The rapidly increasing loss of biodiversity and natural resources is a major concern of the international community. Total has been actively involved in safeguarding biodiversity for many years. This commitment is formally expressed through the Group Biodiversity Policy and deployed through a wide variety of local initiatives and research programs. We also support actions through the Corporate Foundation for Biodiversity and the Sea.

A pioneering commitment

Total has been actively involved in preserving biodiversity for nearly 30 years through numerous initiatives, including:

• Creation of the St. Fergus Dunes Management Committee in Scotland, in 1980.
• Creation of the Corporate Foundation for Biodiversity and the Sea in 1992.
• Introduction of an environmental management system more than ten years ago.
• Support for regional and international conventions that is embodied in our Health Safety Environment Quality (HSEQ) Charter and our Code of Conduct.

A formal, Group-wide policy

Strengthening our commitment, in 2005 we issued a formal Biodiversity Policy Statement and published a roadmap. The Policy Statement is aimed at:

• Minimizing our biodiversity footprint.
• Integrating the protection of biodiversity in our Environmental Management System.
• Paying special attention to regions whose biodiversity is particularly rich or vulnerable.
• Taking part in scientific research and helping to improve our knowledge of biodiversity.

To facilitate proper application of the Policy Statement in the field, we prepared a Practical Biodiversity Guide focused on a three-stage process:

• Knowledge of site biodiversity and the potential impact of our operations.
• Maintaining biodiversity by reducing and/or offsetting that impact and by incorporating biodiversity more fully in our environmental management resources.
• Joint R&D programs with local and scientific partners.

The Total Corporate Foundation for Biodiversity and the Sea

A key component of the process set out in the Guide is creating biodiversity observatories near our facilities to:

• Regularly monitor the local environment and biodiversity, from dedicated observatory site(s).
• Ensure data consistency and validation and, though a panel of experts and partnerships, the credibility of the findings.
• Report to stakeholders on the quality of the environment and deploy a concerted process to verify the appropriateness and effectiveness of the measures implemented.
• Support R&D, for example by conducting inventories and mapping environmentally sensitive areas.

The Biodiversity Guide is being tested at a number of pilot sites, including the Feyzin refinery and the brownfield Prémont chemicals plant in France, the Yemen LNG site and TIGF’s pipeline network in southwestern France.

Yemen LNG (Yemen): The plant currently under construction is located near coral reefs, which offer an ideal ecosystem for monitoring the health of the environment. These formations are the subject of special attention that consists of:

• A detailed survey to identify the species present.
• The creation of a baseline for monitoring and comparison purposes.
• Active participation of the authorities and university in monitoring the work.

Systems will be in place so that observation and monitoring activities can begin when the plant is commissioned in mid-2009. These activities will continue throughout the operating phase, along the eight kilometers of coastline affected by the project.

Prémont, France: Decommissioned in the 1990s, backfilled, regraded and redeveloped, this brownfield site is monitored to ensure that conditions are suitable for recolonization. As part of the process, consultant Tereo conducted an inventory that revealed a wealth of plant and animal biodiversity (167 plant species and 46 butterfly species), despite the artificial nature of the site. This trend needs to be confirmed, and a new inventory could be conducted within two to three years.

Feyzin, France: The challenge consisted of integrating biodiversity at an operating industrial site in the heavily industrialized and developed Rhone Valley. In addition to the biodiversity inventory under way around the refinery, we are currently examining, in partnership with local environmental associations, the possibility of setting up an observatory covering the main representative ecosystems (Ile de la Chèvre, Feyzin plateau).

Other pilot biodiversity projects are under consideration:

• A partnership has been formed with an École Centrale Paris/ESSEC consortium to study a project to create “green corridors” along pipeline easements for TIGF’s gas pipeline network in southern France.
• The Flandres refinery near Dunkirk, France, is examining the possibility of creating a biodiversity observatory in an adjacent 45-hectare area. The observatory would be managed in partnership with the Natural Sites Conservatory of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.
• In liaison with the Total Corporate Foundation, Sogara would transform Gabon’s Port-Gentil ecopark into a biodiversity observatory

The Total Corporate Foundation for Biodiversity and the Sea

Extended in 2007 for a further five years, the Foundation has broadened its remit to include community support, heritage and the environment.

The Foundation consistently works with partners such as France’s Conservatoire du Littoral, a coastal wildlife conservation organization, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), who help it realize the projects it wants to support and finance. In 2007, it teamed up with France’s National Natural History Museum to present the Abysses exhibition, devoted to life in the ocean depths. It also organized a symposium on climate change and marine ecosystem biodiversity, in cooperation with IFREMER, the Port-Cros National Park in France, the IUCN and the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, U.K., and supports the international Census of Marine Life project.

The Foundation supports initiatives by Total subsidiaries, sites and employees, including:

• Restoration of lagoons in Morocco.
• Protection of sea turtles in Oman.
• Installation of fixed moorings in Guadeloupe.

 Learn more about the Foundation and the programs it supports