Journal
CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
Volume 14, Issue -, Pages 61-67Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.cosust.2015.03.008
Keywords
-
Funding
- Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia [SFRH/BD/51438/2011]
- MoBia project (Biodiversity Monitoring in Environmental Assessment, FCT) [PTDC/AAC-AMB/114522/2009]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [SFRH/BD/51438/2011, PTDC/AAC-AMB/114522/2009] Funding Source: FCT
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Biodiversity offsets are compensatory mechanisms increasingly used to address ecological impacts resulting from human activities. We review the scientific literature on biodiversity offsets, published between 1999 and 2014. We found that biodiversity offset studies have increased through time. The majority of studies have been carried out in the USA. The development of biodiversity offsets schemes faces conceptual and practical challenges. The conceptual challenges discussed in the literature are: choice of metric, spatial delivery of offsets, equivalence, additionality, timing, longevity, ratios and reversibility. The practical challenges reported in the literature are: compliance, monitoring, transparency and timing of credits release. Amongst these, choice of metric and location are paramount and are related to the multidimensional nature of biodiversity and the values society places on biodiversity. Harmonized metrics such as the Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) help to address these challenges by providing comparability of biodiversity loss and gain amongst locations.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available