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Planning for oil and gas development

Module 3

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Content of Module 3

Environmental sensitivity mapping in the context of area-based planning

What is integrated area-based planning?
What is environmental sensitivity mapping?
Methods and data used for sensitivity mapping

Environmental sensitivity mapping in practice

Sensitivity mapping in the context of oil spill preparedness and response with MESA
MAGTAP vulnerability map

Environmental sensitivity mapping group exercise

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3.1 Environmental sensitivity mapping in the context of area-based planning

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Contents

What is area-based planning?

What is environmental sensitivity mapping?

Overarching process

Methods used for sensitivity mapping

Data considerations

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What is area-based planning?

Photo credits: Ton Rulkens

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What, and why?

Area-based planning is a proactive approach to balancing conservation and sustainable development opportunities through development of a spatial plan.

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Source: Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, 2019

So, what is it?

In essence, area-based planning is a proactive approach that offers an opportunity to develop a spatial plan for a sustainable future.
The main aim is to balance conservation and sustainable development opportunities, so they are implemented in a way that maximises benefits and reduces trade-offs.

As an example: decision may be made to implement a marine protected area. This could bring benefits to local communities through increases in tourism, but the trade-off could be that fishers are no longer able to fish, and suffer economic losses. In this sense, area-based planning allows us to review different scenarios of outcomes related to impacts on different groups within society, as well as biodiversity.

From a sectoral perspective, area-based planning can help to determine the best location for oil- and gas-related activities, helping to award concessions, locate oil- and gas-related infrastructure, roads, associated housing developments, and to minimise impacts such as habitat loss, fragmentation, and pollution.
First line of defence for natural resources is at the government level—where exploration sites are identified.

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Links to marine spatial planning (MSP)

Identifies the utilization of marine space for different uses, while taking into consideration the preservation, protection and improvement of marine ecosystems.

Guiding principles:

Integration and coordination with all (legislation, strategies, action plans, etc)
Transparency, inclusivity and participation (including stakeholders and civil society)
An MSP is built to include environmental stewardship, social and economic equity and to improve ecological sustainable development.
An Ecosystem-based approach recognises full array of interactions within an ecosystem, including humans, rather than considering single issues, species or ecosystem services in isolation.

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The main purpose of marine spatial planning is to identify the utilization of marine space for different sea uses in accordance with national policies and legislation, while taking into consideration the preservation, protection and improvement of marine environment, including resilience to climate change impacts. Furthermore, the Plan will also contribute to the effective management of marine activities and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources through the creation of a framework for consistent, transparent, sustainable and evidence-based decision-making. The elaboration of the MSP is in line with the implementation of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. (December 2016, Government of Mauritius)

The adoption and application of MSP in the WIO region by policy makers and managers will help in preventing and resolving conflicts between stakeholders within the coastal areas. Spatial planning will ensure that biodiversity conservation objectives are incorporated in coastal development decision-making thus promoting sustainable management of coastal and marine environments (UNEP-Nairobi Convention).

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Marine spatial planning in Mozambique

Led by the Ministry of Sea, Inland Waters and Fisheries, this integrated management approach brings together relevant coastal and marine actors to:

Map the ocean use,
Coordinate activities among differed uses and interests,
Decrease potential seas conflict

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Links to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

Systematic approach for mainstreaming and environmental sensitivity into decision-making

Evaluates environmental, social and economic considerations of policies, plans and programmes

Provides legal framework for integrated area-based planning

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Strategic Environmental Assessment

Social

Economy

Environment

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SEA in Mozambique: key objectives

Identifying, prioritizing and validating positive and negative, direct, indirect and cumulative, ESHSS issues and impacts of onshore and offshore gas sector, at the national, regional and local level.
Identifying gaps and overlaps in current institutional arrangements, policies and regulations responsible for failures to adequately mitigate negative ESHSS issues/impacts or enhance positive issues and impacts.
Proposing measures to streamline, and reconcile gaps in current institutional arrangements, policies and regulations so that management of positive and negative ESHSS issues and impacts is improved.

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Key messages

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Area-based planning helps define how resources (including oil and gas) can be used sustainably, contributing to multiple national and international goals

Area-based planning links to marine spatial planning which identifies the utilization of marine space for different uses (including oil and gas)

Area-based planning links to SEAs which integrates social, environmental and economic considerations into decision making and provides a legal framework for area based planning.

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What is environmental sensitivity mapping?

