Ensuring the environment doesn’t go up in smoke

How do you persuade your suppliers in 20 countries to respect their environment and live in peace with their neighbours?

A business tool known as the Biodiversity Risk and Opportunity Assessment, or BROA, is the answer devised by the multinational British American Tobacco (BAT) group.

BROA, created and introduced by the company in a coalition with environmental NGOs, reflects a commitment to ethical responsibility at BAT, one of the growing number of entities worldwide that are concerned to look at their impact on the areas and communities in which they and their suppliers operate.

The BAT Biodiversity Partnership was set up as long ago as 2001, allying the company with three bodies that exist to promote environmental protection – the Tropical Biology Association, a UK-based organisation that aims to build conservation and research expertise in Africa; the Earthwatch Institute, a global charity dedicated to bringing individuals and scientists together to maintain a sustainable environment; and the conservation group Fauna & Flora International.

The partnership developed the BROA tool in 2006 because it realised there had to be some way of evaluating the risks of agricultural activities on the ecosystems on which BAT relied, says Joe Yalley-Ogunro, the company’s biodiversity programme manager.

The company recommends its BROA principles for use “by anyone responsible for managing agricultural operations and thus for the biodiversity in and around those operations”, and says they are applicable to a broad range of crop types.

The first job for the tool is to identify the impacts of business operations on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes and to see how those activities depend on it.

The second function is to assess and prioritise the risks involved, both from the effects on biodiversity and the opportunities offered, and the risks of depending on that same biodiversity.

Thirdly, the tool is employed to determine action plans to deal with the risks and ways of monitoring them as they are tackled, and to take up the opportunities.

The company has a conviction that ecosystems and ecosystem services are “essential to agricultural landscapes” and that the people there matter too. Yalley-Ogunro says: “In seeking to be responsible you need to do the right thing, and you need to live in harmony with the neighbours.”

He emphasises that concentrating on biodiversity then carries benefits to the bottom line: “Without it we shan’t be able to make good business decisions.”

BAT emphasises that its biodiversity approach is holistic, applying to care for the land and landscape, the soil and the water used in the production of crops.

The entire process is laid out in a handbook. Here the company’s suppliers can see a step-by-step how-to compilation of the procedures involved. They are shown the ways in which samples should be selected and the site surveys conducted, the process of bringing stakeholders into the operation, and methods of monitoring the work as it goes ahead.

The human aspect and input in using the BROA tool are vital. BAT insists that the tool requires the involvement of all stakeholders. Wherever appropriate, consultations have to be held with managers, employees, farmers, local government authorities and NGOs.
They may all have something relevant to contribute, but the engagement is a two-way matter. Local CSR managers may not know exactly how to operate, says Yalley-Ogunro. This is where the BROA tool and the handbook can be so helpful.

BAT first used the tool in Uganda and Indonesia. The company called a number of stakeholders together and worked with them to establish how BROA would be useful.

Operations in Uganda provide a particularly good example of BROA at work. The BROA tool idenitified that farmers were concerned about their use of water and wood and the accompanying sustainability risks.

First, they were worried about the quality of the water used on their farms and about maintaining an adequate supply. Working with the Tropical Biology Association, BAT was able to provide them with the equipment to monitor their water use.

The second issue was with the wood that they used for curing their tobacco. Some farmers were perturbed about the deforestation they could be causing. Several solutions were applied. The scale of the problem was assessed through careful monitoring. Then, with an eye on a long-term remedy, replanting programmes in the forests were enhanced. Finally, the farmers were advised on obtaining the wood from sustainable areas.

Yalley-Ogunro emphasises that the company’s operations are in a variety of areas, all with their own particular landscapes and conditions, and all needing tailored solutions.

All, too, have their own communities, which must have their say and be able to offer suggestions. Yalley-Ogunro says: “The tool is based on classic risk assessment. You identify your risks, you go to the ground and ask people, and you map your operations. Anecdotal evidence is important.”

Applying solutions brings continuing gains, says BAT. As biodiversity and ecosystem services are found and evaluated experience is built within the company.

At the same time the exercise establishes links and collaborations with many stakeholders, including networks of NGOs, academics and community groups.

The net result is new opportunities and improved performance, says BAT. Part of the BROA package is a free training workshop for the local team conducting assessments and free remote technical support while the work is carried out.

The deal, however, does ask local teams for some response so that the benefits are mutual. BAT encourages those who use the tool to provide a case study of their experience and give some feedback to enrich BAT’s own knowledge.

The company believes its assessment tool could have more widespread application, recommending it to other companies and spreading the word when it attends business conferences.

BAT is not content just to blow its own trumpet. BROA has been submitted for external review by the Cambridge-based World Conservation Monitoring Centre, part of the United Nations Environment Programme, along with other biodiversity and agricultural specialists, such as Richard Perkins, senior commodities adviser at WWF-UK.

The assessment tool has been popular with BAT’s stakeholders, says Yalley-Ogunro, while other recognition has come from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Business for Social Responsibility, the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation.

What comes next? Perhaps other non-tobacco related organisations will join the partnership. Yalley-Ogunro says: “If there was scope for another partner that would help, it may be considered.” He believes the BROA tool has already come a long way since its formation eight years ago but he believes equally that BROA can continue to evolve.