Protect new endemic species found on infrastructure sites

Rönesans Holding is a diversified group whose construction and infrastructure business delivers large transport, energy and industrial projects, with more than 40,000 employees.

Large linear infrastructure crosses habitats that have rarely been surveyed in botanical detail. National environmental legislation sets a floor for what has to be recorded, but it does not generally require the survey intensity that would reveal a species unknown to science. A project that meets only that floor will not discover what it is about to affect, and the discovery, if it comes, arrives during construction when the options have narrowed.

The group's railway project linking Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep is financed against international standards and is therefore carried out in line with the requirements of IFC Performance Standard 6 on biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of living natural resources, which go beyond national regulatory requirements.

The detailed biodiversity and flora studies carried out under that standard identified two plant species new to the flora of Türkiye, Satureja sp. nov. and Stachys sp. nov. Protecting them was treated as a priority issue for the project, and species-focused monitoring, research and conservation work has been under way since 2023.

2023 is the baseline year and the impact assessments cover the 2023–2026 period. Group sustainability performance is reported through CDP and in line with ISSB IFRS S1 and S2 and TCFD, with independent third-party external assurance.

Location of the initiative: Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep provinces, Türkiye

Conservation is built around keeping the two species where they were found, rather than relocating them and treating the original habitat as expendable.

The first move was to establish the range. Additional field surveys beyond those required for permitting were carried out around the discovery sites, and new distribution areas were identified for both species, which changed the picture of how restricted each population actually is.

The second was to convert that map into a constraint on the project. Areas inside the project licence boundary where the species occur densely were taken out of use, so protection is in situ and written into where the works can go, rather than being an offset arranged after the fact.

The third was to secure the genetic material. Seed collection and propagation work started for both species, with replanting and population reinforcement as the intended application, so that a population lost to a pressure outside the project's control is recoverable.

The fourth was to commit to a timescale longer than the construction contract. A long-term monitoring programme was established for both species, funded from corporate budget and expert support rather than from the works package.

The distinguishing feature of the case is the direction of travel. A scientific discovery that emerged incidentally during an infrastructure project was converted, through rapid and adaptive management, into a conservation practice — so the project contributed to Türkiye's biological diversity and to the scientific literature instead of only managing its own impacts.

Figure 1: Quarry licence areas with the zones withdrawn from operations for the in-situ conservation of Satureja sp. nov. (approximately 0.4 ha, above) and Stachys sp. nov. (approximately 6 ha, below)

Figure 2: A fenced endemic plant protection area (top), Satureja sp. nov. (middle) and Stachys sp. nov. (bottom)

Sustainability Impact

Climate

This initiative targets neither Scope 1 nor Scope 2 emissions. It is a species conservation measure carried out inside a railway project, and no greenhouse gas figure is reported for it over the 2023 to 2026 assessment period, for which 2023 is the baseline year.

The enabling effect that can be stated is a land one. The areas of dense occurrence of Satureja sp. nov. and Stachys sp. nov. inside the project licence boundary were withdrawn from project activities altogether, so the vegetation and soil there are left undisturbed rather than cleared, and the carbon they hold stays in place. Surveying to the requirements of IFC Performance Standard 6 before construction rather than discovering the species during it also avoids the redesign and rework whose materials and plant use would themselves have carried emissions.

Neither effect has been measured. The carbon held in the withdrawn areas has not been quantified, and neither the protection of those areas nor the avoided redesign and rework is reported as a greenhouse gas reduction or under a GHG Protocol Scope 3 category: the initiative is reported solely as a biodiversity conservation measure. Group climate performance is reported separately from this initiative through CDP and in line with ISSB IFRS S1 and S2 and TCFD, with independent third-party external assurance.

Nature

Two plant species new to the flora of Türkiye, Satureja sp. nov. and Stachys sp. nov., were discovered during detailed biodiversity and flora studies conducted to the requirements of IFC Performance Standard 6. Both are endemic, which means the whole global population sits within the country and a local loss would be a permanent one.

New distribution areas were identified for both species, extending the known range beyond the original discovery sites and improving the basis on which their conservation status can be judged. Satureja sp. nov. was first recorded at a single locality; 5 further localities were found in 2024, and of 26 sites with comparable habitat surveyed in 2025 and 2026 the species was confirmed at 17, giving 22 new localities in addition to the original one. Stachys sp. nov., also first recorded at a single locality, was found at 10 new localities in 2024 and at a further 7 in 2025 and 2026, giving 17 new localities.

Protection measures were applied in the areas of dense occurrence, and some of those areas were withdrawn from project activities altogether, which is in-situ protection rather than compensation elsewhere. Approximately 4,000 m2 (0.4 ha) is protected for Satureja sp. nov. and approximately 60,000 m2 (6 ha) for Stachys sp. nov.; no project activities are currently carried out inside the Stachys sp. nov. area.

