Industry development can have a detrimental impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Compensation programs like biodiversity offsetting are increasingly designed to counterbalance ecological impacts. But are they effective? Compensatory conservation policies are rapidly becoming popular management strategies, making it crucial to better understand these initiatives and ensure that they have the best possible outcomes for biodiversity and people.
OUR APPROACH: This working group is developing criteria for identifying the type of compensatory approach most likely to deliver equitable conservation benefits across a range of objectives and linking different approaches to specific in-country conditions. The team is also analyzing the impacts and outcomes of different compensatory approaches for biodiversity and people in a variety of case study countries.
Team Status:
A Framework for Target-based Ecological Compensation
The team developed a framework that will lead to a more explicit link between project-level compensation and jurisdictional biodiversity targets. The framework has now been presented to a wide range of stakeholders in Africa, Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania.
Excel Tool for Compensation Multipliers
The team developed an easy to use Excel tool for the use of calculating improvement and maintenance multipliers in order to inform the development of a policy framework founded in the target-based approach. This tool will simplify the calculation of ‘how much’ and ‘what type’ of compensation is needed to address a particular biodiversity loss.
Modeling Offset Scenarios in Different Countries
The team was able to model and analyze a range of offsetting scenarios in four study locations; East Kalimantan (Indonesia), Minas Gerais (Brazil), Brigalow Belt (Australia), and Cabo Delgado (Mozambique). This study provided insights into the challenges and limitations of current approaches to biodiversity offsetting.
Operationalizing Global No Net Loss
The team presented a guiding framework for the implementation of a global goal of no net loss of ecosystems, for which a key facet is equitable translation to country-level contributions.
“Our new framework will help support the achievement of global biodiversity targets while also achieving the Sustainable Development Goals – and it is encouraging to see governments already incorporating our approach into policy design.”
— Martine Maron, Project co-leader