Environmental and Social Performance Standard 6 (ESPS 6): Biodiversity

Our people are committed and passionate about improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean, and they get to do what they love in a diverse, collaborative and stimulating work environment. At the IDB, we’re committed to improving lives. Since 1959, we’ve been a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. We do more than lending though. We partner with our 48-member countries to provide Latin America and the Caribbean with cutting-edge research about relevant development issues, policy advice to inform their decisions, and technical assistance to improve on the planning and execution of projects. For this, we need people who not only have the right skills but also are passionate about improving lives.

Learning goals 

Having undertaken this course, participants will now be able to:

1. Identify the main components of Environmental and Social Performance Standard 6 (ESPS 6) on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources, including what has changed from Directive B.9 on natural habitats and cultural sites from the Environment and safeguards compliance policy OP-703 in the management of issues related to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and living natural resources.
2. Define what are ecosystem services and what are the requirements for the protection of priority services, to manage project impacts following the mitigation hierarchy.
3. Differentiate protections for modified habitats, natural habitats, critical habitats, legally protected areas, and internationally recognized areas, to evaluate how to manage the biodiversity of project-affected areas.
4. Use relevant and credible standards to sustainably manage agriculture, livestock, forestry production, and other living natural resources.
5. Recognize the elements in a biodiversity report.
6. Analyze guidelines to prevent the supply of primary products from areas at risk of significant habitat conversion.

Learning experience and activities 

Self-paced course that includes:

• Five modules with infographics outlining the main requirements of ESPS 6
• One multiple-choice, assessment test for each module

Content / Topics

The course has five modules with the following topics:

1. Particularities of the Environmental and Social Performance Standard (ESPS) 6
2. Comparison of ESPS 6 with guideline B9 of the OP-703 safeguards policy
3. Ecosystem services; type and priority
4. Mitigation hierarchy
5. Habitat types
6. ESPS 6 protection criteria by type of habitat
7. Environmental risks in crop production
8. Biodiversity management of natural resource management projects
9. Choosing suppliers according to the origin of the supply and the type of habitat in the area
10. Choosing suppliers according to ESPS 6
11. Changing to main suppliers that comply with ESPS 6

Assessment

This credential is awarded after

1. Reading the course content.
2. Watching the proposed videos
3. Participate in one debate forum
4. Taking five learning assessment tests with:
   • 80% correct answers (one quiz for each course module)
   • Three attempts to take each test, and guiding feedback after each attempt. The highest score is kept
   • All modules are evaluated equally (20% each)

Estimated effort

Completing this course takes approximately 6 hours.

Badge type

Completion badge