Seed collection and propagation work was started for both species, and a programme for their long-term monitoring was established. Around 1,000 seeds of Satureja sp. nov. have been collected, of which 100 were used in direct seeding and 200 were sent for laboratory germination; for Stachys sp. nov. the figures are around 350 seeds collected, 50 used in direct seeding and 100 sent for laboratory germination. Collection and population reinforcement continue for both species.

Monitoring is carried out through regular field work in the areas where the species occur, using individual counts, GPS position records, photography and expert assessment. Four indicators are tracked: 1. the number of new species recorded; 2. the number of new localities identified; 3. the number of populations monitored; 4. the quantity of seed collected and used in propagation work. Findings are fed back into the planning of further conservation work.

Inside the project area, the withdrawn zones holding around 300 individuals of Satureja sp. nov. and around 300 individuals of Stachys sp. nov. are monitored on a regular cycle. Monitoring also covers areas within the project's zone of influence: a population of Satureja sp. nov. estimated at around 1,800 individuals, where works are held inside marked boundaries and dust generation is kept to a minimum, and a population of Stachys sp. nov. estimated at around 100 individuals lying outside the site itself. Taxonomic work and the scientific publication process continue for both species.

Social

The work strengthened cooperation between project teams and academic botanists, and gave biodiversity questions a more effective place in project decision-making than a permitting exercise would have produced.

Findings and monitoring results on the species are shared with the relevant public authorities, in particular the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks, and opinions are exchanged where required, so the knowledge stays in the public domain rather than inside the project file.

Local communities contribute field knowledge and observations, and feedback is collected through stakeholder meetings, site visits and technical assessments.

Supporting the discovery and conservation work with scientific publications is intended to make the knowledge and experience available to comparable projects.

Business Impact

Benefits

Meeting IFC Performance Standard 6 is a condition of the project's international financing, and finding the species during survey rather than during construction is what allowed the requirement to be met without a works stoppage. A protected species discovered by a third party mid-construction is a schedule and financing risk; one discovered by the project's own survey team is a design input.

The exclusion of dense-occurrence areas was resolved inside the licence area at design stage, which is materially cheaper than redesigning around a constraint identified later.

The work built a durable relationship with academic botanists and with the national nature conservation authority, and produced survey, monitoring and propagation capability that the group can apply to its other infrastructure projects rather than procuring afresh each time.

Scientific publication of the findings gives the project a verifiable environmental record that stands outside the company's own reporting.

Costs

The cost base is the additional field survey work carried out beyond national legal requirements, the input of flora specialists and academic botanists, seed collection and propagation, and a long-term monitoring programme that continues after construction ends and is therefore funded from corporate budget rather than from the works contract.

During the 2023–2026 assessment period, direct payments for the initial and additional flora surveys amounted to TRY 415,000. When the estimated costs of regular monitoring visits to Critical Habitat locations, fieldwork undertaken by the Biodiversity Specialist, seed-sowing activities, laboratory-based seed germination studies, labour and related travel are included, the total investment is estimated at approximately TRY 1.05 million. As these additional costs have not been fully itemised, the total figure should be considered an approximate estimate.

The largest cost is not a payment. Withdrawing areas of dense occurrence from project activities removes usable land from the licence area, and that has to be absorbed by the engineering design. On a linear project the cost of that trade-off depends entirely on where the population sits relative to the alignment.

There is also an open-ended commitment: once a species is described and monitored, the obligation to keep monitoring it does not expire with the construction programme, so the budget line has to be treated as recurring.

Costs are contained by carrying out the survey early enough for the findings to shape design instead of forcing rework, by running the monitoring inside the environmental and social management system already required by the lenders, and by drawing on academic partners rather than building a permanent in-house botanical team.

Impact Beyond Sustainability And Business

Co-benefits

The description of two species new to the flora of Türkiye is a direct addition to the national biodiversity record and to the scientific literature, which is a public good produced by a private infrastructure project.

Collaboration between project teams and academics was strengthened, and the survey and monitoring methods developed for these species are transferable to energy, mining, road and other large-scale infrastructure projects.

Sharing findings with the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks puts the data where national conservation planning can use it, beyond the boundaries of the project that generated it.

Potential side-effects

In-situ protection depends on the excluded areas staying excluded. The measure holds for as long as the licence area is managed by the project, and its durability beyond that period is not secured by the project alone.

Species with small, newly described populations remain exposed to pressures outside the project boundary — grazing, land use change and collection — which the project cannot control and monitoring can only record.

Publishing the location of a rare endemic species also raises its visibility to collectors, so the balance between scientific transparency and site confidentiality has to be managed deliberately.

