Environmental Assessment
Volume C-4.5
Slurry Pipeline
Protected Areas
Ambatovy Project
164
January 2006
Plans to control erosion along the pipeline route, and to mitigate siltation effects
and water quality effects, are discussed in Volume C, Section 3.6 (hydrology)
and Volume C, Section 4.3 (fish and aquatic resources). Additional, site-specific
mitigation for specific valuable biological resources, including those in protected
areas, will be developed before pipeline construction by a team travelling along
the final pipeline route.
The pipeline will be engineered and constructed to minimize the chances of an
accidental spill. Contingency plans have been developed to mitigate the effects
of a spill, should one occur in an extreme case. Mitigation for natural risks is
presented in the slurry pipeline natural risks report, Volume I, Section 6.1.
The project will help support initiatives with conservation groups to restore
appropriate tree species in the forested corridor and Torotorofotsy Ramsar site
along the slurry pipeline RoW. The project will also participate with appropriate
conservation and government groups, as appropriate, to assist in the development
of a management plan for the Ramsar site.
4.5.5.4 Results
Physical Impacts
The area to be affected directly by the slurry pipeline overlaps the Torotorofotsy
Ramsar Site. Although this is not by definition a protected area, it is anticipated
that the Government of Madagascar and other stakeholders will develop a
management plan for this area which will limit its use. Ramsar guidelines
emphasize wise use, which is use that does not permanently alter the biological
qualities of the site. The slurry pipeline will impact less than 1% of the Ramsar
Site (70 ha out of 9,300 ha), and these impacts will be reversible.
The slurry pipeline will also cross a section of the Mantadia-Zahamena corridor.
Based on the preliminary boundaries for this corridor, of a total area of 401,655
ha, the pipeline will affect 15 ha, or less than 1%. The pipeline will cross part of
the planned corridor which has been historically deforested, and therefore will
not result in the removal of primary forest.
The pipeline RoW has the potential to cause fragmentation of both the
Torotorofotsy Ramsar site and the Mantadia-Zahamena corridor, which is under
planning for reforestation. Therefore, mitigation associated with the slurry
pipeline will include reforestation of the disturbed corridors for both of these
RoW sections (km R0+000 to R2+000 and R16+000 to R26+000) with native
species (or other species appropriate for local land uses), and the minimization of
the corridor that is kept open within areas of existing disturbance in both cases.
