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Good practice Imported

Oyu Tolgoi Mine Biodiversity Offset — Net Positive Impact Programme (Mongolia)

Mongolia · Khanbogd · See the Mongolia profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 90% 27/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi mine runs an 80,000 km² landscape biodiversity offset (~880x its footprint); WCS-verified khulan (~36,000) and goitered gazelle (~28,500) populations have held steady since 2013, though lender audits still flag non-conformances.

80,000 km²
Offset area
880 x mine footprint
Offset area relative to mine footprint
~36,000 individuals
Khulan (Asiatic wild ass) population (most recent count)
~28,500 individuals
Goitered gazelle population (most recent count)
Oyu Tolgoi Mine Biodiversity Offset — Net Positive Impact Programme (Mongolia)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Rio Tinto / Oyu Tolgoi LLC, with Wildlife Conservation Society Mongolia and The Biodiversity Consultancy
Period
2011–2036 (ongoing)
Keywords
copper-gold mining, biodiversity offsets, wildlife monitoring, lender compliance

Context

Oyu Tolgoi is one of the world's largest copper-gold mines, operated by Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi LLC in Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia. As a condition of IFC and EBRD project financing under IFC Performance Standard 6, the operator committed in 2011 to a Net Positive Impact (NPI) on biodiversity, using a "Quality Hectares" metric comparing habitat losses at the mine site against gains from a landscape-scale offset.

Objectives

Achieve a Net Positive Impact on biodiversity across the mine's operating life (2011-2036).

Activities

The offset area spans roughly 80,000 km² of Gobi rangeland — about 880 times the mine's own footprint — where Oyu Tolgoi funds anti-poaching patrols, measures to reduce road and rail barrier effects on wildlife migration, and rangeland-quality improvements, delivered with The Biodiversity Consultancy, The Nature Conservancy and Fauna & Flora International.

Results

Since 2013, the Wildlife Conservation Society's Mongolia programme has run core biodiversity monitoring surveys tracking khulan (Asiatic wild ass) and goitered gazelle. The most recent counts found populations of roughly 36,000 khulan and 28,500 goitered gazelle, essentially stable over the monitoring period.

Conclusions

Independent Environmental and Social Consultant (IESC) audits have repeatedly found Oyu Tolgoi in "substantive compliance" overall but have also flagged specific biodiversity non-conformances, prompting a revised Biodiversity Action Plan and an independent scientific advisory panel. No published, hectare-level reconciliation of losses versus gains is publicly available, so whether the Net Positive Impact target has been met remains unverified.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — Not itemised in public sources, but funds one of the world's largest copper-gold mine offset programmes across 80,000 km² of Gobi rangeland — implies very high absolute cost.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Net Positive Impact commitment made in 2011, running through 2036; species monitoring has continued since 2013.
Staffing & skills
Wildlife Conservation Society Mongolia (monitoring), The Biodiversity Consultancy, The Nature Conservancy, Fauna & Flora International (technical offset partners), Independent Environmental and Social Consultant (IESC) auditors, independent scientific advisory panel

Conditions for success

  • Lender-mandated biodiversity commitment (IFC Performance Standard 6) creating a binding financial incentive
  • Landscape-scale (not site-level) offset design giving room for measurable species-level outcomes
  • Independent long-term field monitoring by a credible conservation NGO (WCS)

Common failure modes

  • Repeated IESC audit non-conformances despite an overall 'substantive compliance' rating
  • No public, hectare-level Quality Hectares reconciliation of losses vs gains, so the core Net Positive Impact claim remains unverified

Where it fits

Governance type
IFC/EBRD lender-covenant biodiversity offset
Scale
landscape (80,000 km²)
Income level
lower-middle-income

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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