Project CIPREL 5 combined cycle thermal power plant Atinkou In accordance with PS 6 Biodiversity Action Plan Habitat Assessment Reviews and Action Plan for biodiversity Expertise for biodiversity recovery standard SP6 studies of CIPREL 5 project (Taboth, Ivory Coast) December 18, 2019 Project CIPREL 5 Atinkou thermal plant (Ivory Coast) - File Recovery PS6 & Action Plan for Biodiversity Contents 1. Summary 4 2 Project Overview 7 2.1 Background of the project and this study 7 2.2 CIPREL Project 5 9 3 Scope of the Action Plan for Biodiversity (BAP) 12 3.1 Objectives of the BAP 12 3.2 Study Areas 12 3.3 Consultations with stakeholders and experts 14 3.4 Supplementary Field mission: methodological approach 15 4 Description of habitats within the study area 22 4.1 Forest Habitats 22 4.2 Aquatic Habitats 30 5 Identification and assessment of critical habitat 33 5.1 Reminder of the criteria PS6 33 5.2 Analysis of species may trigger critical habitat 33 5.3 Determination of discrete management units (DMUs) 39 5.4 of ecosystem analysis criteria (criteria 4 & 5) 44 5.5 Summary of critical habitats 47 6 Demonstration of the project's compatibility with protected areas management plans 48 6.1 Forest Reserve Audouin 48 6.2 Forest Kokoh 48 7 Evaluation of Ecosystem Services 49 7.1 The different types of ecosystem services (ES) 49 7.2 Method for the characterization of ecosystem serv ices 49 7.3 Identify priority ecosystem services 49 8 Impacts and Mitigation Project 51 8.1 Aquatic Habitats: impact of the discharge of cooling water in the lagoon 51 8.2 Terrestrial Habitat: impact of the plant and associated infrastructure 51 8.3 Residual impacts on natural habitats and species triggering critical habitat 55 8.4 Proposed measures for the management of ecosystem services prioritaires58 8.5 Mitigation Measures 60 9 Strategy compensation and no net loss of biodiversity 63 9.2 Summary of no net loss of biodiversity the goals for natural habitats 67 9.3 Summary of achieving the biodiversity targets net gain for the species 68 10 Monitoring Plan and biodiversity assessment 72 11 Implementation Calendar BAP 75 12 Conclusion 76 13 Bibliography 78 Appendix 1 - Ov erv iew of species meeting the criteria PS6 critical habitat designation 81 Appendix 2 - Other species hav e been the subject of special attention 83 2 Project CIPREL 5 Atinkou thermal plant (Ivory Coast) - File Recovery PS6 & Action Plan for Biodiversity Appendix 3 - Summary of certain species have been analyzed (criticality) 89 Appendix 4 - Mitigation, compensation and support for meeting the SP6 90 1.1 Choosing a pow er line with little risk of electrocution and collision 90 1.2 Maintenance of water quality 92 1.3 Calendar clearing respects stakes cash 95 1.4 reasoned Clearing 97 1.5 Management clearings related to social influx 100 1.6 Selective Land clearing for maintaining species issues 102 Sleep 1.7 for species potentially present in conservation issues 104 1.8 Prevention and invasive terrestrial flora management 106 1.9 Support to the National Park Azagny for the conservation of forests inondées108 1.10Appui looking Herpetological: description of the species Phrynobatrachus sp. and knowledge of M orerella cyanophthalma 111 1.11 Assistance Project to control 113 Appendix 5 - Meetings ATINKOU - OIPR 115 Appendix 6 - Convention - Cooperation Framework between CIPREL and OIPR 118 3 Project CIPREL 5 Atinkou thermal plant (Ivory Coast) - File Recovery PS6 & Action Plan for Biodiversity 1 Summary In response to the grow ing electricity needs of Côte d'Ivoire, the company ERANOVE, operator of the CIPREL pow er plant in the industrial zone of Vridi, plans to extend its electricity production capacity by means of a new plant named Atinkou. It w ill be located 30 km w est of Abidjan, near the village of Taboth in the prefecture of Jacqueville, 800 m south of the Ebrié lagoon and 3500 m north of the Atlantic Ocean. Fifteen kilometers of high-voltage line w ill also be built in an easterly direction to connect the Azitio - Akoupé high- voltage line currently under construction. The project is located in an area marked by agricultural activities - extensive plantations of coconut and rubber trees, as w ell as food crops - in w hich there are many shallow s w here sw ampy and temporarily flooded forests remain in relatively good state of conservation. The site of the plant is located almost halfw ay betw een the Azagny (50 km w est) and Banco (30 km east) national parks. The boundaries of the Audouin classified forest w ere redefined in 2018, for the needs of the Ivorian army (training camp) , and today exclude a portion comprising part of the route of the high-voltage line. The financial institutions involved in financing the project require, among other things, that it