Network:
British American Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership
Since 2001, the Tropical Biology Association has been working in partnership with Fauna & Flora International, Earthwatch Institute, and British American Tobacco (BAT), to form the BAT Biodiversity Partnership (BATBP). As a sign of the continued commitment to conservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, the Partnership was recently renewed for a third term of a further five years (2011-2015) .
In order to mark the start of the third term of the BATBP, a new website for the partnership has been launched which can be visited here.
A progress report, which details the achievements so far and looks towards future plans, can be downloaded here
Background
TBA along with a number of other organisations joined the BATBP at the very beginning; understanding that the Partnership had a real opportunity to make a positive impact on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. The goal of BATBP is to conserve and enhance biodiversity within agricultural landscapes, by utilising the knowledge, skills and resources of each of the partners to deliver on-the-ground actions, raise awareness of biodiversity and ecosystem service issues, and build capacity of individuals and organisations.
During the last ten years TBA has been working alongside the other partners, helping to:
- Embed biodiversity assessment, management and conservation into British American Tobacco's business culture and operations;
- Improve conservation of biodiversity, protect and restore habitats and species, and ensure sustainable use of natural resources;
- Build capacity of individuals, organisations and local stakeholders around conservation;
- Develop and implement tools to monitor, manage and restore biodiversity and ecosystems services; and
- Address global agendas and conservation priorities through cross-sector information exchange.
Biodiversity conservation within agricultural landscapes
Fifty percent of habitable land on earth is currently occupied by agriculture, whilst the expected increases in global population and consequential increase in demand for food, fibres and biofuels will require both further expansion and an intensification of agricultural land. In TBA we realise that conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems cannot be left to formally protected conservation areas; it is essential, particularly when agriculture is found amongst high biodiversity landscapes, that the biodiversity and ecosystems are protected and can remain healthy alongside agriculture. Within the BATBP, TBA seeks to address some of the challenging issues of conserving and managing biodiversity and ecosystem services within mixed agricultural landscapes.
BAT provides direct agronomy support to approximately 160,000 tobacco leaf growers across 19 countries, most of whom are small-scale farmers operating in developing countries, in areas with a rich biodiversity. This direct link which BAT has with farmers provides a unique opportunity to both directly and indirectly affect the behaviour of these growers for the benefit of biodiversity. Through working with BAT, agricultural standards and biodiversity awareness can be raised across the agri-business sector, whilst biodiversity tools and case studies can be developed which are of benefit to the wider business and conservation community.
More information about the scope of BATBP's current work can be found on their website. 
Being a member of the BAT Biodiversity Partnership provides secure and long-term funding for all TBA's conservation priorities. The Partnership continues to support, encourage and participate in the TBA's capacity building programme of both field courses and specialist training workshops.
Biodiversity Risk & Opportunity Assessment (BROA) Tool
TBA has played a vital role in the development of the Biodiversity Risk & Opportunity Assessment (BROA) tool, which was produced by the BATBP and launched in 2007. In 2008, it became mandatory for all British American Tobacco leaf operations to undertake a BROA, to identify their biodiversity impacts and dependencies on land within their sphere of influence. The tool provides leaf growing operations with materials to help them, in partnership with local NGOs or universities, to identify biodiversity rich and sensitive sites and to develop action plans to address biodiversity impacts and dependencies in and around their operations.
By 2010, BROAs had been completed in all 19 countries where BAT operate; with actions to address all biodiversity impacts and dependencies being undertaken by all leaf growing operations. TBA oversaw the implementation of BROAs across BAT operations within Africa, helping to ensure operational companies had the appropriate biodiversity expertise available to complete a thorough biodiversity risk and opportunity assessment, and to be able to address their impacts and realise their opportunities.
TBA is now working with the other partners to revise and refine the BROA, using the lessons learnt from the first round of assessments. The aim is to make the revised ‘BROA II' publicly available to any other interested companies, raising the standards for conservation of biodiversity within agricultural operations across the agri-business sector.