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Good practice Imported

Simandou Biodiversity Offset Strategy — Pic de Fon Classified Forest (Guinea)

Guinea · Beyla · See the Guinea profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 99% 13/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Rio Tinto's Simandou iron-ore project has surveyed chimpanzee populations in Guinea's Pic de Fon forest since 2007 to build an IFC PS6 biodiversity offset, but independent researchers and journalists question whether it can succeed absent any national offset policy.

36-75
Chimpanzees recorded in directly affected area
700+
Chimpanzees recorded across wider Simandou range
2,750
Chimpanzee nests recorded along planned rail corridor
~25,000 ha
Pic de Fon Classified Forest area
~50 km2
Chimpanzee range permanently destroyed (projected)
12 km2
Destruction projected within Pic de Fon itself
670 km
Associated railway length
Simandou Biodiversity Offset Strategy — Pic de Fon Classified Forest (Guinea)

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Rio Tinto Simfer (Rio Tinto / Chalco Iron Ore Holdings / Republic of Guinea joint venture)
Period
2007-present
Keywords
mining biodiversity offset, IFC Performance Standard 6, great ape conservation, mitigation hierarchy

Context

Since 2007, Rio Tinto Simfer - a joint venture of Rio Tinto, Chalco Iron Ore Holdings and the Republic of Guinea - has surveyed western chimpanzee populations in the roughly 25,000-hectare Pic de Fon Classified Forest, part of the Simandou mountain range in south-eastern Guinea.

Objectives

Build a Biodiversity Offsets Strategy aligned with IFC Performance Standard 6's mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimise, restore, offset) targeting a 'Net Positive Impact' for critical-habitat species.

Activities

A Simandou Offsets Working Group involving Simfer, Guinea's Environment Ministry and the NGO Guinee Ecologie has been tasked with identifying compensation sites for the mine and its associated 670-km railway.

Results

Surveys have recorded between roughly 36 and 75 chimpanzees directly in the affected area and over 700 across the wider Simandou range, alongside 2,750 chimpanzee nests along the planned rail corridor. The mine and railway are projected to permanently destroy around 50 km2 of chimpanzee range, 12 km2 of it inside Pic de Fon itself; as of the mid-2020s, compensation sites remained under suitability assessment rather than secured or actively managed.

Conclusions

A 2014 peer-reviewed PLOS ONE study singled out Simandou as a test case for why voluntary, project-by-project biodiversity offsetting is unlikely to hold up without a national offset framework, cumulative-impact accounting, or guaranteed long-term financing - Guinea has no policy requiring or guiding offsets. Independent journalism in 2024-2025 reported primatologists and Guinean civil-society voices questioning whether offsetting can succeed when mining occurs inside a classified forest at all.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Rio Tinto Simfer (Rio Tinto / Chalco Iron Ore Holdings / Republic of Guinea joint venture), Simandou Offsets Working Group (Simfer, Guinea's Environment Ministry, Guinee Ecologie)

Conditions for success

  • Long-term baseline biodiversity monitoring (since 2007) prior to major habitat loss
  • Alignment with IFC Performance Standard 6's mitigation hierarchy
  • A national biodiversity-offset policy framework and cumulative-impact accounting - currently absent in Guinea

Common failure modes

  • Guinea, like other West/Central African range states, has no policy requiring or guiding offsets
  • As of the mid-2020s, compensation sites remain under suitability assessment rather than secured or actively managed
  • A 2014 peer-reviewed PLOS ONE study concludes voluntary, project-by-project offsetting is unlikely to hold up without a national framework or guaranteed long-term financing
  • 2024-25 independent journalism reports primatologists and Guinean civil society questioning whether offsetting can succeed when mining occurs inside a classified forest at all

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

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Data sources

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