Dr Ljiljana Pantelic
Applied scientist and internationally qualified sustainability practitioner
Co Author of the Global first NCA in Mining Case Studies
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Syrinx
BIO
Ljiljana is an applied scientist and internationally qualified sustainability practitioner, with extensive experience in planning, design and delivery of sustainable water and green infrastructure solutions and quantitative data and decision tools, including for the mining sector.
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She leads the nature base programs (NbS) in Syrinx and has worked on a number of innovative projects across Australia that have demonstrated multifunctionality and proven multiple benefits of ‘green’ initiatives in various settings. In particular, her work is focused on understanding how to extend the role of NbS to maximise climate resilience and human health & wellbeing benefits for communities, and how these can be objectively measured.
Most recently, Ljiljana has been focusing on developing and testing Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) for the mining sector, and understanding how NCA can be used to improve public and private decision-making, and attract investments in nature.
She is a co-author of the global first NCA in mining case studies: the BHP Beenup Site NCA Pilot Case Study and more recently the Hanson NCA case study. The latter case study also explored how NCA can also be used as a forecasting tool to support nature-positive mine planning and decision making.
Presentations (2)
1) New reports to help test applicability of Natural Capital Accounting in Australia's Mining Sector and ; 2 ) Beenyup Site Pilot Case Study
Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) provides an account of past changes in natural capital (stocks and flows) and is becoming an integral part of corporate accounting systems.
This presentation will outline the process for developing and applying NCA for a closed mine (BHP Beenup) and an operational mine (Hanson).
These projects were part of a series of NCA case studies driven by a multi-stakeholder industry and government partnership (BHP, CRC-TiME, CSIRO, DCEEW, Curtin University, Hanson UWA, WABSI). Specifically, the case studies undertaken by Syrinx tested the applicability of ecosystem assessment frameworks to the Australian mining sector, specifically the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) framework which constitutes an integrated and comprehensive statistical framework for organizing ecosystem asset data, measuring ecosystem services, tracking changes, and linking this information to economic accounts.
Whilst the SEEA-EA framework is normally applied to national accounts, these case studies show how this framework can be successfully used at a project scale and adapted to suit the specific challenges of the mining sector. Apart from the accounting (audit) role of NCA, the Hanson quarry site was used to test if and how NCA could be used as a forecasting tool to improve foresight on likely negative and positive nature-impact pathways, and to hence influence better planning decisions for future mining and rehabilitation activities.
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Whilst these case studies are illustrative, they demonstrate how NCA can be used to assist the mining sector to make better decisions with regard to nature-related impacts.
NCA provides the rigour needed to measure, track and guide how a mine is balancing its nature-impacts and dependencies in time with nature-positive interventions, and therefore can be used to support nature-positive targets and evaluate progress toward these. Forecasting is a new application of NCA that brings more of a strategic opportunity for operational mines to identify potential natural capital impacts, values and opportunities ahead of mining progression to influence better decisions and nature-positive outcomes moving forward.
These case studies have been used to identify key gaps and challenges needed to enable implementation across the sector, and have been used to inform recent business case and guidance material for the mining sector.
Meney, K., Pantelic, L., Cooper, T and Pittard, M. (2023). Natural Capital Accounting for The Mining Sector: Beenup Site Pilot Case Study.
Available at: https://www.syrinx.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/230502_BHPBeenupPilotCaseStudyNaturalCapitalAccountingReport.pdf
Pantelic, L., Maybee, B., Meney, K., Newton, V. (2023). Use of Natural Capital Accounting as a Forecasting & Planning
Tool: Gaskell North Case Study. CRC TiME, Australia.
Maybee, B., Waterer, S., Pantelic, L., Meney, K., Parkhurst, T., Standish, R.J., Mackay, W., Regan, C., Summers, D.(2023).
Natural Capital Accounting in the Australian Mining Sector: Case Study Report. CRC TiME, Australia