Biodiversity Offsets and the Challenge of Achieving No Net Loss

Abstract

Businesses, governments, and financial institutions are increasingly adopting a policy of no net loss of biodiversity for development activities. The goal of no net loss is intended to help relieve tension between conservation and development by enabling economic gains to be achieved without concomitant biodiversity losses. biodiversity offsets represent a necessary component of a much broader mitigation strategy for achieving no net loss following prior application of avoidance, minimization, and remediation measures. However, doubts have been raised about the appropriate use of biodiversity offsets. We examined what no net loss means as a desirable conservation outcome and reviewed the conditions that determine whether, and under what circumstances, biodiversity offsets can help achieve such a goal. We propose a conceptual framework to substitute the often ad hoc approaches evident in many biodiversity offset initiatives. The relevance of biodiversity offsets to no net loss rests on 2 fundamental premises. First, offsets are rarely adequate for achieving no net loss of biodiversity alone. Second, some development effects may be too difficult or risky, or even impossible, to offset. To help to deliver no net loss through biodiversity offsets, biodiversity gains must be comparable to losses, be in addition to conservation gains that may have occurred in absence of the offset, and be lasting and protected from risk of failure. Adherence to these conditions requires consideration of the wider landscape context of development and offset activities, timing of offset delivery, measurement of biodiversity, accounting procedures and rule sets used to calculate biodiversity losses and gains and guide offset design, and approaches to managing risk. Adoption of this framework will strengthen the potential for offsets to provide an ecologically defensible mechanism that can help reconcile conservation and development. Balances de Biodiversidad y el Reto de No Obtener Pérdida Neta.

Simulating and delineating future land change trajectories across Europe

“…We highlighted that locations affected by certain land change trajectories can be portrayed by a range of distinctive location characteristics such as ecosystem service provision in the reference year. Our results can support the discussion on replacement costs for ecosystem services (e.g., Winfree et al 2011) and address how ecosystem service loss can be compensated for (e.g., Gardner et al 2013;van Teeffelen et al 2014). Our findings indicate the need for region-specific planning and policy making to guide land change to avoid negative impacts on environment and society.…”

The Biodiversity Offsetting Dilemma: Between Economic Rationales and Ecological Dynamics

“…Bush's campaign in 1988 in the United States of America (USA), initially to limit wetlands destruction [40]. The NNL objective then spread throughout the world, more recently becoming a political principle endorsed by many countries [6]. This commitment reveals the recognition of the various values and merits of biodiversity (social, economic and ecological) and the importance of maintaining natural capital by preserving it.…”

“…The purpose of BO is to provide ecological gains counterbalancing negative impacts on biodiversity. In a context of economic development, BO is considered the main way to achieve the goal of No Net Loss (henceforth NNL) of biodiversity, currently being a central political objective [6].…”

A Framework for Implementing and Valuing Biodiversity Offsets in Colombia: A Landscape Scale Perspective

“…Success of restoration projects can vary greatly depending on the ecosystem, restoration techniques, and other factors. In some cases, restoration approaches are known to be effective, but in other situations there may be great uncertainty due to a lack of experience [45,46]. Where restoration experience is comprehensive, this probability could be estimated with some accuracy, and where experience is more limited, a high-medium-low probability ranking process might be used.…”