Area of Influence (AoI)
Description
Area of Influence (AoI) refers to the area surrounding an operational site where biodiversity is subject to either positive or negative, direct or indirect impacts as a result of being in proximity to that site.
Direct impacts originate from the operational site and extend beyond its physical boundaries (e.g. emissions, noise pollution, etc.). Indirect impacts (including induced impacts) are those which do not originate from an operational site, but are driven by the site’s presence (e.g. socioeconomic effects).
There are several definitions of Area of Influence, and some also consider cumulative impacts. Cumulative impacts occur where an operational site’s AoI overlaps with the AoI of another operational site.
UNEP-WCMC (2020) 1
UNEP-WCMC (2021) 2
Gullison et al. (1993) 3
Business relevance
Many developments and projects will require detailed assessments of site-based impacts, for example as part of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Defining the AoI of a project is an important step towards realising the extent of site-based impacts. There are several sector standards and regulatory mechanisms that provide guidance on how to calculate AoIs, for example, the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6) and the ‘Good Practice for the Collection of Biodiversity Baseline Data’ guidance.
UNEP-WCMC (2021) 2
Gullison et al. (1993) 3