Positive impacts of the Programme

Based on the comprehensive assessment work conducted over more than 15 years, QMM has recorded the following positive impacts in keeping with its objective to achieve a net positive impact (NPI) on biodiversity with the full participation of the community.

• An Ecological Research Centre: The centre was established in Mandena, the first mining area, in 1998. The Mandena Centre includes a plant nursery, seed treatment station, restoration trials, and an education centre. QMM also set up smaller centres in Petriky and Ste-Luce, the two other proposed mining areas.
• Conservation Zones: To protect unique biodiversity in the highly endangered littoral (coastal) forest, QMM agreed to create conservation zones and forgo mining on 12 per cent of the deposit area. Three conservation zones totalling 620 hectares have been excluded from the three mining areas to protect the surviving littoral forest and 31,275 hectares of legally protected biodiversity offsets have been established. QMM co-manages the zones with local communities, the Malagasy forest department in terms of a DINA (a traditional Malagasy social contract designed to manage potential sources of social conflict).
• Community reforestation programme: Established in 2001, the programme goal is to plant 100 ha per year of fast-growing trees to supply communities with wood for fuel and charcoal around the mine sites. To date, more than 1000 ha have been reforested with more than 1 million trees (with a survival rate of 85 per cent)
• Income generating activities linked to natural resources: Local people benefit from various activities as part of QMM’s formal co-management DINA agreement. Beekeeping, with 100 villagers producing more than 200 litres/month of honey is a successful example. 1,200 villagers are producing between 1-2 tonnes a month of vegetables as a direct result of QMMs composting project. A composting project has also been set up in the Mandena conservation zone. All revenue is spent on community projects.
• Rehabilitation: Full scale trials of rehabilitation methods and ecological ecosystem restoration for wetlands and littoral forest. QMM has also tested top soil conservation methods. Rio Tinto works closely with organisations such as Kew Gardens (with native species seeds being sent to the Millennium Seed Bank), Birdlife International (for the establishment of protected areas), Conservation International, Fauna and Flora International, Missouri Botanical Gardens and the Malagasy Government. The aim of this work is to achieve a net positive impact on biodiversity and to rehabilitate and restore the land and ecosystems affected by operations. 20,000 endemic species have been produced in the nurseries and will be used for ecological restoration trials post mining. During 2008, 4 ha of restoration took place on degraded forest area around mining land.
• Ecotourism: Our ecotourism project has been running since 2000 in what is now the Mandena conservation zone. All profit goes to community projects and most of the employees are local people. The site is co-managed by its neighbouring communities, the Malagasy Government’s Environment, Water and Forest departments and QMM. A series of trails lead visitors through outstanding biodiversity, much of which is endemic, and to Mandena’s ecological research centre, which is open to the public.
• And finally: When the 2000 Mandena mining deposit has been depleted, 75 per cent of the area will be rehabilitated with fast growing plantations, a further 10 per cent of the area will be dedicated to the extension of the conservation area by using natural forest restoration techniques and marshes will be restored on 15 per cent of the deposit area.