biodiversity offsets
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2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Adam Lothian Holloway

<p>Biodiversity offsets, a form of environmental compensation, are increasingly being offered by developers and taken into account as part of the process for determining planning permissions in New Zealand. This paper outlines the concept of biodiversity offsets and, with reference to a case study, the role it currently plays under New Zealand's primary planning legislation – the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The paper argues that while the current approach to offsets under the RMA is sub-optimal, recent developments of the law pertaining to national policy statements provide an opportunity to use biodiversity offsets as part of implementing an environmental bottom line for biodiversity and ecosystem function loss.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Adam Lothian Holloway

<p>Biodiversity offsets, a form of environmental compensation, are increasingly being offered by developers and taken into account as part of the process for determining planning permissions in New Zealand. This paper outlines the concept of biodiversity offsets and, with reference to a case study, the role it currently plays under New Zealand's primary planning legislation – the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The paper argues that while the current approach to offsets under the RMA is sub-optimal, recent developments of the law pertaining to national policy statements provide an opportunity to use biodiversity offsets as part of implementing an environmental bottom line for biodiversity and ecosystem function loss.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Le Billon

Extraction and conservation seem to be polar opposites, yet they entertain multiple relations as the 'greening' of extractive activities mobilizes conservation efforts to address the 'extinction crisis.' Drawing on a review of the literature and two case studies, this article discusses the politics of affinity and enmity shaping the extraction-conservation nexus, and partnerships. As crisis conservation and green extraction receive increased attention, the article suggests that the convergence of extraction and conservation is not only pragmatic, but also reflects shared discursive imaginaries and valuations of nature, practices materialized through spaces of 'double exception', and common politics of enmity directed at local communities that legitimize exclusionary practices rather than solve capitalism's contradictions.


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 808
Author(s):  
Christian Sponagel ◽  
Andre Raichle ◽  
Martin Maier ◽  
Susanne Zhuber-Okrog ◽  
Ulrike Greifenhagen-Kauffmann ◽  
...  

Many countries worldwide have developed guidelines for offsetting impacts on nature and landscape. Suitable locations are the prerequisite for the implementation of these measures, and this might lead to conflicts with agriculture. In addition, comprehensive planning is often lacking and potential added values for nature conservation are not exploited. Concepts such as the so-called production-integrated compensation (PIC) have been introduced to give farmers the opportunity to actively participate in the offsetting process and improve cooperation. However, up to now, PIC has only rarely been put into practice. Against this backdrop, we have developed a regional planning tool for the implementation of PIC in practice. Based on geodata such as soil data, agricultural structure, or natural conditions at the field and landscape level, the general suitability, and specific measure-based recommendations for each plot can be verified with the help of a decision support system. These factors are assessed from both a nature and an agricultural perspective. The goal here is to highlight synergy effects and increase the likelihood of the proposed measures being implemented. Our tool facilitates the integrated planning of biodiversity offsets at regional level. In this way, it can promote the bundling and networking of measures. However, on-site analyses should be undertaken to complement the implementation of measures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 105 ◽  
pp. 105393
Author(s):  
Barbara A. Souza ◽  
Josianne C.S. Rosa ◽  
Juliana Siqueira-Gay ◽  
Luis E. Sánchez

2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-83
Author(s):  
Christian Sponagel ◽  
Hans Back ◽  
Elisabeth Angenendt ◽  
Enno Bahrs

