Environmental Assessment
Volume C-4.1
Slurry Pipeline
Flora
Ambatovy Project
86
January 2006
Little is known about re-establishing native tropical forest vegetation in
Madagascar and therefore revegetation trials will be established to increase this
knowledge base and develop pragmatic reclamation solutions. The lessons
learned from these trials will be made available to other reclamation efforts
planned by other organizations in the Mantadia-Zahamena corridor. Additional
details of the slurry pipeline reclamation program are provided in Volume B,
Section 6.
Prediction Confidence
The confidence in the impact predictions are related to:
•
Adequacy of baseline data for understanding current conditions.
•
Understanding of project-related impacts on the ecosystem.
•
Knowledge of the effectiveness of mitigation.
Flora impact predictions are based on the spatial distribution of vegetation types
within the pipeline site LSA. The baseline vegetation map was developed from a
combination of air photograph interpretation and selected ground-truthing. The
vegetation type classification is considered to be relatively accurate and therefore
the prediction confidence for direct effects on vegetation (i.e., loss of vegetation
types) is considered to be high.
It is assumed that forest rehabilitation efforts within the Mantadia-Zahamena
Conservation Corridor will be successful in regenerating disturbance areas to a
semi-natural habitat status. Adaptive management of reclamation will occur to
improve reclamation methods with experience.
Monitoring
A vegetation monitoring program will be implemented to ensure that vegetation
rehabilitation efforts are successful and that the vegetation cover is maintained
and erosion control measures are working effectively.
4.1.5.6 Conclusions
Avoidance of native forest vegetation through pipeline alignment design provides
the most effective mitigation to limit native plant community losses. Of the total
footprint, over 96% of the pipeline right-of-way occurs in areas that have already
been severely disturbed or impacted by human settlement. A total of 116 ha of
forest land (12 % of total LSA) will be affected from the construction and
operation of the pipeline. Of this portion, native forest vegetation considered of