respect international good practices in terms of taking biodiversity into account, and in particular performance standard No. 6 (PS6) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). An Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) w as carried out in 2018 by the ERM and ENVAL firms. This Biodiversity Action Plan takes over from the biodiversity component of this ESIA. It incorporates a complementary analysis of the issues in compliance w ith performance standard No. 6 of the IFC. It then outlines in a concrete and practical w ay a series of measures making it possible to resolve the biodiversity challenges identified. The Atinkou pow er station w ith w ater and gas pipes w ill have a 35 ha right-of-w ay and the high-voltage line w hich w ill export the produced electricity of around 75 ha. This project w ill impact a total area of 13.4 ha of natural habitats - of w hich 7.9 ha (under the high- voltage line) w ill only be "low ered" to a height of 3 m - and 96.8 ha of habitats modified (forest plantations, crops and cleared areas). The natural habitats impacted include 6.5 ha of w ell-preserved forest areas divided betw een raffia trees (5.2 ha), sw amp forest (1.2 ha) and temporarily flooded forest (0.1 ha) to w hich add 2.7 ha of grassland on sandy soil, 3.6 ha of degraded forest and 0.6 ha of lagoon aquatic environment. The natural habitats impacted by the project host a still relatively high biodiversity, and constitute critical habitats for: - Phrynobatrachus sp. ( n / a): a new amphibian species to science, know n only to the Banco forest and the project site, considered w ithin the science to have restricted distribution - Morerella cyanophthal ma ( VU): an amphibian with very restricted distribution, know n to only three locations on the Ivory Coast coastline. The species has not been observed but the habitat is typical of this frog know n from the Banco and Azagny national parks, as w ell as from w etlands on the border w ith Ghana. 4 Project CIPREL 5 Atinkou thermal plant (Ivory Coast) - File Recovery PS6 & Action Plan for Biodiversity The area still hosts a population of Cercopithecus lowei ( VU), an endemic primate of the Ivory Coast and Ghana and Trichechus senegalensis ( VU), the African manatee, present in aquatic habitats and the Ivorian lagoons w hich host a major populations. Note there is also the special case of the West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus) w hose IUCN status, still under evaluation, should be at least VU in the near future (according to the group of crocodile specialists of the IUCN / SSC). The data collected does not indicate that the forests in the study area constitute a critical habitat for the species, but it is nevertheless the subject of particular attention due to the high hunting pressure to w hich it is submitted, including on the project area. Other species of interest include the dw arf crocodile (Osteolamus tetraspis - VU) and the red-breasted ow l (Scotopelia ussheri - VU) w hose presence has been reported by fishermen and villagers from Taboth but w ho have not been observed directly. A total of 20 species of flora and fauna w ere the subject of a detailed analysis in this study, in addition to the analysis relating to natural habitats. These species w ere the subject of additional surveys (May 2019), and an in-depth assessment of the project's impacts on their habitats. Certain species and habitats also contribute, materially or spiritually, to the w ell-being of the populations affected by the project. The assessment of “ecosystem services” carried out w ithin the framew ork of the ESIA and the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) is repeated here in broad outline here in order to better understand certain ecosystem services of supply, regulation and culture. that have been prioritized. The project presents negligible residual impacts on the habitat of the African manatee (an aquatic mammal) and low residual impacts on 2 species of amphibians for w hich sw amp forests, temporarily flooded and raphia constitute a critical habitat. The project w ill impact 6.5 ha of this critical natural habitat, w ith its procession of forest species. Measures to mitigate and compensate for these impacts so that the project contributes to the conservation of these habitats have been integrated into a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), in accordance w ith performance standard 6 of the IFCs requesting a “net gain” for critical habitats. The main proposed compensatory measures are: - Financial support for the National Park Azagny for the conservation of coastal rainforest environments 1 . Like many protected areas, the park currently suffers from a lack of resources to fully carry out its missions.