Mining can negatively impact biodiversity through direct and indirect effects. [1] Direct effects include water and air pollution, habitat and species loss from the mine site. [2] Indirect effects occur across wider landscapes, such as downstream water pollution and loss of ecosystem services. [3] A proposed mining project in the Philippines overlaps critical watersheds and forests, threatening over 20,000 hectares of farmland and increasing poverty for forest-dependent communities. Rehabilitation may require billions in costs while damage to biodiversity could cause local species extinctions.

1. Overview of
Impacts of Mining
I t f Mi i
to Biodiversity
Michael J. Edrial
J
Conservation Science and Research
Department
Haribon Foundation for Conservation of
Natural Resources Inc.

2. Biodiversity (Biological Diversity)
Variety of all life forms on earth

3. Philippines
-52,000 species with 13,500 species of plants comprising 5
percent of the world s total flora and about 68 percent of the
world’s
country’s species ranking in the top ten in the world.

4. Cont.
- considered as the most megadiverse country in terms of land
density and density in flora and fauna. Unfortunately, the species
d it dd it i fl df U f t t l th i
in the Philippines are considered among the most threatened in
the world considered as the hottest of hotspots or the most
severely threatened of the megadiverse countries.
:Internet
ture
soure

5. Decline of forest cover is alarming. Only 3-6% of the original
primary forest remains (around 1M hectares)! The smallest
figure of all the countries in the region (except Singapore)
1990s Late 1980s

6. South Cotabato - food basket of Mindanao with agriculture
as primary source of development/income (e.g. rice, corn,
coconut, pineapple, banana)
t i l b )
N

7. Mount Matutum Protected
Landscape
22 Restricted-range species
(
(Mindanao Endemic species)
p )
13 Globally threatened bird
species
(9 Threatened Restricted-range
species or Mindanao
Threatened Endemic species)
Th t dE d i i )
With one (1) bird species Endemic or found
only in Mt. Matutum and Busa-
Snowy-Browed
Snowy Browed Flycatcher
Ficedula hyperythra matutumensis

8. Philippine Eagle
(Philippine National Bird)
- Largest eagle in the world
- among the 160 globally most
Critically Endangered Bird
Species in the world (from
about 10,000 bird species)
- estimated 250 individuals left
- habitat range: 50-100 km2 per
p
pair
- threatened due to habitat
destruction and hunting

10. Impacts
Mining has the potential
to affect biodiversity
throughout the life cycle
g y
of a project, both directly
(at the mine site) and
indirectly (across a wider
landscape).

11. Direct impacts
• Water loss
and pollution
• Air pollution
• Species and
Habitat loss
• Oth
Other
services

12. Water loss and
pollution
ll ti
• Altered hydrological and
hydrogeological regimes (e.g.
decrease of water level)
• Increased heavy metals, acidity or
pollution
• Increased turbidity (i.e.
suspended solids)
• Risk of groundwater
contamination

13. Air
Ai pollution
ll ti
• Increased ambient
particulates (i.e. dust)
• Increased ambient sulphur
dioxide (SO2)
• Increased ambient oxides of
nitrogen (NOX)
• Increased ambient heavy
metals

14. Species and Habitat
p
loss
• Loss of ecosystems,
habitats and functions
• Loss of endemic and/or
threatened species
• Loss of important plant
p p
species with potential to
cure other known
illness/disease (e.g.
AIDS, cancer)

15. Impacts on
Service values
S i l
• Loss of access to timber and
NTFPs (e.g. medicinal plants,
fuelwood, etc.)
• Loss of access to grazing for
livestock
•IImpaired ecosystem services
i d t i
(e.g. soil and flood protection,
watershed protection, climate
protection
modification)

16. N
N 6 25’ 30” to 6 37’
E 124 59’ to 125 10’

17. Overlaps with critical watershed areas that will affect
environmental landscape and biodiversity (
p y (risk of
pollution, siltation, flashfloods and landslides)
N
N 6 25’ 30” to 6 37’
E 124 59’ to 125 10’

18. N 6 25’ 30” to 6 37’
N E 124 59’ to 125 10’
t 10’c
“Changes of erosion to occur in the target areas are HIGH
Changes
taking into consideration rolling to rugged topography”.
- Annual environment Work Program Jan.-Dec. 2008

19. Mining Impact to 3 Major River System
(directly affecting 3 provinces in the region: South Cotabato, Sultan
Kudarat and Davao del Sur - 1.2M population
Balangi River
(
(flows
northwest to
Mindanao river
then to the
Moro Gulf)
Padada river
(flows eastward
to Davao Gulf
Buayan River
System (drains
to Saranggani
Bay to the
Southeast)

20. Issue: There is a great Need for conservation
-Deforestation decreases groundwater level
Deforestation level.
Will affect around 20,000 hectares of farmlands
of 3 provinces.
Issue: Deforestation increases poverty - as a
I D f t ti i t
number of people directly dependent on forest
resources for food and livelihood
livelihood.

21. Issue: Rehabilitation and restoration activities to atleast
5000 hectares of affected area will need around 55-88
million trees at the cost of 4-6 billion pesos for wildlings
alone
Issue: Irreversible and permanent damage to biodiversity
with local extinctions possible.

22. “Not only have the oil, gas and mining industries
not helped the poorest in developing countries
countries,
they have often made them worse off. Scores of
recent academic studies and many of bank’s
own studies confirmed our fi di
t di fi d findings th t
that
countries which rely primarily on extractive
industries tend to have higher levels of poverty,
child morbidity and mortality, civil war,
corruption and totalitarianism than those with
more di
diversified economies.”
ifi d i ”
Dr.
Dr Emil Salim World Bank Extractive Industries
Salim,
Review 2004 (EIR). UK Financial Times on 16
June 2004.

23. www.haribon.org.ph