Methods for the Development of Biodiversity Information Systems for Exploration Projects in the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract Biodiversity management in exploratory projects, especially in remote areas, includes risk analysis and decision-making with little information available. In order to optimize the effort and manage business risks, biodiversity information from previous studies and secondary sources and recent data resulting from field work of the companies should be considered valuable (e.g. biodiversity and environmental impact studies). The objective of this project was to create a biodiversity information system enabling the effective resources management as well as activities planning, through an understanding of the different attributes in the landscape and the ecosystem services analysis, integrating the multidisciplinary knowledge within the framework of a spatial analysis. Biodiversity information can be organized for developing biodiversity conservation strategies and for managing oil and gas projects' life-cycle, as long as it is available and logically structured. Biodiversity data is usually in reports where its consolidation and management is not easy. Geographic Information Systems rise an opportunity; geospatial data (georeferenced information) can be converted in a digital format and the management improved. For this case study, we selected the variables needed to be included in the biodiversity database, reviewing the quality of the data, its usefulness for a potential future use, the availability, versatility of biodiversity consultations and the data generation costs and in the right time. The conceptualization and structure of the biodiversity geodatabase developed in this project allows the integration and spatial analysis of biological, social, environmental and engineering information of exploratory projects, becoming an important tool to answer questions and solve problems. With the aim of speeding up the analysis and the subsequent use or interpretation, important considerations for the data standardization and systematization were addressed from participatory workshops with different disciplines (as engineering, community relations, and safety and environment). This database helps data management improvement and gap analysis as well as biodiversity data adquisition in Oil & Gas projects. This tool contributes to energy companies in the selection of biodiversity and ecosystem services performance indicators; as well as their subsequent monitoring and the implementation of biodiversity actions plans.