Making Strides in Wildlife Conservation at Alumar

In 2023 Alcoa’s Alumar smelter in São Luís, Brazil, implemented the Alumar Wildlife Management Plan. This voluntarily prepared management plan aims to encourage the adoption of best practices for conservation of the fauna present on site.

The Alumar Wildlife Management Plan was submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the state of Maranhão in February 2023. The agency approved the plan and issued an Environmental Fauna Authorization in November 2023. The authorization allows our emergency brigade team to conduct search and rescue activities to save local wildlife in distress. This development made Alumar the first enterprise in Maranhão to have a management plan legalized and supported by an environmental authority.

At the same time, Alumar’s operating license was also amended to include the following wildlife conservation programs:

• Monitoring of Terrestrial, Aquatic and Flying Fauna
• Monitoring of Insect Vectors
• Monitoring of Pollinating Insects
• Monitoring of Run Over Fauna
• Monitoring of Threatened Species
• Remote Monitoring
• Monitoring the Flora of Areas Associated with Fauna

These programs aim to identify and track potential environmental impacts generated by Alcoa’s activities; evaluate the efficiency of the mitigating measures and procedures adopted; and provide data and information that can support the definition of new guidelines or recommendations to ensure the success of the programs. These programs were approved in 2023 and they are slated to begin in the first quarter of 2024.

An added benefit from these programs is that they will likely increase knowledge of local biodiversity. This knowledge is essential to understand the role this biodiversity plays in maintaining an ecosystem’s integrity. In turn, this understanding is necessary to develop effective conservation strategies.