Increasingly, areas of interest for oil and gas

development are also being recognized and valued for

their biodiversity resources. Biodiversity, the complex

web of genes, species, ecosystems and ecological

processes that sustain life on Earth, provides human

society with food, medicines, natural resources,

ecological services and spiritual and aesthetic benefits.

Yet, this biodiversity is under greater threat than

ever before from human activities. While oil and gas

operations are often not the biggest threat to biodiversity

in an area, they can have a wide range of negative impacts

on ecosystems. In some cases, company activities

may also make a positive contribution to biodiversity

conservation. With increasing demand for energy and

the likelihood that oil and gas will be used to meet much

of this demand over the next several decades, the risk

to biodiversity from energy development projects is

expected to increase.

The juxtaposition of energy needs and biodiversity

values has led to some difficult challenges for both

the energy industry and the conservation community.

For energy companies, the challenge is to find a way

to meet the public demand for abundant, low-cost oil

and gas products and, at the same time, meet society’s

expectations for corporate social and environmental

responsibility, including biodiversity protection. Many

leading companies are finding strategic, operational,

reputational and financial benefits to including

biodiversity conservation in their decision-making,

policies and operations. For conservation organizations,

the challenge is to be a strong voice for biodiversity

conservation while working with industry to find the

balance between the potential threats that oil and gas

development represents and the opportunities for

harnessing the influence, expertise and resources of

energy companies for conservation efforts.

To meet these challenges, several leading energy

companies and conservation organizations have come

together to form the Energy and Biodiversity Initiative

(EBI), to produce practical guidelines, tools and models

for integrating biodiversity conservation into upstream

oil and gas development. This report presents a summary

of the analysis and conclusions of the EBI to date.

While this report and other products of the EBI focus

specifically on biodiversity, it is important to note that

biodiversity conservation is an integral component of

the goals of sustainable development. There are many

other important issues surrounding energy development

and its environmental and social impacts, including the

rights of indigenous people, the dependence of local

communities on biodiversity, overlaps between lands

set aside for legal protection and lands customarily

owned or used by indigenous people, the role of

governments, the impact of oil spills associated with

shipping and the contribution of use of fossil fuels to

global climate change. While we have chosen to address

only biodiversity issues in this Initiative, we recognize

that biodiversity cannot and should not be considered

in isolation, but can only be managed properly if it