Environmental Assessment
Volume C-4.1
Slurry Pipeline
Flora
Ambatovy Project
80
January 2006
4.1.4
Issue Scoping
A principal aspect in identifying environmental issues for the project involved
public consultations. These meetings provided the opportunity to solicit input
from local communities, conservation organizations, and government agencies at
all levels to identify environmental and social concerns. The following issues
related to project-related impacts on flora were based on the outcome from the
public consultation sessions, a review of previous environmental assessments for
resource developments in Madagascar and elsewhere, and the Terms of
Reference (Volume A, Section 6; Volume H, Appendix 1). The main issues of
concern relating to flora along the pipeline route are:
•
loss or alteration of native primary forest with main concern focused in
the Mantadia-Zahamena corridor; and
•
invasion of areas containing native vegetation by exotic or unwanted
species.
Throughout the EA, key questions were used to develop cause and effect
pathways (Volume A; Section 7). The diagram illustrating the pathways between
project activities and effects on flora are shown in Volume H, Appendix 9. The
key questions for flora are:
Key Question FL-1
What Effect Will the Slurry Pipeline Have on the
Loss or Alteration of Plant Communities?
Key Question FL-2
What Effect Will the Slurry Pipeline Have on the
Introduction of Exotic and Unwanted Plant
Species?
Project-related activities anticipated to result in changes to flora include
construction and operation of the slurry pipeline, and site reclamation at closure.
Direct losses to plant communities will result from pipeline development
activities. Natural plant communities may also be indirectly affected by the
project from the encroachment of exotic and unwanted species.
These effects are primarily the result of construction, and secondarily, operation
activities. Positive effects to flora are expected as a result of closure activities
and implementation of the mitigation strategy. All project-related effects to flora
may have implication for visual aesthetics, protected areas, land use, fauna and
biodiversity.
The issue of species loss (species extirpation or extinction) was considered at the
initial and mid-stages of the slurry pipeline assessment. Because of the
