Ports are typically adjacent to saltmarsh, wetlands, mangroves, dune systems and other important intertidal and marine ecosystems. The protective qualities of new infrastructure, such as a breakwater, may also offer up conditions that promote colonisation by wildlife nearby. The full effects should not surprise us. Natural systems and the patterns of flora and fauna are tremendously dynamic.<\/p>\n
Many ports compile plans to manage natural features such as Red Data (threatened) species, fish spawning grounds and bird nesting areas. We hear encouraging stories around collaboration: London Gateway with Essex Wildlife Trust at the Mucking Flats nature reserve; Vancouver Fraser Port Authority on the ECHO Program to manage at-risk resident killer whales; and Lom\u00e9 CT\/TIL supporting EcoGuard on turtle conservation in Togo.<\/p>\n
These are not the norm yet we are seeing more conservation-based activity. That\u2019s a result of a swelling portfolio of legislation, precedents set by recent port projects and rising lenders\u2019 expectations. Designated sites for nature conservation have rigorous protection while adverse impacts generated by new build are likely to require offsetting, often beyond the gate. Port growth is never straightforward.<\/p>\n
Throw into the mix the need for O&M teams to organise the dredging of channels for safe navigation, ignite burning programmes for fire protection, and manage invasive alien biota (e.g. on the hulls and in the ballast water of vessels, or exotic seeds transported in bulks), and we have more responsibilities that require ports\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n
What is not clear here is the respective roles of the port authority landlord, terminal operator, shipping line, and even the consignment owners\/retailers that keep the supply chain oiled and turning. Migratory salmon and a flock of egrets seeking a winter vacation won\u2019t respect the boundaries held sacred by concession deeds, landowners and planners.<\/p>\n
Claiming responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to draw the line as to what is an acceptable level of impact when there are multiple stakeholders at the table. Even so, there is no escape from scrutiny, which can be all the more rigorous when issues are highlighted, as happened recently with the \u2018David Attenborough Effect\u2019 \u2013 his latest BBC series Blue Planet 2 shocked many into caring about the amount of plastic found on our beaches and in our oceans. There is an expectation that like everyone else, ports must do their bit to prevent that pollution in the ocean, no matter whether you\u2019re in Berwick, Bruges or Baku.<\/p>\n Ports\u2019 monitoring and reporting on biodiversity is intensifying. Creating \u2018net positive gain\u2019 on new projects, Critical Habitats\u2019 Assessment and investigation of Ecosystem Services are relatively new concepts now firmly on the agenda. We have to work harder to find a balance that works for all parties, and the environment.<\/p>\n One solution is a shift towards ecosystem thinking rather than working in the single site\/project mentality. \u2018Working with Nature\u2019, the initiative advocated by PIANC, seeks to harness natural processes and topography, for instance by not impeding the migration of species and the beneficial reuse of dredged material to create or enhance existing habitats. We are far past the era of trying to conquer nature so seeking solutions with mutual benefits, within and connected to port land, seems a win-win. A port\u2019s strategy on biodiversity needs to be as dynamic as the natural environment to which it is inherently connected.<\/p>\n Charles Haine is technical director, Maritime at WSP.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" COMMENT: \u2018Ports and biodiversity\u2019 \u2013 an oxymoron, or a concept that needs to be embraced properly by our maritime community, asks Charles Haine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-environmentalist"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}