Case study: How Great Panther protects biodiversity
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, Great Panther is a gold and silver mining company focused on evaluating, acquiring, developing, and producing precious metals from its mining properties in the Americas. Adopting responsible practices with respect to biodiversity management is increasingly important to Great Panther’s stakeholders and plays a key role in its relationships with local communities Tweet This!, regulatory agencies, and access to land.
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by Great Panther published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Great Panther’s impacts on natural environments affect areas around its mines. Accordingly, Great Panther is serious about its responsibility to avoid, minimise and comprehensively monitor those impacts. In order to protect biodiversity Great Panther took action to:
- conduct environmental baseline studies
- implement biodiversity conservation programmes
- provide biodiversity training
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Great Panther has identified;
- How Great Panther proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Great Panther to protect biodiversity
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Great Panther identified a range of material issues, such as health and safety of employees and contractors, job creation, relationship with communities, business ethics. Among these, protecting biodiversity stands out as a key material issue for Great Panther.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Great Panther engages with:
Stakeholder Group |
Employees and contractors |
Suppliers |
Shareholders and investors |
Local communities |
Governments |
Industry associations |
NGOs |
Educational institutions |
Customers |
Analysts |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Great Panther surveyed over 520 people from nearly a dozen stakeholder groups inside and outside its business, spanning four countries. There were face-to-face and phone interviews at each mine location and company headquarters, as well as an online questionnaire.
What actions were taken by Great Panther to protect biodiversity?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Great Panther reports that it took the following actions for protecting biodiversity:
- Conducting environmental baseline studies
- Each of its mine sites is unique, so Great Panther starts with a detailed environmental baseline study to acquire the data needed to recognise and manage changes. This includes identifying the types of ecosystems present and species of flora and fauna and the ecological processes they support. The study allows Great Panther to get to know each mine’s surroundings through the expertise of a multi-disciplinary team of experts. Once they have assessed the area’s specific needs, Great Panther tailors a plan to avoid, minimise, and manage impacts on flora, fauna and their habitat according to local environmental legislation. The study findings also provide timely input into site plans to reduce potentially adverse environmental impacts during the development, operational and closure phases of Great Panther’s mines.
- Implementing biodiversity conservation programmes
- Preventing impacts to ecosystems and habitat is more responsible and more cost-efficient than remediating them. To that end, based on its environmental baseline studies, Great Panther creates biodiversity conservation plans to maintain or enhance specific conditions and prevent damage, specific for each site. These include guidelines to avoid water pollution, emission control protocols (air, soil and water) and minimise habitat loss. Great Panther’s biodiversity conservation programmes also include soil erosion prevention and spills prevention technology.
- Providing biodiversity training
- When Great Panther identifies a new area of work, it prioritises the conservation of flora and fauna. Great Panther’s biodiversity programmes are guided by local environmental legislation and may include impact mitigation plans, land-use change studies and its associated reports. As employees and contractors begin to work at a new site and each year, they receive biodiversity training that emphasises care, respect and the importance of following Great Panther’s conservation guidelines at and around the site. Additionally, Great Panther is exploring the potential of new technologies to revolutionise biodiversity in mining. This includes using night-vision cameras to identify animals in the forest around Tucano, as well as deploying drones in Mexico and Brazil to monitor the recovery of vegetation. Great Panther also uses a Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate and protect seed-bearing plants and endangered species, in addition to forestry inventory software.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
2) Disclosure 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity
3) Disclosure 304-3 Habitats protected or restored
Disclosure 304-1 Operational sites owned, leased, managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
- Targets: 6.6
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
- Targets: 14.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
- Targets: 15.1, 15.5
Disclosure 304-2 Significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
- Targets: 6.6
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
- Targets: 14.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
- Targets: 15.1, 15.5
Disclosure 304-3 Habitats protected or restored corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
- Targets: 6.6
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
- Targets: 14.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
- Targets: 15.1, 15.5
Disclosure 304-4 IUCN Red List species and national conservation list species with habitats in areas affected by operations corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
- Targets: 6.6
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
- Targets: 14.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
- Targets: 15.1, 15.5
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Great Panther, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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