ID: 2101
Presenting Author: Genevieve Campbell
Session: 653 - Biodiversity Impact Assessment: Information Disclosure, Risk Identification, and Legal Regulation
Status: pending
The ARRC Task Force is an innovative model for improving the mitigation of impacts of large-scale development projects through independent and transparent engagement with ape experts.
The ARRC (Avoid, Reduce, Restore, and Conserve) Task Force is an initiative of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, Section on Great Apes & Section on Small Apes, that was officially launched in 2020 to tackle the threats of large-scale development projects on great ape populations and their habitat. It was successful in lobbying the International Finance Corporation to include a specific paragraph in its guidance note to the Performance Standard 6, which requires an engagement with the ARRC Task Force. The ARRC Task Force relies on the expertise of the c. 350 members of the Section on Great Apes & Section on Small Apes to review and provide advice to improve the mitigation of impacts of large-scale development projects on apes through independent engagement. The ARRC Task Force also promotes transparency by uploading all comments provided to projects on its website (https://arrctaskforce.org/) and demanding projects to contribute their survey data to the A.P.E.S. Platform, a comprehensive global repository for great ape population survey data. This presentation will provide an example of an engagement with a project that resulted in more robust baseline surveys, better impact identification and application of the mitigation hierarchy, as well as improved understanding of offset requirements for great apes.
Genevieve Campbell is a primatologist by training with experience engaging the private sector. She has been leading the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group ARRC Task Force since 2020.
Coauthor 1: Tatyana Humle