Photo credits: Ton Rulkens

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Environmental sensitivity atlases

“An environmental sensitivity atlas is an interactive tool [or map] that displays coastal [marine/terrestrial] areas sensitive to external influences” (Norad)

Key Components

Spatial tool
Various approaches
Can change over time
Assessment of ‘sensitivity’

Environmental sensitivity maps are different from maps of biodiversity, as they provide additional information on the relative sensitivity of these features.

These maps can also be framed around the question “sensitivity to what?” For instance, we could map the sensitivity of the environment to accidental oil pollution, as a step in preparedness. However, environmental sensitivity mapping also has broader strategic value as it provides decision-makers with an understanding of their environmental, socio-economic and cultural assets in a given region. This knowledge can be used to develop a local, sub-national or national strategies for managing resources and activities, such as the allocation of concessions.

In this context, ‘environment’ can refer to more than just the ecological sensitivity of the area, but also to the sensitivity of associated economic, social and cultural activities.

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Intended uses: landscape and project-level

Strategic-level planning for development and conservation

Emergency response planning

Project-level spatial planning

Project-level monitoring

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What are environmental assets?

Ecological assets

Natural entities
Provide ecological functions or services

Socio-economic assets

Natural or anthropogenic entities
Provide social, cultural, economic or political value

Environmental Asset: a collective term for ecological and socio-economic assets.

Ecological Asset: naturally occurring entities that provide ecological “functions” or services….including those which have no economic values, but bring indirect uses benefits, options and bequest benefits or simply existence benefits which cannot be translated into a present day monetary value (OECD, 2005).

Common ecological assets include e.g.:

Assets with protected status
Areas with biodiversity designations (e.g. Key Biodiversity areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites)
Critical Habitat according to IFC PS6
IUCN Red List of Threatened Ecosystems
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Habitats known to have high biodiversity value
Habitats known to provide ecosystem services

Socio-Economic Asset: natural or anthropogenic entities that provide social, cultural, economic or political value which may or may not have a quantifiable monetary value.

Assets should be identified through extensive stakeholder engagement.

The list should be informed by data availability and/or resources available for data collection.

The identification process can be iterative with multiple rounds of asset identification.

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Common ecological assets

Assets with protected status
Areas with biodiversity designations (e.g. Key Biodiversity areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites)
Critical Habitat according to IFC PS6
Threatened species and ecosystems (e.g. IUCN Red List of Threatened Ecosystems and IUCN Red List of Threatened Species)
Habitats known to have high biodiversity value
Habitats known to provide ecosystem services

While identifying all features that meet the broad definition of ecological assets is ideal, there is a need to find a pragmatic starting point that captures key biodiversity values and limits processing time at the outset. Some recommended ecological assets for which data are often available include:

Assets with protected status (it could be protected areas or protected species)
Areas with biodiversity designations (e.g. Key Biodiversity Areas, KBA, or Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, AZE)
Critical Habitat according to International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Performance Standard 6
IUCN Red List of Threatened Ecosystems
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Habitats known to have high biodiversity value
Habitats known to provide ecosystem services
Other assets for which good quality data are available

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What is “sensitivity”?

V

U

L

N

E

R

A

B

I

L

I

T

Y

EXPOSURE

SENSITIVITY

SUSCEPTIBILITY

IMPORTANCE

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Who is involved?

Government institutions involved in environmental protection and management and with area-based planning
Non-governmental organisations
Universities and other research institutions
Private owners and managers of biodiversity-rich land
Industry/private sector

Stakeholder engagement and a participatory process are key to capture all asset values and their contextual importance.

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Methods and data used for sensitivity mapping

Photo credits: Ton Rulkens

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Methods for sensitivity mapping

Methods vary in how much of the following they need:

National Environment

Agency, Norway

Bonn Agreement

Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana

IPIECA

National Environment Management Authority, Uganda

Technical capacity (e.g. GIS skills, processing power)

Cost and running-time

Data inputs

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Mapping Environmentally Sensitive Assets (NEA & UNEP-WCMC)

MESA is a hybrid tool for sensitivity mapping, developed based on the commonalities identified among other methods.

The tool is packaged as:

FME processing file
QGIS project file
Guidance document

The focus is on oil & gas development, but is relevant for a range of other sectors and uses.

