Whether it is skiing, canoeing, hiking or cycling, sports activities depend on a healthy environment. At the same time, sport facilities such as football stadiums and ski resorts – and the sheer number of spectators at mega sport events – have a significant impact on the environment. The sport industry has a responsibility – as well as an interest – in ensuring that its operations are sustainable.
Sport parks in urban areas can also support a wide range of biodiversity, and they play a vital role as neighbourhood greenspaces, offering community benefits beyond their sporting function. Sport buildings – stadia and sports halls – can be part of city greening initiatives, from green roofs and walls to surrounding landscaping and drainage systems.
Mitigating negative impacts on biodiversity
The construction of new sports venues, the installation of temporary venues and associated facilities, and the use and refurbishment of existing venues can all impact on biodiversity. The type of risks and opportunities will vary, depending mainly on the location of the venue (i.e. whether it is sited in an urban area or in the natural environment, and the importance of that environment for biodiversity) and on its size. While the impacts may be broader, more severe and more obvious in a natural, undeveloped area, where it is often necessary to construct access roads, power supply infrastructure, and water and sewer infrastructure (amongst others), there are also risks to developing in urban areas, where many species make their homes within the built environment.
The staging of sporting events in both urban and natural settings can impact biodiversity through the presence of large numbers of spectators, who increase noise, vibration, pollution, waste generation, and traffic. Other risks to biodiversity from sporting events include oil or fuel spills, sewage discharge, light pollution, increased use of chemicals and fertilisers, and increased demand for natural resources.
To address these potential impacts, developers should first comply with all legal and statutory requirements relating to biodiversity. Beyond compliance, the recommended way to manage biodiversity impacts effectively is through the mitigation hierarchy of avoidance, minimisation, restoration and offsetting of residual impacts. Preventive mitigation measures (avoidance and minimisation) are always preferable to corrective measures (restoration and offsets).
Maximizing opportunities for biodiversity conservation
Sporting events and their associated facilities can leverage opportunities to promote and support biodiversity conservation through a variety of activities and initiatives, including:
- enhancing natural habitats in urban environments by restoring degraded sites, connecting fragmented habitats, building ‘green’ rooftops and living walls, installing man-made habitats for wildlife, increasing the diversity of plant species, and incorporating plantings in their project design that provide additional habitat and benefits to local fauna and flora;
- increasing the area under protection through on-site or off-site protection of natural features;
- generating funds and increasing awareness for protected area management by staging low-impact sporting events, such as running or mountain biking, within or partially within protected areas;
- raising public awareness about biodiversity through the use of biodiversity elements as mascots or as part of an event’s logo, and the creation of public exhibits and educational programs, as well as through sports commentators and individual, high-profile athletes;
- increasing available knowledge and data by sharing biodiversity inventories and baseline information that may be required as part of venue development with conservation organisations and research institutions; and
- generating biodiversity benefits through projects designed to offset the carbon footprint of a venue or event.
IUCN partnership with the International Olympic Committee
The partnership with IOC aims at providing guidelines to sport stakeholders to improve their contribution to the conservation of biodiversity.
In the first guide, Sport and Biodiversity (2018), the objectives are to:
- explain what biodiversity is and how it can be impacted by the construction of sports venues and the staging of sporting events;
- present ways of mitigating potential negative impacts on biodiversity from sport; and
- highlight the biodiversity opportunities available to the sports community.
The guide has been written for all sport-related decision makers, from city authorities, who are key players in the development of new venues and bidding for sporting events, to planners, architects, and engineers tasked with choosing the location and the design and construction or refurbishment of sports venues; from venue owners/operators to regional government officials; and from national and international sports federations to Local Organising Committees (LOCs) responsible for the planning and staging of events.
The topics presented in this guide are relevant to local and international events, small and mega-events, indoor and outdoor sports, summer and winter sports, temporary infrastructure, refurbishment of existing venues, and the construction of new, permanent venues.
The second guide, Mitigating biodiversity impacts of new sports venues (2019), clarifies the possible range of impacts that the development of new sports venues (permanent or temporary) may have on biodiversity, in order to help plan measures to mitigate any negative impacts and exploit opportunities to benefit conservation. The focus is on early and ongoing consideration of biodiversity throughout each phase of the development of new sports venues, with an emphasis on avoiding negative impacts and risks, rather than relying on repairing or compensating for damage.
These guidelines are intended for use by all parties involved in the planning and development of large and small sports venues, including new permanent venues, temporary structures, extensions or refurbishment of existing facilities.
The third guide, Mitigating biodiversity impacts of sports events (2020), applies to all types and sizes of sports events, whenever and wherever they occur. In terms of potential direct biodiversity impacts, the guidelines are mostly relevant to outdoor sports events and bigger events involving large audiences and media coverage. However, even the organisers of small events can take steps to avoid ecological impacts and help conserve nature. These guidelines - laying the foundation and delivering the sports event - span all stages of the event lifecycle. For each stage, guidance is offered on potential biodiversity issues and risks, as well as steps to minimise impacts and conserve biodiversity.
The fourth guide, Sports and urban biodiversity: a framework for achieving mutual benefits for nature and sports in cities (2020), explains how investing in urban biodiversity provides an opportunity for sports federations, venue owners and operators, local organising committees as well as city planners and investors to build a long-lasting and socially-positive legacy in cities. It focuses on the links between urban biodiversity and sports, highlighting how sports can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity in the urban context.
Developed jointly with the San Francisco Estuary Institute, this latest guide spells out the seven elements that contribute to promoting biodiversity in cities. Examples from different sports venues and events illustrate how these elements (habitat patch size; connectivity across the urban landscape; quality of the landscape matrix surrounding a habitat patch; diversity of habitats available; native vegetation; special resources like water and nesting locations; and, wildlife-friendly management) can be implemented in practice.
