Environmental and Social Safeguard Standards produced by International Finance Institutions (IFIs) provide an international best practice framework for assessing private and public sector development projects. As part of a suite of requirements, these standards have been developed for the protection of biodiversity. A fundamental component to meeting the standard requirements relates to the need to define ecologically appropriate scales of study and analysis.
Whilst the standards provide a comprehensive steer on the need for biodiversity analysis at an ecologically appropriate scale that extends beyond a project site and its Area of Influence (AoI), there is no detailed guidance for defining these areas, especially for the marine environment. To address this gap, Bluedot has developed guidance which is available below.
