ID: 1844
Presenting Author: Suzanne Cotillon
Session: 682 - From Theory to Practice: Nature Positive Landscapes in the Mining Sector
Status: pending
A participatory approach helps companies, communities and authorities co-design biodiversity conservation agreements, enhancing transparency and inclusion toward achieving Nature Positive outcomes.
Achieving Nature Positive outcomes in the mining sector requires governance systems that translate corporate offset obligations into credible, community-supported conservation actions. In Guinea, where mining concessions overlap with high-biodiversity landscapes, companies must develop biodiversity offset strategies aligned with the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Standard 6. A key component of these strategies is the establishment of conservation agreements—formal partnerships between mining operators, local communities, and authorities to ensure long-term stewardship of offset sites.
To facilitate this process, an innovative strategic simulation game has been developed to support the negotiation and co-design of conservation agreements. By transforming ecological and socio-economic data into interactive scenarios, the tool enables stakeholders to visualize trade-offs, test management options, and explore alternative offset measures in a transparent and collaborative setting. This participatory approach helps clarify expectations, reveal constraints, and foster mutual understanding among mining companies, regulators, and communities.
Field experience in Guinea demonstrates how this method strengthens the legitimacy and feasibility of conservation agreements by integrating community perspectives into offset planning. Embedding such participatory negotiation tools within governance systems can enhance transparency, inclusiveness, and accountability—helping the mining sector move from compliance-driven mitigation to genuinely Nature Positive outcomes by 2030 and beyond.
Suzanne COTILLON is a biodiversity consultant specializing in environmental impact assessments, dedicated to enhancing stakeholder dialogue in conservation projects.