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ArcelorMittal Liberia: Meeting International Environmental Standards
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Social and environmental safeguards for Project Phase 2
- Detailed Environmental and Social Impact Assessment
prepared over 2 years, building on previous studies.
- Intensive consultations in three campaigns.
- Environmental Protection Agency is currently reviewing.
- Resettlement Action Plan prepared for full compensation.
Includes a long term livelihoods restoration programme.
- Environmental Management Plans to cover all project activities.
- A special Operations, Maintenance and Surveillance Manual for
the tailings dam.
- High environmental standards to be followed.
- Offset Programme being designed to continue and expand on
the Phase 1 Biodiversity Conservation Programme.
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ESIA - Developing an understanding about management needs of land
- No recent environmental data for Liberia before ArcelorMittal
- Complex environment due to ancient landforms, humid tropical
conditions and scattered population
- To develop an holistic understanding of the environment
required assessment covering a broad range of parameters; for example:
- All water courses are water supplies for rural dwellings, all
prone to high sediment loads caused by shifting cultivation, and all contain significant aquatic biodiversity
- ESIA undertaken to inform ourselves and other stakeholders
about the environmental conditions and their interactions
- ESIA currently second biggest in the region, involving over 60
specialist scientists, and 23 universities and other institutions
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Assessment of environmental impacts
- Communities – Social and Economic
- Cultural Heritage
- Resettlement and Compensation
- Geotechnics
- Soils and Agricultural Potential
- Ground Water
- Surface Water Resources
- Botany – Forests and Plants
- Zoology – Animals and Biodiversity
- Air Quality
- Noise and Vibration
- Landscape and Visual Impacts
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ESIA - Principles of Approach
- Base understanding on sound science
- Ensure full consultation with communities
and other stakeholders
- Develop partnerships with appropriate
NGOs (e.g. Conservation International, Fauna and Flora International, Afrique Nature, Sylvatrop, Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Action pour la Conservation de la Biodiversité en Côted’Ivoire
- Allow specialists full independence
- Use environmental findings to inform
design and meet international standards
- Rigorous assessment of potential impacts
- Ensure mitigation or compensation meets
international standards
- Ensure public awareness and availability
- f all documentation
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Understand the terrain through modelling
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Understand the history
map of Buchanan – 1890.
Nimba is thought to date back only about 500 years.
remains in this forest dwelling culture with timber houses etc.
probably longer, but little is known.
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Monthly rainfall (30-year averages measured from 1950s-70s)
Up to 3.5 metres per year at Tokadeh mine site and up to 6.0 metres per year at the Port of Buchanan
100 200 300 400 500 600 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average monthly rainfall (mm) at Nimba Mine Area
100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average monthly rainfall (mm) at Lower Buchanan
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Forest Surveys
- 40% of the remaining West African rain
forest is in Liberia
- Huge variety of biomes and species
- Collected over 20,000 specimens
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Flora: thousands of plants
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Biodiversity monitoring: Large mammals – camera traps
Site G-Y Tokadeh ENNR Trap nights 377 539 170
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Small mammals, including bats and pangolins
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Birds: around 400 species
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Butterflies & moths: 750+ species
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Frogs, many are tree-dwelling
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Snakes – 57 species in Nimba
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Nimba otter shrew – only occurs here – lives on freshwater crabs
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Nimba Toad (Nimbaphrynoides
- ccidentialis)
- Nimba Toad 12 mm long
- Bears live young
- Critically endangered
- Endemic to Mt. Nimba
- Only occurs above 1200 masl on
mountain savannah
- Subspecies N. o. liberiensis only
found on Liberian Nimba
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Socio-economics: a forest- dwelling rural society
Broad-based population pyramid
- 52.6% are male, despite the war
- Women appear to be badly
disadvantaged at several ages
- More boys than girls under the age of 20
- Fewer males than females in the 20 to
30 year age range (presumably the effect of war)
- Fewer women than men live beyond 70
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Characteristics of the communities
Limited livelihoods options
- Most households work on a subsistence economy
- Little surplus to sell, even when markets are accessible
- Poor infrastructure
- Very low development
indicators in every sector
without migration
ArcelorMittal are small compared to demand
business beyond petty trading
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Land capability
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Vegetation cover and hotspots
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Habitat assessment and mapping
Important bird habitats Critical habitats (IFC definitions)
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Environmental constraints (Tokadeh)
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Environmental constraints (Gangra-Yuelliton)
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Biodiversity not only at Mine but in Coastal Zone close to Port
artisanal fisherman
- Catching 77 species
- Beaches are nesting
grounds for endangered marine turtles
grounds for African dwarf crocodiles
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Transhipment operation
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Tracked handline fishing trips
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Great hammerhead shark
- One of the endangered species among the 77 species known to
be landed at Buchanan by artisanal fishermen.