Impacts on nature and landscape are to be offset in accordance with different nature conservation acts in various European countries. In Germany in particular, biodiversity offsets can also be made in advance, for instance, by booking them into eco-accounts, and then allocating them to an intervention. In Baden-Württemberg, these offset measures are assessed in eco credits in accordance with the Eco Account Regulation (ÖKVO). As a means of income diversification, farmers can voluntarily implement offset measures on their land, and then generate and sell corresponding eco credits. Using a geodata-based model, the potential for implementing biodiversity offsets on arable land – areas with major eco credit potential – is analysed from an economic perspective. The Stuttgart Region is a steadily growing conurbation in south-west Germany. It serves as a study region since the loss of farmland due to large-scale construction measures and the related offsetting are a major issue here. In the analysis, the gross margins of the crops grown, their yield capacity, the associated standard land values and the costs of possible offset measures are used to determine the net present value of the arable land at parcel level. From a theoretical point of view and depending on the market price for eco credits, there is a significant potential for offset measures on arable land. Production-integrated compensation (PIC) – an extensification of arable land use – is less economically viable than the conversion of arable land into grassland or its utilisation for nature conservation. There are major spatial disparities between the city of Stuttgart and the surrounding districts. The implementation of biodiversity offsets is not economically viable at a price of less than € 1.00 per eco credit in the city of Stuttgart. By contrast, in surrounding districts, offset measures may be economically viable and implemented on a large scale for less than € 0.30. This is particularly relevant as the districts concerned are located in the same natural area as the city of Stuttgart and the eco credits can, therefore, be attributed in the event of interventions. Based on derived supply curves, decision-makers can see the scale of additional costs of biodiversity offset measures if they are implemented in a spatially restricted region. The analyses presented here can help decision-makers to more easily weigh up the desired natural characteristics and economic effects in the context of agricultural land.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5951
Author(s):  
Anne-Charlotte Vaissière ◽  
Fabien Quétier ◽  
Adeline Bierry ◽  
Clémence Vannier ◽  
Florence Baptist ◽  
...  

It is increasingly common for developers to be asked to manage the impacts of their projects on biodiversity by restoring other degraded habitats that are ecologically equivalent to those that are impacted. These measures, called biodiversity offsets, generally aim to achieve ‘no net loss’ (NNL) of biodiversity. Using spatially-explicit modeling, different options were compared in terms of their performance in offsetting the impacts on wetlands of the planned urban expansion around Grenoble (France). Two implementation models for offsetting were tested: (a) the widespread bespoke permittee-led restoration project model, resulting in a patchwork of restored wetlands, and (b) recently-established aggregated and anticipated “banking” approaches whereby larger sets of adjacent parcels offset the impacts of several projects. Two ecological equivalence methods for sizing offsets were simulated: (a) the historically-prevalent area-based approach and (b) recently introduced approaches whereby offsets are sized to ensure NNL of wetland functions. Simulations showed that a mix of functional methods with minimum area requirements was more likely to achieve NNL of wetland area and function across the study area and within each subwatershed. Our methodology can be used to test the carrying capacity of a landscape to support urban expansion and its associated offsetting in order to formulate more sustainable development plans.


Conservation ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 305-330
Author(s):  
Charles Perrings

Since the 1993 Convention on Biological Diversity, nation-states have asserted sovereign rights over all biological resources within their boundaries. Chapter 13 reviews the policies and instruments applied by governments to the conservation of natural capital in areas of national jurisdiction. Measures addressed include the assignment of property rights in biological resources; protective legislation; environmental offsets; incentive systems including taxes, subsidies, and payments for ecosystem services; and penalties. Particular attention is paid to common pool resource management regimes, legal restrictions on land use such as the US Endangered Species Act, biodiversity offsets, and payment systems such as the EU and US agri-environment schemes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 424-435
Author(s):  
Jenny Pope ◽  
Angus Morrison-Saunders ◽  
Alan Bond ◽  
Francois Retief

2021 ◽  

We are currently facing significant challenges in environmental management that must be addressed to maintain the health of our planet and our population. While carbon offsetting in its various forms is widespread globally, few countries have fully legislated and put into operation other offset policies. This edited collection aims to fill the gap of knowledge on environmental offsets, from theory to practice. Environmental Offsets addresses four major forms of environmental offsets – biodiversity offsets, carbon offsets, offsetting the depletion of non-renewable resources and offsetting the destruction of built heritage. The authors discuss their research and provide case studies from around Australia and across the developing world. Using examples such as the Sydney Olympics, the Bakossi Forest Reserve in Cameroon and green roof gardens, this book highlights the strengths and weaknesses of environmental offsetting and illustrates how jobs can be created in the offsetting process. Environmental Offsets is both a historical source in our understanding of environmental offsetting and a guide to the way forward. It illustrates what works, what does not and what can be improved for the future.


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