ThaiBev Sustainability

ThaiBev’s Sustainability 2025

Home / Environmental

CRITICAL BIODIVERSITY RISK SCREENING

Biodiversity

Biodiversity
Management Actions

Critical Biodiversity Risk Screening

Internationally Recognized Areas and/or Important Biodiversity Areas

Site location information was first visually inspected through GIS, whereby the boundary of each site was demarcated based on the provided coordinates, total area, and the physical outlines/characteristics identified from satellite imagery.

The distance of the demarcated sites to internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas was then analysed using GIS tools. Data on internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas was derived from the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT). A risk rating was subsequently allocated to each site that overlaps with or is in proximity to internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas. The risk rating is based on the sites’ relative distance to these areas. Sites that overlap are rated as very high risk; closer than 2 km are rated as a high risk; those between 2 km and within 5 km a medium risk; and those greater than 5 km are recorded as a low risk.

The site being ‘in proximity to critical biodiversity’ means that the site is located between 5 km and 2 km from the internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas. The risk criteria for assessing the risk rating for sites are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Risk Rating Criteria

Proximity to Protected Area	Risk Criteria
Internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas is greater than 5 km from the site.	Low
Internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas is greater than 2 km or less than 5 km of the site.	Moderate
Internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas is immediately adjacent to or within 2 km of the site.	High
Site is located within the internationally recognized areas and/or important biodiversity areas.	Very High

Species Screening

An initial desktop screening was undertaken for a 10 km buffer around each site to screen for species that could potentially trigger the site being in proximity to critical biodiversity. This screening was undertaken using the criteria provided in IFC PS6 paragraph 16 or GN16 (of the 2019 update of the 2012 guidance) to identify species highest risk of impact from each site using IFC PS6 Critical Habitat criteria 1, 2, and 3. The criteria used for this screening include:

Habitat of significant importance to Critically Endangered and/or Endangered species;
Habitat of significant importance to endemic and/or restricted-range species;
Habitat supporting globally significant concentrations of migratory species and/or congregatory species;

Critical Habitat may not be limited to pristine or highly biodiverse areas, but can include both modified and natural habitats where these meet the Critical Habitat criterion.

The screening process against the paragraph 16 criteria is informed by the additional guidance provided in GN69 to 97 of the 2019 update of the 2012 guidance. Table 2 details the quantitative qualifying requirements for Criteria 1 to 3 (i.e. thresholds). The criteria listed above have been used to complete this screening. In the absence of reliable population data, proxies such as the proportion of a species’ distribution in the area has been used to inform Critical Habitat -determination.

The criteria are ‘triggers’ in that if an area of habitat meets any one of the criteria, it will be considered Critical Habitat irrespective of failing to meet any other criterion. This approach ensures that all species of high risk of impact from a site is considered. Critical Habitat criteria therefore have two distinctive characteristics. First, components of biodiversity are essentially assigned to only two levels of conservation significance, those that trigger Critical Habitat and those that do not. Secondly, each criterion is applied separately and not in combination, meaning that the scores are not cumulative. A species may be screened in on more than one criterion (e.g., a CR species that is also endemic or range restricted).

Table 2 Critical Habitat Criteria

Criteria	Thresholds
Criterion 1: Critically Endangered (CR) / Endangered (EN) species:	(a) Areas that support globally-important concentrations of an IUCN Red-listed EN or CR species (0.5 % of the global population and 5 reproductive units of a CR or EN species); (b) Areas that support globally-important concentrations of an IUCN Red-listed VU species, the loss of which would result in the change of the IUCN Red List status to EN or CR and meet the thresholds in (a). (c) As appropriate, areas containing nationally/regionally-important concentrations of an IUCN Red-listed EN or CR species.
Criterion 2: Habitat of significant importance to endemic and/or restricted-range species;	(a) Areas that regularly hold ≥ 10 % of the global population size and ≥ 10 reproductive units of a species.
Criterion 3: Habitat supporting globally significant concentrations of migratory species and/or congregatory species;	(a) Areas known to sustain, on a cyclical or otherwise regular basis, ≥ 1 % of the global population of a migratory or congregatory species at any point of the species’ lifecycle. (b) Areas that predictably support ≥ 10 % of the global population of a species during periods of environmental stress.

Note:
Restricted range/ Endemic Species – Species with global distributions of less than 50,000km²
Migratory species – Any species of which a significant proportion of its members cyclically and predictably move from one geographical area to another (including within the same ecosystem)
Congregatory Species – Species whose individuals gather in large groups on a cyclical or otherwise regular and/or predictable basis

Source: IFC, 2019

Findings

A summary of the Critical Biodiversity Risk Screening findings is summarised in Table 3.
Table 3 Summary of Critical Biodiversity Risk Screening results

Note:

PA = Protected Area
KBA = Key Biodiversity Area
AZE = Alliance for Zero Extinction sites
Ramsar = Wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention
WH = World Heritage Site