ACCIONA GLOBAL coMMITMENT TO BIODIVERSITY SWeden CANADA United Kingdom POLAND GERMANY CROATIA PORTUGAL UNITED STATES GREECE SPAIN QATAR CHINA ITALY MEXICO United Arab Emirates Morocco Saudi Arabia DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Algeria COSTA RICA INDIA COLOMBIA PANAMA GABON ECUADOR BRAZIL PERU AUSTRALIA South AFrica CHILE • ACCIONA PROJECTS IN THE WORLD IN FAVOUR OF THE conSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY • Prologue ......................................................................................................................................... 07 • Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 08 • Principles of biodiversity policy ................................................................................................. 09 Biodiversity Offsetting and Improvement Programme: Net Positive Impact 10 • Nesting boxes for protected species in ACCIONA’s facilities ............................................ 12 • Using photo-trapping to research the presence and behaviour of wild animals around ACCIONA’s facilities ......................................................................... 16 • Fruit trees in Bear Country ......................................................................................................... 24 • Regional Network for protecting threatened species in Extremadura (Spain) ............ 26 Feeding point in Monfragüe National Park ........................................................................... 28 Feeding point at La Roca de la Sierra .................................................................................... 29 Feeding point at Trujillo .............................................................................................................. 30 • Captive Breeding Project for european mink for reintroduction to the natural environment ....................................................................................................... 32 • Creating a wetland and a bankside wood using renewable energies ............................ 34 Good practices in biodiversity linked to ACCIONA’s business 36 WoRKING TO BENEFIT FAUNA • Improving the condition of protected ophidian habitats in Ontario (Canada) ................ 38 • Monitoring birds of prey and chiropteran species in wind farms ......................................... 40 • Protecting fish and bird habitats in the River Thames (United Kingdom) ......................... 42 index • Improving the amount of preys for Bonelli’s eagles in Spain .............................................. 44 • Safeguarding Montagu’s harrier nests ...................................................................................... 45 • Preserving protected species within desert dunes .............................................................. 47 • Conserving protected species in the Atacama Desert, Chile ............................................ 48 WoRKING WITH FLORA • Generating new populations of threatened species in a World Biosphere Reserve .................................................................................................. 52 • Working to preserve the Copihue, Chile’s national flower ................................................... 52 • Recovering and reproducing species from the desert in Mexico ........................................ 53 • Recovering and reproducing protected species in Ontario, Canada .................................. 54 • Working with tree ferns, orchids, mosses and lichens in Colombia ................................... 54 RESTORING AND CARING FOR EcoSYSTEMS • Recovering and creating new wetlands in Alberta (Canada) .............................................. 57 • Restoring peat bogs and creating new wetlands in Spain .................................................... 58 • Combining wine production and biodiversity conservation ................................................. 59 FIGHTING AGAINST INVASIVE SPECIES • Pest control and invasive species, in Australia ........................................................................ 61 • Controlling the expansion of the zebra mussel ...................................................................... 62 • Controlling invasive species at Mundaring (Australia) ........................................................... 63 6 • 7 ACCIONA, GLOBAL coMMITMENT TO BIODIVERSITY ACCIONA drives the transition towards a low carbon economy Prologue “Only when the last tree is cut down, from the past, but there is no solution the fight against climate change, in the the last fish caught, the last river there that can guide us in our interest challenges that are set before us by poisoned, only then we will realize to warn public opinion about the economic and social development linked that one cannot eat money” (Cree consequences of climate change. The to the preservation of the planet. There Indians, Canada) worst of which, without a doubt, is the is no middle ground, nor can there be. one that threatens life on the planet. You are either in or out. Today, nobody One of ACCIONA’s most noteworthy has any doubt about the fact that all challenges is the commitment to We could take inventory of how bad we plant and animal species, no matter sustainable development. It is a understand the meaning of biodiversity, how simple, are a repository of genetic challenge that begins in the present and which is nothing other than the variety information resulting from thousands heads straight into the future, to coming of life on Earth, meaning all living plants of years of evolution, and when they generations. You may have heard of and animals inhabiting the planet. And go extinct, they disappear and are lost the sentence recalling that the Earth we could look the other way when we forever. is not inherited from our ancestors, learn that the species extinction rate we borrow it from our children. But is currently 1000 times faster than the Dear reader, the report you have in your as we already know, human beings historical rate of natural extinction. hands reflects, with both humbleness are capable of deciphering the most Preserving biodiversity means that we and decisiveness, the labour that those complicated of scientific mysteries but of us who work at ACCIONA perform must be fully committed to the rules incapable of understanding thoughts as in favour of preserving biodiversity that the Earth imposes upon us. simple as the one you have just read. wherever our brand is present. We The footprint that man has left in the Business strategies are also established would like you to consider it as a past matters little now with respect to this way, with clarity and conviction. written commitment that binds us to directing our actions and proposals. And And this is how we would like to continuously adapt. above, all regarding our warnings and be understood in ACCIONA: in our considerations. We draw conclusions commitment to the environment, in “Halting biodiversity loss and tackling climate change, are one of the main challenges facing humanity” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD - 2008. 8 • 9 ACCIONA, GLOBAL coMMITMENT TO BIODIVERSITY Conserving the natural environment Principles and biodiversity of ACCIONA’s is a mainstay of the ACCIONA’s biodiversity environmental strategy policy Incorporate biodiversity conservation Establish regular monitoring of the into its strategy, as a key component impacts on biodiversity of the Company’s Conservation of when making decisions in the areas of different projects and facilities. biodiversity and the planning, implementation, operating and dismantling of its facilities. Underscore and communicate relevant responsible use of actions in the field of environmental our natural heritage Promote awareness and training on conservation, fostering a culture of biodiversity and conservation in its biodiversity conservation. are, for ACCIONA, various lines of business, promoting as well as an ethical best practices and communication Promote actions aimed at protecting commitment, a internally and externally. and improving the natural environment. necessary condition Drive training of Company personnel in Collaborate with government, local biodiversity. communities, social organisations and for global other stakeholders in the development sustainability Develop a programme for offsetting of biodiversity conservation, awareness impacts generated on the natural and research actions. environment and biodiversity. Introduction The Convention on Biological Diversity For ACCIONA, in addition to the fight (CBD), at its meeting of the Conference against climate change, conserving the of the Parties, held in Japan in 2011, natural environment and biodiversity is set out its Strategic Plan for Biological a mainstay of its environmental strategy. Diversity 2011-2020. This Plan recognises It has had a specific Natural Environment the progress that has taken place and Biodiversity organisational unit since towards the integration of biodiversity 2011, as well as a Panel of Experts in conservation and sustainable use of Biodiversity. Since 2012, it went further resources into companies’ economic towards achieving the principles defined activities, setting a series of targets to in its Biodiversity Policy, promoting make variables related to biodiversity an reconciliation between conserving important element in business decision species and natural places and carrying making. out its production business. 10 • 11 ACCIONA, GLOBAL coMMITMENT