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Addressing key environmental impacts
Example: construction material sources
- Avoid all sensitive areas.
- Identification of environmentally sound locations and rejection of
sites we consider unsound, even if they are licensed by government.
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Addressing key environmental impacts
Example: air quality assessment Air quality has been evaluated in detail in the Phase 2 ESIA.
- Most sources are not significant.
- The power plants are potentially very significant polluters. This
is especially the case with ECOWAS fuels.
- By establishing our own importation system and insisting on EU-
standard fuels with 2% sulphur, we can greatly reduce environmental impacts.
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Biological offsets in Nimba: making all these interests co-exist sustainably
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The ArcelorMittal Biodiversity Conservation Programme (BCP)
Vision Establishment of a Nimba Mountains Planning Area, which:
- allows multiple land uses to co-exist in appropriate designated zones; and
- promotes development based on the maintenance of a biodiverse, healthy
environment. Approach
- Focus on the terrestrial biological environment (soils, plants and animals)
- Technical or socio-economic measures according to the needs of
stakeholders
- Achieve sustainable forest management and conservation through working
with local communities, government, NGOs and other key stakeholders
- Helping communities find ways to benefit from conservation and develop
sustainable livelihoods within the forest resources; and supporting protected area management
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BCP – Two key Focus Area
Assisting Forest Conservation
- Help the communities and the Government of Liberia’s Forestry
Development Authority to agree, gazette and implement rational and sustainable areas of conservation and utilisation across all forest areas in northern Nimba.
- Ensure better quality, more biodiverse forest in the long term, and
sustainable production areas. Starting Agricultural Intensification
- Promote stabilisation of farming through greater use of tree crops in
agroforestry systems.
- Long term improvements in livelihoods that reduce people’s
dependence on forest resources, through tree crop and livestock production, better marketing etc.
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BCP Activities 2011-13: MoUs with community forest groups
- Public awareness about CFMB/JCFMB-AML MoUs
- MoUs signed with Gba, Zor and Blei
CFMB and support provided
- MoU in negotiation with East Nimba CMC
- GPS training for CFGs
- Data collection protocol developed
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Conservation agriculture
- Conducted by three Liberian NGOs
- Aimed at farmers with limited land
resources
- 6 participating communities
Benefits of conservation agriculture
- Moves towards stabilised agriculture
- Includes both tree and annual food
crops
- Reduces labour requirements
- Improves nutrient cycling through soil
horizons
- Farm families can spend time in other
ways such as on-farm processing
- Reduces shifting cultivation
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Further environmental work
- Upgrade environmental compliance systems and audits.
- Continue Biodiversity Conservation Programme and consolidate
design of Phase 2 Offset Programme.
- Design improvements on soil management, borrow and TMF.
- Further develop Mine Closure Plan.
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Making biodiversity and ecosystems services an Operations imperative
For full text, see ArcelorMittal.com
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Closure and rehabilitation
- Mine and infrastructure closure plan is being developed.
- Much of the infrastructure (towns, railway, port, power plants
etc.) are expected to be handed over to government in working condition.
- Borrow areas will be rehabilitated during the life of mine by
replacing topsoil and restoration through community contracts.
- Mines will be restored as far as possible by replacement of
topsoil and revegetation through community contracts.
- Tailings dam and waste dumps will also be restored by
replacing topsoil and revegetation through community contracts.
- Sediment ponds may be developed into fishery resources.
- More consultation, design and costing are required.
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Land rehabilitation by Forkpayea Gbelee: Neekreen, Grand Bassa, July 2009
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Land rehabilitation by Alvin Poure: Tokadeh, Nimba, October 2010
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Land rehabilitation by James Davis: Tokadeh, Nimba, April 2013 Local grass, 8 months after planting
