Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 1000187 J Ecosys Ecograph ISSN:2157-7625 JEE, an open access journal Research Article Open Access Jagerroos and Krause, J Ecosys Ecograph 2016, 6:2 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2157-7625.1000187 Research Article Open Access Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography ISSN: 2157-7625 J o u r n a l o f E c o s y s t e m & E c o g r a p h y Keywords: Artiicial reef; Asset; Biodiversity; Decommissioning; Ecosystem services; Habitat; Jacket; Platform; Sustainable development; Rigs to reef Introduction Unproductive ields and current oil prices have led to an increase in decommissioning of upstream facilities and operators are now looking at diferent factors in order to safely close the ields and retire the assets. Oil and Gas ields are many times developed in areas with great Marine and Coastal Biodiversity resources. Biodiversity was deined by the United Nations Environmental Program [1] as the variability among living organisms and the interrelated and complex linkage within species, between species and ecosystems. Decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure may afect the fundamental biodiversity at both the site of decommissioning and other interrelated locations. Oil and Gas operations have been identiied as among the world’s most polluting industries according to he 2015 World’s Worst Pollution Problems [2], consequently it is not only important but imperative to address issues related to decommissioning now before further activities in this sector adds additional stress to the environment already weakened by climate change and other human activities. In order to meet challenges in the upstream sector the Energy and Biodiversity Initiative (EBI) was formed in 2001 and ceased in 2007. he EBI was made up of leading energy companies e.g. Shell, Statoil, Bp and ChevronTexaco and conservation organizations, e.g. IUCN, TNC, FFI and he Smithsonian Institution and its aim was to produce practical guidelines, tools and models for integrating biodiversity conservation into upstream oil and gas development. Now when upstream activities are about to cease, the industry is missing these important guidelines and initiatives, nevertheless must deliver the decommissioning activities in an environmentally efective, eicient and equitably safe manner not only for the operators and the regulatory authorities but for the physical and biological surroundings. One issue that derives from applying decomissioning activities is whatever the diferent decommissionings options may impact diferently on the environment and the related biodiversity and bidiversity functions. When an oil and gas company is operating in areas that sustain high biodiversity they essentially integrate more considerations into the planning and decision- making process. hese considerations may include latest and best scientiic research, and community engagement to strengthen capacities and support transparency. As observed in many ofshore concession areas, by prevention of human intrusion into the oil ields, the biodiversity and abundance is many times higher inside than outside the project area. hese ofshore areas function as marine protected areas and “no take zones” or as a network of small protected areas for source populations that may bring inlux of organisms and richness to other areas. his indirect and positive efect of the assets would disappear for a particular location when the asset goes for onshore recycling or is converted in an artiicial reef or disposed of in deep waters. hese potential negative impacts on biodiversity from oil and gas decommissioning are diicult to estimate. Decommissioning may impact directly and indirectly on biodiversity and the impacts may be caused both during and ater decommissioning depending on the selected decommissioning option and the associated activities and other issues like technical expertise and methodologies. he direct impacts may be alleviated with mitigation measures drated in the impact assessment; however the indirect impacts are diicult to estimate quantitatively or qualitatively and may have a large impacts (positive or negative) resulting in changes to the local food webs either through bottom-up or top-down related feedback. Because of this it is important to understand the potential impact on biodiversity of diferent decommissioning options. Impacts on biodiversity, whether negative or positive, can be monitored using indicators, which provide a measure of change in the surrounding environment. Without an establishment of these parameters and in the absence of a consistent regulatory and policy framework, decommissioning programs are let *Corresponding author: Jagerroos S, Environmental Resources Management, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tel: +60 17621 9671; E-mail: Sylvia.Jagerroos@erm.com; sylviakm@gmail.com Received May 11, 2015; Accepted May 26, 2016; Published June 03, 2016 Citation: Jagerroos S, Krause PR (2016) Rigs-To-Reef; Impact or Enhancement on Marine Biodiversity. J Ecosys Ecograph 6: 187. doi:10.4172/2157-7625.1000187 Copyright: © 2016 Jagerroos S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Decommissioning of offshore oil and gas platforms raises many complex issues to consider before accomplishing a successful strategy to undertake these activities in an environmentally effective, eficient and equitably safe manner not only for the operators and the regulatory authorities but for the physical and biological surroundings. There are many factors to evaluate and issues like liability, reputational risk, cost, cumulative impact, technical development, regulatory framework, and climate change would all have to be considered on a case-to-case scenario as opposed to adopting a regular strategy for all facilities. The debate is focused about whether the structure or facilities left in place or like an artiical reef habitat constitute valuable habitat and deliver ecosystem services, or in contrast impact the biological environment and should be removed. Some offshore facilities, although deployed as artiical reefs for a very long time, have not developed the diversity of benthic or ish assemblages comparable to that found on natural reefs. South East Asia hosts many aging offshore facilities and the shortage of decomissioning yards and a lack of policy framework and inancial support play a big role in order to conduct these activities in a way that safeguard the environment and the biodiversity of the marine environment. Rigs-To-Reef; Impact or Enhancement on Marine Biodiversity Sylvia Jagerroos1* and Paul R. Krause2 1 Environmental Resources Management, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2 Environmental Resources Management, Marina del Rey, United States