Biodiversity

Biodiversity is a collective term that is used to describe the complexity of all life, including the great variety of organisms and their behaviours and interactions. In effect, it is the wide range of animals, plants, organisms, climatic conditions and unique characteristics which exist in an area or ecosystem. Any new entrant into that ecosystem, if not very carefully planned and managed, can have a long-term effect. The management of biodiversity is an important consideration for any organisation in the development of a sustainable long-term business, particularly for companies in the oil and gas industry.

For Tullow, our goal is to preserve biodiversity, and this objective is embedded in our EHS policies and how we conduct our activities. In practical terms, we carried out specific assessments of biodiversity in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uganda in the fourth quarter of 2006, to confirm that there were no protected areas or environmentally sensitive sites in the areas where we are operating. We established that although there are a few protected areas or areas with specific environmental sensitivity in the vicinity of our assets, there are none encroaching on our operations. There are two nature reserves involved in our exploration blocks in Uganda and we are managing our activities there very carefully to ensure that we prevent any long-term impact, and minimise our short-term effect.

We also prepared a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) at the end of 2006, to identify the sensitivities across all our activities, describe our existing mitigation plans and policies and highlight any further actions required. As part of the Group’s operational planning we use the BAP to shape our exploration processes and country activities, and at a project level this information is combined with our ESIA tool to ensure biodiversity is considered at the planning stages of projects and developments.