Boskalis CSR report 2017

Impact on the environment CSR 2017 – BOSKALIS 30 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 our license to operate. Whereas regulators are setting increasingly stringent requirements as regards our project footprint, clients are pushing the boundaries in terms of exploiting natural resources and operating in highly sensitive areas. Our ability to bridge this gap and offer leading edge sustainable solutions in vulnerable river, delta and coastal areas is essential to our business and can create both environmental as well as economic value. BUILDING WITH NATURE A large proportion of the world’s population lives and works near coasts or along rivers. Often, hydraulic infrastructure makes this possible. The Building with Nature program was launched in 2008 as a design philosophy for the development of marine infrastructure solutions that utilize and, at the same time, enhance the natural system in such a way that ecological and economic interests strengthen each other. The program, of which Boskalis was an initiator, is executed by EcoShape. Partners in the Building with Nature program represent academia, research institutes, consultancies, NGOs and public authorities. Mangrove restoration in Central Java, Indonesia.

Building with Nature offers independent know-how and effective solutions to clients, public authorities and other stakeholders. It empowers these parties to make informed decisions upfront about integrating marine infrastructures with nature and society, thereby creating sustainable maritime solutions. We share the wealth of knowledge and experience that we have acquired with our sector, including universities and higher vocational colleges. In this way, we also ensure that this know-how is available to the engineers of the future. Knowledge is shared through various guest lecturer positions, and post-academic and other courses. In 2017, for the second year running, Delft University of Technology (with contributions from Wageningen University & Research) offered a Building with Nature Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). TASKFORCE ECO-ENGINEERING We aim to realize at least one Building with Nature project a year. To this end, the Taskforce promotes internal awareness of the Building with Nature program within the divisions. This includes active support for Boskalis regional managers in adopting the Building with Nature philosophy, or parts thereof, in tenders and early project opportunities. This year, the mangrove restoration