The approach depends on continuity of specialist support and corporate budget. If either lapses when construction finishes, the monitoring programme becomes a record of a commitment rather than an active protection measure.

Typical Business Profile

The approach suits developers of large-scale linear and site-based infrastructure — railways, roads, energy transmission and generation, and mining — where the project footprint crosses habitats that have not been surveyed in botanical detail.

It is most relevant where international financing brings lender biodiversity requirements such as IFC Performance Standard 6 into the project's obligations, because those requirements are what justify a survey intensity above the national legal minimum and what fund the monitoring that follows.

Delivery engages project management, the environmental and social management function, biodiversity and flora specialists, design and engineering, permitting, and contractor site supervision, working with academic botanists and the national nature conservation authority.

Approach

1. Survey to the international standard rather than the legal minimum: Commission detailed biodiversity and flora studies to the requirements of IFC Performance Standard 6 before construction, because national environmental legislation does not require the survey intensity that reveals undescribed species.

2. Bring taxonomic expertise inside the project team: Engage flora specialists and academic botanists alongside the project's own biodiversity specialists, so that an unfamiliar specimen is escalated as a candidate new species rather than logged as an unidentified record.

3. Confirm the find and map its true range: Run additional field surveys around the discovery site to establish where else the species occurs, using individual counts, GPS position records and photographic documentation, before deciding what protection is proportionate.

4. Treat the distribution map as a design input: Overlay the recorded localities on the project licence area, identify the areas of dense occurrence and withdraw them from use, so that in-situ protection is written into the works plan instead of being added later as mitigation.

5. Secure the genetic material early: Start seed collection and propagation for each species, with replanting and population reinforcement as the intended application, so recovery is possible if a population is damaged.

6. Establish monitoring that outlasts the construction contract: Set up a long-term programme with a regular field schedule, defined indicators and expert assessment, and fund it from corporate budget rather than from the works package so it survives project completion.

7. Notify and consult the conservation authority: Share findings and monitoring results with the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks and seek its opinion where required, so the measures are recognised outside the project boundary.

8. Publish and hand on the knowledge: Support the discovery and the conservation work with scientific publications and stakeholder briefings, so that other project teams, academics and authorities can apply the findings rather than repeating the survey.

Stakeholders Involved

• Project leads: Senior management supports the work, and it is delivered inside the environmental and social management system established to meet the IFC Performance Standards. Biodiversity management is coordinated jointly by project management and biodiversity specialists, which places the decision to withdraw land from use with the people who control the works plan rather than with an advisory function.

  Corporate budget, specialist support and monitoring programmes are the instruments used to keep the work running over the medium and long term.

• Company functions: Project management, the environmental and social team, biodiversity specialists, design and engineering, and permitting work to a shared monitoring, reporting and assessment cycle. Regular monitoring, reporting and evaluation are used to test whether the protection measures are working, and the findings feed back into the planning of further conservation activity.

• Main providers: Independent flora specialists provide taxonomic identification, range assessment and technical advice on protection measures. Construction contractors implement the protection measures on site, including respecting the boundaries of the withdrawn areas during works. Both are engaged for their function rather than as a purchased solution, and the model does not depend on any particular provider.

• Other: Academics and university flora experts identify the new species, establish their distribution and advise on conservation work, and their involvement is what turns a survey record into a described species.

  Public authorities, in particular the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks, receive the findings and monitoring results and are consulted where required.

  Local communities contribute field knowledge and observations. Feedback across all these groups is collected through stakeholder meetings, site visits and technical assessments, which is what keeps the scientific work and the site work running together rather than in parallel.

Key Parameters To Consider

The baseline year is 2023 and impact assessment covers the 2023–2026 period, so the monitoring record is still short relative to the life cycle of a perennial plant population.

Field monitoring uses individual counts, GPS position records, photography and expert assessment on a regular schedule, and the four indicators tracked are new species recorded, new localities identified, populations monitored, and seed collected and used in propagation.

The trigger for the whole approach is the lender standard. Without IFC Performance Standard 6 in the project obligations, the survey depth that produced the discovery would not normally have been commissioned, which is the main condition another company should check before assuming the case is transferable.

The measures are applicable to energy, mining, road and other large-scale infrastructure projects, not only to railways.

Implementation And Operations Tips

Survey timing decides the cost. A species found during design can be protected by moving a boundary; the same species found during construction is a stoppage.

Give the field team a route to escalate an unfamiliar specimen. The discovery only happened because the survey was carried out at a depth where an unrecognised plant was treated as a question rather than as noise.

Fund monitoring from corporate budget rather than from the construction contract. Protection obligations for a newly described species outlast the works, and a monitoring line inside a works package disappears when the package closes.

Share the findings with the national conservation authority and publish them. Protection that exists only in a project document cannot be verified by anyone else, and cannot be carried forward once the project team moves on.