Design and implementation of conservation project portfolio
Through the Alliance, CI and BHP Billiton have jointly developed a systematic framework and approach to designing and implementing conservation investments. The approach leverages both BHP Billiton’s risk based approach to project design and CI’s experience and expertise in establishing long-term conservation areas that address financial, legal and governance requirements. Projects are selected based on their conservation significance and evaluated to ensure that they will make a lasting contribution to our global natural heritage. Each project is required to reach a high standard for effective conservation management and will be supported by a sustainable financing mechanism, so benefits to people and nature will continue for many years into the future.
The approach leverages both BHP Billiton’s risk based approach to project design and CI’s experience and expertise in establishing long-term conservation areas that address financial, legal and governance requirements.
Prior to launching the collaboration, both organizations spent a year collaborating, building trust, understanding respective expertise, tools, management systems and jointly piloting and developing processes that formed the basis for the Alliance. One of the applied learning’s of the Alliance to date has been application of new risk assessment methodologies to conservation projects, using insights from BHP Billiton’s robust systems for risk identification, assessment, prevention and control. These methodologies, when applied to conservation project design, allow for improved communication of project planning and implementation to decision makers whose core area of business expertise fall outside environmental conservation. Importantly, they have also resulted in project investments that should be resilient to a variety of factors and events – including reputational, financial and implementation risks.