Invitation to three Biodiversity & LCA events - July 22-23, 2002

… Monday July 22nd 2002 - Gold Coast, Qld - all day workshop
… Tuesday July 23rd 2002 - Canberra - 12.30 pm-1.30 pm - mid-day presentation
… Tuesday July 23rd 2002 - Canberra - 2.00 pm-4.00 pm - afternoon
presentation/workshop

Who should attend?

Those with an active role or interest in any of the following should attend:

Biodiversity protection and management
Environmental risk management
Greening the supply chain
Supply chain management
Market-incentive-driven land management reform initiatives
Business strategy
Product design
Rating/labelling & eco-labelling schemes
Purchasing decision making
Socially responsible and triple bottom line investment
Environmental management systems and strategies
LCA inventory production
LCA impact Analysis
Ecological footprinting

The Gold Coast Workshop

Monday July 22nd 2002 - Gold Coast, Qld: a whole day workshop at the
Grand Mercure Broadbeach Hotel (in association with the 3rd
Australian LCA Conference being held).

Aims of the workshop

The aims of the workshop are to:

… Examine how biodiversity issues can be incorporated fully into
Australian life cycle assessment systems

… Explore the value of using the CREM IBIS system which can be used
both independently, and in conjunction with Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA)

… Introduce a model for life cycle management that can provide a
framework for a full suite of biodiversity-inclusive life cycle tools
eg. life cycle assessment, eco-labelling, whole systems design, green
purchasing.

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a key environmental impact assessment
tool increasingly used by many sectors of the global economy from
manufacturers and retailers to consumers, and in development of
environmental performance policies. LCA methods and practices are
codified under the International Standard ISO 14040, and are
considered the leading basis for impact measurement and assessment of
products and services.

Life cycle assessments have been used very effectively to help with
greenhouse, waste management and pollution issues by enabling
businesses to manage the impact of these issues where they impact
further up or down the supply/use/disposal chain. Guided by the
results of life cycle assessments, firms can identify opportunities
to reduce their indirect environmental impact by reducing their
demand for environmentally damaging inputs to their own products or
by changing the design of their products or the use and disposal
system that they are imbedded in.

But traditionally biodiversity issues have been left out or at best
partially dealt with by LCA, meaning that key biodiversity-related
environmental impacts are not assessed. Fortunately in the last few
years efforts have been made to extend LCA methodologies to bring in
biodiversity as a significant factor. One very promising approach is
the IBIS method developed by the Dutch research group CREM. IBIS aims
to provide for the first time a method and toolset that allows rapid
and predictive biodiversity risk assessment for a particular
activities (such as farming or mining) and downstream production
(such as the preparation of food from farm produce or manufacture of
tin cans from the mined ore). An introduction to and discussion of
this method and its potential application in Australia and the region
will be a major focus of the workshop.

Consideration is also given to expanding the LCA system into a more
comprehensive and strategic Life Cycle Management approach so that
the complexity of biodiversity issues can be handled in a practical
and effective way. The foundations for a possible
biodiversity-inclusive life cycle management system will be presented
and discussed.

Workshop organisation

The workshop is sponsored by Environment Australia (Australia's
National Environment Department) and is organised by the Centre for
Design at RMIT in conjunction with Green Innovations and the
Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society.

The workshop will be broken into two halves:

Morning Session - Wijnand Broer, Deputy Director of the Consulting
and Research for Environmental Management (CREM) in the Netherlands
will present the detail of the threat assessment technique developed
at CREM called the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Index (IBIS).

Afternoon Session - Philip Sutton from Green Innovations and Andrew
Walker-Morison from the Centre for Design at RMIT will provide a
brief overview of the results of their survey of biodiversity
assessment methods and their application in Australia. Following
this, discussion will be opened up to explore the how the IBIS and
other methods might work in Australia and other countries in the
region, and how to raise the consideration of biodiversity in LCA
generally. The workshop will close with a discussion session to plan
how to implement the consideration of biodiversity in LCA and beyond.

Cost

The workshop has a registration fee of $20. Special rates available
for not-for-profit organisations.

Venue

The venue is the Grand Mercure Broadbeach Hotel, Gold Coast,
Queensland (the same venue as the 3rd Australian Conference on Life
Cycle Assessment). For interstate and overseas participants, the
hotel can be accessed by train and bus from Brisbane Airport via the
Air train:

http://www.airtrain.com.au

For detailed options on getting to the hotel from the airport click
here: http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au/lca/getting_to_GMBB_Hotel.pdf

Registration

Register for the Gold coast workshop filling the registration form
and return to: [log in to unmask] or fax to Tim Grant at 61 (0)3
9639 3412

Registration form: http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au/lca/Biod_Registration.doc

The Canberra mid-day presentation

Tuesday 23rd 2002 - Canberra - 12.30 pm-1.30 pm

A presentation to the EMS Roundtable to discuss integrating
biodiversity into LCA and how this relates to the greening of
government process. Lunch will be provided from 12 noon.

Bookings for the biodiversity and LCA presentation should be made with:
Lee Wallace (02) 6274 2743 "Lee Wallace" [log in to unmask]

Participants are welcome to attend the Model EMS presentation prior
to this from
10.00am - 12 noon by arrangement with Mr Paul Starr on (02) 6274 1909
or email [log in to unmask]

Hosted by Environment Australia (venue Reef Room, ground floor, John
Gorton Building, Parkes [Environment entrance])

The Canberra afternoon presentation and workshop

Tuesday 23rd 2002 - Canberra - 2.00 pm-4.00 pm

A presentation/workshop with guest speaker Mr Wijnand Broer Deputy
Director of the Consulting and Research for Environmental Management
(CREM) from the Netherlands to discuss European experience of
integrating biodiversity into LCA. A major focus of the workshop will
be an introduction to and discussion of the IBIS method, and its
potential application in Australia and the region will be.

Also workshop organisers Mr Philip Sutton from Green Innovations and
Mr Andrew Walker-Morison from the Centre for Design at RMIT will
briefly:

… provide an overview of the results of their survey of biodiversity
assessment methods and their application in Australia, and

… introduce a model for life cycle management that can provide a
framework for a full suite of biodiversity-inclusive life cycle tools
eg. life cycle assessment, eco-labelling, whole systems design, green
purchasing.

Bookings for the biodiversity and LCA presentation should be made with:

Lee Wallace (02) 6274 2743 "Lee Wallace" [log in to unmask]

Hosted by Environment Australia (venue The Reef Room ground floor
John Gorton Building Parkes [Environment entrance])

Links:

Environment Australia: http://www.environment.gov.au
Centre for Design: http://www.cfd.rmit.edu.au/
Green Innovations: http://www.green-innovations.asn.au/
Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society: http://www.alcas.asn.au/
CREM (Consulting and Research for Environmental Management):
http://www.crem.nl/en/
http://www.crem.nl/en/biodiven.shtml