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Data used for sensitivity mapping

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Data management systems

The creation of a data management system will provide three major benefits:

Improvements in visibility and accessibility of data

Evolving and continuously relevant sensitivity maps based on up-to-date data

Increased transparency further increases credibility leading to greater adoption by stakeholders

The creation of a data management system will provide the environmental sensitivity map with three major benefits:

1. Visibility and accessibility of data are improved, allowing their inclusion in sensitivity maps.

2. Environmental sensitivity maps can be easily updated as and when the datasets involved are updated. This allows the maps to become an evolving and continuously

relevant tool based on up-to-date data.

3. Increased transparency surrounding data included in sensitivity maps, including information on age and validity. This further increases credibility of the outputs, and their adoption by stakeholders.

4. Greater potential for ongoing funding of sensitivity atlases. Linked to the previous point, a credible output that is regularly used by corporate stakeholders may enable the implementation of funding partnerships to maintain the product in the long-term.

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Key messages

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Environmental sensitivity mapping can form one component of a larger, integrated area-based planning process

Sensitivity mapping highlights sensitivity of ecological and socio-economic assets to specific pressures

Availability and maintenance of relevant data are key for sensitivity mapping and other area-based planning efforts

Improved data collation and management processes are needed in Mozambique

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3.2 Environmental sensitivity mapping in practice

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Process for developing a sensitivity atlas

Assess Intended Use

Identify Pressures

Identify Assets

Prioritise and Rank Assets

Produce Atlas

Integrate Atlas into Decision-Making

Long-term Maintenance

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1. Assessing intended use

Identify Objectives

e.g. Identify key assets to include during a project’s EIA process
e.g. Plan emergency responses to oil spills

Identify realm and scale

Marine and/or terrestrial areas
National, regional, or local

Identify the audience

Public, selected stakeholders, or internal use only

Engage with Stakeholders

Government institutions, NGOs, Academics, Industry experts

The very first step to development an environmental sensitivity atlas is to identify its intended use or uses.

Different users are associated with each of those potential uses, but the common theme remains that an environmental sensitivity atlas can provide decision-makers with an understanding of their environmental, socio-economic and cultural assets in a given areas so as to make informed decisions.

Once intended use is established, then an appropriate stakeholder group should be convened from:

Government institutions – to oversee the process and provide input on regulations regarding acceptable impacts

NGOs – to provide contextual conservation implications

Academics – to provide scientific assessment of the assets

Industry Experts – to provide technical details on the likely impacts on assets

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2. Identifying pressures

Pressures will be determined by the intended use of the atlas:

Atlases for emergency response will likely focus on oil spill, whereas
Atlases for strategic planning of infrastructure may focus on land- use conversion or degradation.

Expert consultation and supporting literature will be needed to understand what pressures to incorporate given the intended use.

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3. Identifying assets

Definition of what is an asset will determine the outcome of the analysis.
The final asset list should be country-specific.
However, key assets are likely to be incorporated regardless of country.
List of ecological assets should include (but not be limited to):
Areas with protected status and/or biodiversity designations
Critical Habitat as defined by IFC Performance Standard 6
IUCN Red List of Threatened Ecosystems
Areas important for IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Habitats known to have high biodiversity value and/or providing ecosystem services

Next we come to the question of: what are the assets that need to be safeguarded?

The term “environment” may have different definitions according to the context in which it is used, or the stakeholders involved. However, in regards to environmental sensitivity mapping, environmental asset is a collective term for both ecological and socio-economic assets.

Ecological Asset: naturally occurring entities that provide ecological “functions” or services….including those which have no economic values, but bring indirect uses benefits, options and bequest benefits or simply existence benefits which cannot be translated into a present day monetary value (OECD, 2005).

Socio-Economic Asset: natural or anthropogenic entities that provide social, cultural, economic or political value which may or may not have a quantifiable monetary value.

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4. Prioritising and Ranking Assets

Importance

An asset’s value either at a global and national or local scale in relation to its rarity, significance, functional and intrinsic value.

Consideration should be given to the assets:

Irreplaceability (internationally and nationally)
Threat status (for species or ecosystems)
Functional value
Provision of ecosystem services
Legal status

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4. Prioritising and Ranking Assets

Susceptibility

The degree to which an asset will be affected by a pressure, based on the predicted severity of the impact and the asset’s ability to recover once the pressure has ceased.

Each pressure should be considered separately.

