Biodiversity Management Plans

In line with the company Biodiversity Guideline, HeidelbergCement started 2009 project in the field of the biodiversity management of extraction sites.

This project was the first pilot step to create and establish Biodiversity Management Plans (BMP) for all mineral extraction sites in Europe that belong to the Natura 2000 network in order to minimize the risks related to the new European Environmental Liability Directive.

In the first stage, 50 mining sites from different European countries were selected for a pilot study in order to develop a GIS database concept and a corporate template for further biodiversity management plans.

The aim is to secure our future raw material supply and production in the context of the strict nature protection legislation. Biodiversity Management Plans will be a cost efficient tool to avoid future conflicts with nature protection and will support the company’s contribution to biodiversity protection.

The project included the mapping and the evaluation of the various habitat types of a mining site. Management measures were developed and implemented for the future promotion and preservation of focus habitats and their related living species, while taking into consideration the requirements of mineral and raw material extraction.

The corporate template and several training material is offered to the country management to develop step by step new BMP’s.