism, the uniqueness of its ecosystems, and its risk of extinction on a national and global scale. RAP scientists record the diversity of selected indicator groups of organisms and analyze this information in tandem with social, environmental, and other ecosystem information to produce appropriate and realistic conservation recommendations.

Mining reclamation process

Alcoa's bauxite mine rehabilitation standards outline the requirements for mine operations and mine closures at all Alcoa mines.

Where relatively extensive operations, such as bauxite mining, are carried out in natural habitats, rehabilitation of the disturbed land should, in most circumstances, favor the return of the pre-existing vegetation and fauna communities. Such rehabilitation should aim to re-establish the broadest practicable genetic base using only local species and provenances wherever possible.

Because biodiversity preservation is a major focus of the rehabilitation process, it is always a major component of any future land-use decision and rehabilitation plan. To determine the biodiversity of the rehabilitated land, Alcoa routinely monitors the number of trees per hectare, the growth rate, density and diversity, seed production rate, litter density, and other parameters to determine the health of the vegetation.

Alcoa also conducts periodic bird, mammal, reptile, and invertebrate counts for important groups of organisms.

(China Daily 10/27/2008 page5)