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4. Prioritising and Ranking Assets

I m p o r t a n c e	Very High
	High
	Moderate
	Low
	Very Low
		Very Low	Low	Moderate	High	Very High
		Susceptibility

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5. Producing atlas

The process:

Accepts a range of GIS file types
Relies upon FME Desktop
Can be visualised in GIS software including ArcGIS or QGIS

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6. Integrating into Decision-making Processes

To integrate properly into decision making there is a need to understand users and their specific requirements.

This broadly involves identifying:

GIS-based for technical users

Hard copies for field users

Who are the intended users?

What format do users require the atlas?

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7. Long-term Maintenance

A sensitivity atlas should be a living entity, constantly able to update as new data becomes available.

Sensitivity Atlas

Update data

Maintain data platform

Secure long-term funding

Systematic review of sensitivity

Here is a breakdown of the flow of resources and data to produce the sensitivity atlas, and to ensure its long-term maintenance – here based on the assumption that the FME-tool is being used to produce the sensitivity atlas (this could be replaced by another spatial/GIS tool).

The long-term maintenance of the sensitivity atlas needs to be integrated into a broader discussion around data management systems, as data used in the sensitivity atlas needs to be updated on a regular basis (as adequate) and formalized data sharing mechanisms will facilitate this process.]

What’s more, the data collected for the purpose of the environmental sensitivity atlas can be used for other purposes, for example to produce maps of importance ecological assets to be integrated in non-sector specific decision-making processes (e.g. EIAs).

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Piloting MESA in OfD partners countries

The methodology was demonstrated at a regional workshop in Arusha (Tanzania) in September 2019.

7 OfD partner countries: Ghana, Kenya, Lebanon, Mozambique, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Initial feedback was:

Tool is intuitive to use; and
It could be more

broadly applicable.

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Coastal sensitivity atlas in Ghana

MESA has been applied in Ghana to update their 2004 assessment of coastal sensitivity to oil spills.

Identification of assets: ecological and socio-economic, with update of underlying datasets
Assessment of importance: stakeholder consultation and national regulations
Assessment of susceptibility: impact severity and fate of oil on assets

So MESA has been applied with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Ghana, to update their 2004 coastal sensitivity atlas for oil spills.

The assets to be included in the atlas remained the same from 2004 atlas, comprising both ecological (e.g. lagoons, estuaries, mangroves, beaches, etc) and socio-economic assets (fish landing sites, coastal hotels, historical monuments). HOWEVER the datasets underlying the assets were updated where possible, including using remote-sensing to identify lagoons and estuaries.

Importance of those assets was then assessed through a stakeholder workshop with representatives from different government agencies, NGOs and academia. The priorities they identified were then combined with information from the national environmental regulations, which highlights specific environmental features as sensitive.

Susceptibility was based on past information from the 2004 atlas, which detailed the impact severity and fate of oil on coastal assets.

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Coastal sensitivity atlas in Ghana

4. Assessment of sensitivity: from low to very high

5. Atlas production:

National maps with high-level overview of sensitivity
Local maps covering all 539km of coastline, with grid cells to be interrogated
Background information and methodology

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Sensitivity mapping in Norway

Photo credits: Ton Rulkens

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Sensitivity maps in the Norwegian context

Foto: Full City (Kystverket)

Sensitivity maps are a tool to prioritize (activity) at acute pollution events.
The maps should show vulnerable, trheatened and prioritized resources in the coastal areas.
This allows for prioritisation of efforts to protect resoruces.

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Processing outputs?�(250 m grid squares)

10.315.288 grid squares with detailed information generated

Up to 21 assets represented in one grid cell

Up to 7 data sets represented in one grid cell

Full analysis each month based on new data

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3 resource categories

Nature based industry and activity

Biological components

Geographical areas

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11 data sets

Marine nursery areas

Government out door recreational areas

Aquaculture localities

Proposed nature conservation areas

Nature types category 13

Conservaton areas

Nature types category 19

Spawning grounds

Transhipment areas for fish

Coastal birds

General recreational areas

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65 asset categories in the three data sets

Havhest (Fastlandet)

