St Helena Airport

Working with High Point Rendel on behalf of the United Kingdom and St. Helena Governments we undertook an initial environmental screening of sea and air access options and carried out participatory surveys amongst the local communities. We also assessed by survey six airfield and aircraft haul operation options. The primary impacts requiring management plans and institutional capacity building were for the rare and endemic species of wirebird and invertebrates, the runway embankments, the drainage systems, aircraft activity and noise and immediate construction effects, together with planning for changes in water consumption and waste production associated with new tourist activities. We drafted terms of reference for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and highlighted ways of exploiting incentives for conservation associated with the potential for increased ‘high value-low volume’ tourism.