Ensuring Environmental Sensitivity in New Project Development Professor, Department of Mining Engineering and School of Environmental Sciences and Engineering Member, State Environmental Appraisal Committee, West Bengal Environmental Consultant :SAIL, Tata Steel, NTPC,WBPHED and many others Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302,India.  Email: jayantab@mining.iitkgp.ernet.in

Minimalist Development Protecting the Green during project construction. Minimal road development Road side Greening and green divider. Sensitivity to poor and vulnerable community. Biodiversity sensitiveness. Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition.

Project life cycle Operation Closure New Project Development Relocation and Restoration Planning, Job creation Implementation New Project Development Minimal Site development, Sensitive operation Ancillary Infrastructure, Extraction/Processing, thermal power Construction

New Imperatives Groundwater protection by maintaining and enhancing recharge areas. Watershed and drainage area protection. Mapping is a necessity. Avoidance of contamination. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle at source. Contractor commitment and guarantee for safe and clean behavior. Community centricity. Biodiversity protection

Infrastructural Development

To the maximum extent feasible, facilities should decrease their dependence on water that is collected, used, purified, and reused on-site. Maximize use of rainwater, harvest and recharge. Minimize ground water use during construction and operation. Dual plumbing that recycles water in toilet flushing or by using water for washing of the cars. Grey water can also be used for irrigation and landscaping. Waste-water may be minimized by utilizing water conserving fixtures such as ultra-low flush toilets and low-flow shower heads.

Encourage sustainable use and practices

Waste Reduction Centralized wastewater treatment systems can be costly and use a lot of energy. An alternative to this process is converting waste and wastewater into fertilizer, which avoids these costs and shows other benefits. By collecting human waste at the source and running it to a semi-centralized biogas plant with other biological waste, liquid fertilizer can be produced. Practices like these provide soil with organic nutrients and create carbon sinks that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting greenhouse gas emission.

Adherence to LEED Gold rating Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of green buildings, homes and neighborhoods. Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification: Certified: 40–49 points Silver: 50–59 points Gold: 60–79 points Platinum: 80 points and above

Zero Net Energy Buildings Building with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site.

Township Design Propositions: Why to choose Apartments over single Residences? Low cost Low Maintenance Increased safety Working spouse advantage Flexibility Contemporary choice Enhanced amenities Better greenery development

Biodiversity Protection: Make it Central to all development Microflora and micro fauna level protection. Identification and protection of keystone floral and faunal species. No Net Loss ( NNL) of biodiversity as a key question ingrained in all decision making. Development of protected and preserved offset areas. Active consideration of minimization and removal of noise , vibration, dust in the project area. Altering community behavior towards biodiversity by knowledge and awareness building ,training , and empowering.

Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354 Offsets Offsets are intended to compensate for the residual, unavoidable biodiversity loss from development with the philosophy that the compensations should match or exceed the anticipated harm (‘no net loss’, BBOP 2012, discussed elsewhere in details).The considerations in offsetting are species selection, variety of species for protection of genetic pool, resilience to vulnerability due to change, and the delivery of procedures to implement change. Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354

Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354 Mitigation Hierarchy Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354

Overall procedure for designing and sizing offsets Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354

Contiguous Offset Project Area Environmental Reconstruction Project Affected Area Habitat Food Chain Water Community Sound, Light Competition Environmental Reconstruction Habitat relocation Food chain Sound, light Reduction of invasive species Degraded Area Contiguous Offset

Degraded or new area Corridor Affected Area Separated Offset

Rio Tinto Net Positive Impact Forecasting: An assessment of losses and gains to biodiversity through the mitigation hierarchy at a mine site, which uses scenario planning to inform biodiversity offset design and optimise investment across the mitigation hierarchy Net Positive Impact Forecasting: The case of Rio Tinto Madagascar

What does “Net Positive Impact on biodiversity” mean for Rio Tinto? •“Ensuring that actions have positive effects on biodiversity that not only balance but are broadly accepted to outweigh the inevitable negative effects associated with mining and mineral processing: – Avoiding unacceptable impacts to ecosystems – Reducing the impacts that may occur – Restoring impacted ecosystems – Compensating for residual impacts with offsets – Seeking additional opportunities to contribute to local conservation” • NPI is implemented and measured at the site level • Aim is to achieve NPI during lifetime of the project (till closure) http://www.riotinto.com/NPI “minimising the impacts of our business and contributing to biodiversity conservation to ensure a region ultimately benefits as a result of our presence”

Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354 Thank You Jayanta Bhattacharya, IITKgp, 9434034354