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SITES
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Ecology and Biodiversity on Tioxide Sites - Overview Huntsman operates eight Tioxide pigments production plants manufacturing TiO2 pigment in seven countries and until the late 1990s was involved with another site in Tasmania (the locations are shown in Figure 1). On each of these sites there are habitats and populations of flora and fauna of at least regional, and in some cases of national or even international importance. Covering a wide geographical area and with habitats ranging from reedbeds to brackish lagoons, Mediterranean scrub to tropical woodlands, Tioxide is making a significant contribution to the conservation of biodiversity on a global scale. Wildlife does not recognise industrial boundaries any more than it does national borders. Consequently there is a responsibility for conservation programmes to extend beyond the confines of site boundaries. This is particularly true for Tioxide sites that, for operational reasons, are located in coastal or estuarine areas. Most, if not all of the company’s operations are adjacent to sites of ecological importance and value. Plant operations in such locations need to be managed with considerable care in order to safeguard these fragile ecosystems. This report presents an overview of the biodiversity and nature conservation potential of all Tioxide sites around the world. Populations of plants and animals are dynamic and a totally comprehensive survey of the flora and fauna of any site can never be regarded as fully comprehensive. Also the level of detail in biodiversity surveys varies with different sites. In some areas detailed wildlife records have been kept over many years and cover all seasons. On other sites the information of flora and fauna is more limited. Further, not all taxonomic groups have been studied to the same extent. On most sites there is considerable information on bird populations and aquatic invertebrates around the out-fall pipes in all locations have been studied in detail over many years as part of the company’s effluent monitoring programme. Many plant communities and terrestrial invertebrate populations however, are still under recorded. Whilst the range of habitats on company sites is varied, wetlands of one type or another predominate. Some habitats are remnants of the natural ones that were present before the production plants were constructed, some habitats have developed as an unintentional by-product of other site activities, whilst others have been specially created as part of Tioxide's biodiversity and nature conservation policy. The main wildlife habitats on, and adjacent to, Tioxide sites around the world are summarised in Table 1. The flora of nearly all of the Tioxide sites has not been studied in detail so numbers of plant species known from company properties to date would have little meaning. More data however, is available for some animal groups, especially birds. At least 539 species of birds have been recorded on and around Tioxide sites worldwide (see Appendix 3) and this number will certainly increase with further survey work. The current total represents over 6% of all known species of birds. The diversity of some other animal species on and around Tioxide sites are shown in Table 2. A number of the bird species found on company sites are of considerable nature conservation interest and those Species of European Conservation Concern (SPECs) in categories 1-4 in Europe are summarised in Table 3 and those in SPEC 4 in Table 4. |
