Biodiversity Action Plan

Since 2011, KPO have been developing and implementing the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), which determines the core activities of the Company for conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in the region in accordance with the KPO Sustainable Development Charter.

The BAP is a part of a multifaceted work that enables to look at the problem of biodiversity conservation from the point of view of assessing the possible negative impact of production activities, the existing legal framework, the current state of the territory, its sensitivity and ability to recover, as well as the priority of conservation of species and territories (preservation of primary ecosystems) for the future, and to find a balance between «take» and «give» by all stakeholders, etc.

The basis for the BAP is the IPIECA document «Instruction on Preparing Biodiversity Action Plans for the Oil and Gas Industry», which proposes the structure of the Plan and the recommendations for its development.

The Biodiversity Action Plan includes the following tasks:

• determination of the legal requirements, regulation, planning and taking into account the opinion of the third parties;
• analysis of monitoring/baseline survey findings and existing information for the determination of the current state of the environment;
• identification of priority ecosystems, habitats and species for protection;
• evaluation of impacts and identification of the risks to biodiversity at the stages of the project implementation;
• environmental monitoring and control on the project territory;
• preparation of the list of planned biodiversity conservation actions;
• reporting, stakeholders engagement and assessment of the effectiveness of environmental protection measures.

As part of the scope of work under the Plan, since 2012, such types of research have been carried out as monitoring of fauna and vegetation.

Fauna monitoring is carried out every three years and involves following 17 walking routes and study of 5 sites. The assessment of the condition of individual animals’ habitats as well as the size and qualitative composition of various systematic groups of animals are identified by visual surveys. The habitats, behaviour and direction of species’ movement, breeding grounds are determined in accordance with the Guidance on Keeping Records of Water Birds (dated 1971) and Guidance on Keeping Records of Mammals (dated 1987).

Flora monitoring is carried out on 27 sites in comparison with previous years. The research includes the following: geo-botanical description: abundance, phenophase, vitality and level of anthropogenic transformation. Besides, vegetation samples are periodically taken for the content of chlorides, sulphates, sulphur, nitrates and petroleum products. Frequency — every 3 years.

It should be noted that all types of hunting and fishing are prohibited within the KOGCF as reflected in the internal «Area of Enhanced Controls in Karachaganak Field» Procedure.

One of the structures ensuring the development of Karachaganak field is the Karachaganak — Atyrau export pipeline (hereinafter KATS). Pipeline was put in operation in 2004 and its length is 635,5 km. In 2022 KPO for the first time developed a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for 2023-2030. for the territory located along the KATS export pipeline route.

Baseline condition survey of flora and vegetation along the KATS route within WKO boundaries, as well as identification of key and indicator species, identification of factors impacting the ecosystems, study vegetation condition, identification of the structure of plant communities were carried out for the first time in 2023.