Gråhegre

Grågås

Horndykker

Storjo

Polarmåke

Storskarv

Kvinand

Tyvjo

Kortnebbgås

Dverggås

Sædgås

Fisk og fiskebestander

Lomvi

Ringgås

Krykkje

Storspove

Alke

Gulnebblom

Praktærfugl

Knekkand

Alkekonge

Toppskarv

Ismåke

Fiskemåke

Knoppsvane

Smålom

Bunnsamfunn

Siland

Teist

Botaniske verdier

Storlom

Stellerand

Lunde

Svartand

Islom

Polarlomvi

Rødnebbterne

Tjeld

Stokkand

Svartbak

Skjeand

Småspove

Sildemåke

Dvergdykker

Havsule

Sangsvane

Sjøorre

Gravand

Laksand

Toppand

Gråstrupedykker

Gråmåke

Sabinemåke

Sjøfugl

Fjæreplytt

Brunnakke

Ærfugl

Våtmark

Strandtyper

Geologiske verdier

Naturmangfold

Akvakultur

Friluftslivsområder

Låssettingsplasser

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Processed once a month since March 2020
Takes 72 hours to process

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Geoprosessering – data flow with processing

Access to data

Generalisation

Prioritisation

Huge amounts of data

Processing

Sharing

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Practical use

Operation manual for vessels involved in pollution control

Guidelines for response plans

-The map contributes to the first, critically important responses being well quality assured. The service also provides a good basis for planning actions against acute pollution in the longer term, and it is an important tool in emergency preparedness against acute pollution, says director of The Norwegian coastal administration Einar Vik Arset

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MAGTAP vulnerability map

Photo credits: Ton Rulkens

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The Mining and Gas Technical Assistance Project (MAGTAP) Vulnerability Mapping

Identify and map areas that are vulnerable to environmental risks related to oil and gas exploration and production operations (vulnerability mapping)

The Mining and Gas Technical Assistance Project (MAGTAP) aims to strengthen the capacity and governance systems of key institutions to manage the mining and hydrocarbon sectors in Mozambique and has several project components.

It is implemented by the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME)
Funded by the World Bank

As part of the MAGTAP project, MIREME is conducting a study on the Environmental and Social Vulnerability Mapping for oil and gas exploration and production in Mozambique.
The Vulnerability mapping is conducted by Asian Consulting Enterprises Pte. Ltd. and Asian Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (ACE)
The purpose of the mapping exercise is to identify and map the areas that are environmentally vulnerable to environmental risks related to oil and gas exploration and production operations

This vulnerability mapping exercise may provide recommendations on environmental requirements to be implemented for future tendering of identified concession areas for oil and gas operations.

The vulnerability mapping will be concentrated on the sedimentary basins of Mozambique (see areas marked on map)

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3.3 Environmental sensitivity mapping group exercise

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Environmental sensitivity mapping exercise

Context:

The National Petroleum Agency is looking to establish new concession blocks for oil and gas activities. However, the Agency wants to first establish what are the potential environmental risks associated with accidental oil spills within those concession blocks.

Aims:

Assess the importance of different ecological assets.
Map out the sensitivity of ecological assets to oil spills.
Identify potential priority areas within potential concession blocks.

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Ecological assets

Asset A

Coral reef, part of a Key Biodiversity Area but with no formal protection status, providing fish nursing ground on which the local fishing community relies.

Asset B:

Mangrove forest, with no formal protection status, providing protection to a local village from extreme weather events.

Asset C:

Sand beach, with no formal protection status, providing nesting sites for a threatened turtle species.

Asset D:

Coastal forest designated as National Park, supporting at least one threatened species.

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Part 1: Importance ranking

Based on the information provided, rank the importance of each of the ecological assets between 1 (Very low) and 5 (Very high). More than one asset can have the same importance rank.

The ecological asset map should be numbered accordingly, reflecting the importance rank of each grid cell based on the ecological assets it overlaps with.

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Importance ranking

1 Very low

2 Low

3 Medium

4 High

5 Very high

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Part 2: Sensitivity ranking

1. Using the susceptibility rankings provided (see table 1) calculate the sensitivity ranking of each asset to oil spills.

Sensitivity is calculated by: Susceptibility + Importance (see table 2)

2. Colour the sensitivity map accordingly. Each grid cell should include the sensitivity rank based on the ecological assets it overlaps with.

Identify which concession blocks may have high environmental risks with it. Discuss which blocks may need to be identified as priority areas for further environmental studies, and why.

Asset	Susceptibility ranking
A	2
B	5
C	3
D	4

Table 1: susceptibility rankings

Table 2: sensitivity matrix

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Sensitivity ranking

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Part 3: Report back

Each group presents their importance map and their sensitivity map.

Compare the different priority areas identified for further environmental studies. Discuss the assumptions that have led to any differences between each group.