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Biodiversity

Maintaining the diversity of plant and animal species is an important part of sustainability and we aim to make sure our activities do not adversely affect biodiversity. Protecting local habitats and wildlife and improving sites’ surroundings are also part of our commitment to local communities.

Wildlife can be threatened by new site developments and by existing operations which affect natural habitats. Habitats can be severely damaged by depletion of water resources so our use of water must be particularly sensitive (See Water for more information on water management).

Any investigation and collection of natural products can also be disruptive and needs to be carefully managed to minimise adverse effects. We make only limited use of natural products in research, but where this happens we aim to ensure that the investigation, collection and use of biological material for the purposes of research or manufacturing does not adversely affect biodiversity.

Biodiversity is managed at site level because the issues and impacts are local. GSK sites are required to:

• identify and assess potential impacts of their activities on local habitats
• act to minimize any adverse effects of their activities on important habitats
• enhance biodiversity where that is feasible
• monitor their impacts to ensure action remains effective in protecting and enhancing local biodiversity

Here are some examples:

Nabha, India, has developed a biodiversity management plan to develop “ecoforestry” in 27 acres of land, using the water discharges from the site.

Memphis, Tennessee, in the US has teamed up with the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) to improve the habitat and introduce species indigenous to the adjacent President's Island.

Crawley, in the UK, has worked with specialist woodland contractors and the local Wildlife Trust to enhance an area of oak woodland on the site. They have created a pond, thinned the trees and installed 50 bird nesting boxes.

Dartford, in the UK, supports a partnership which includes the UK’s Environment Agency and is working to safeguard the historic Dartford Marshes - vital in safeguarding Dartford from flooding as well as supporting a host of rare and protected species, including the water vole.

Rixensart and Wavre-Nord in Belgium are both close to woodland and have been working on improving biodiversity for several years. They have planted indigenous species of shrub, maximising the use of flowering plants that encourage bees and other insects and established orchards with old varieties of apples, pears and plums. In 2005 Rixensart celebrated the fifth anniversary of a Nature Path employees had created.

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