Boskalis_CSR_report__2016

Environmental Impact CSR 2016 – Boskalis 28

Biodiversity and Ecosystems

The urgent need to protect the world’s water resources and marine habitats means that sustainability is essential to our business and is our license to operate. And so it has never been more important for us to have a leading reputation for sustainable solutions for the management and development of vulnerable river, delta and coastal areas. In addition, mining firms and oil and gas companies are pushing the boundaries in terms of the exploration of natural resources, which includes moving into highly sensitive areas. Here again, our ability to offer leading-edge sustainable solutions in increasingly challenging environments can create value. A substantial part of our work is focused on ensuring we maintain a leading role, offering increasingly innovative solutions to protect and preserve the natural environment. Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) are widely used in our industry as a tool for measuring the social and environmental impact of a project. You can read more about this on page 18. Every project is unique and requires a tailor-made solution. We are renowned for our environmental expertise based on the innovative Building with Nature program. We are able to optimize the sustainable execution of our activities by applying environmentally-friendly techniques and working methods, as well as advanced prediction models and monitoring systems. Launched in 2008, Building with Nature is a program aimed at developing knowledge and design guidelines for maritime infrastructure, adopting the natural system as a basic design principle. The program, part of the Dutch government’s Top Sector policy, is executed by the EcoShape foundation, of which Boskalis was an initiator. The foundation includes businesses, government agencies and research institutes. An ever-increasing number of parties from various backgrounds participate in the EcoShape foundation, including NGOs such as Wetlands International. The Building with Nature program offers independent knowledge that clients, government authorities and other stakeholders can use to make balanced decisions about the integration of maritime infrastructure, nature and society. The years of research and development have produced a lot of knowledge on Building with Nature solutions. To ensure that this is also available to the engineers of the future, we keep universities and higher vocational colleges informed about the program and get them involved. This has led to the creation of various readerships, guest lecturer positions and post-academic and other courses. In addition, Delft University of Technology launched a Building with Nature Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in 2016, with thousands of participants from around the world. Environmental AND SOCIAL Impact Assessments BUILDING WITH NATURE