Justina C. Ray, Ph.D. Executive Director & Senior Scientist
Wildlife Conservation Society Canada
Biodiversity: the variability among living organisms within species, between species, and between ecosystems (CBD 1992)
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005): 15 of the 24 ecosystem services evaluated have degraded over the past half century
Biodiversity is integral to many of the high-ranking problems on the public radar screen
Despite the widely acknowledged challenges in achieving a full recovery of the structure, functioning and composition of damaged ecosystems, policies that permit the compensated loss of natural habitat --“biodiversity offsets” -- have multiplied internationally over the past decade
Conventional Mitigation Justification for a bad development project Applicable in all circumstances Comprehensive environmental protection A Panacea
Minimise = reduce harm Mitigate = alleviate residual harm Offset = compensate for residual, unavoidable harm.
Biodiversity gains are comparable to losses from residual effects
Biodiversity gains are additional to
outcomes that would have resulted in the absence of the project
Biodiversity gains are lasting and protected against risk of failure
Sufficient ecological information
Currency Metrics for measuring biodiversity
Baseline Standard against which to measure no net loss
Equivalence Trading like for like
Longevity How long will they endure, especially in a dynamic environment
Time lag Temporal gap between development impacts occurring and the benefits of offsetting
Uncertainty Will the scheme work
Reversibility Whether or not impacts can be reversed
Thresholds Defining point beyond which offsets are not acceptable
BBOP 2012
Pilgrim et al. 2013
BBOP 2012
Understanding of probable negative ecological and social impacts in a regional context
Adequate baseline information is required
Regional-scale assessment of risk and impact, analysis of cumulative impacts
Integration of risk with other elements of feasibility
Consideration of biodiversity offsets
World Resources Institute
Intact Forest Landscapes
© Global Forest Watch Canada
Pulp and Paper Tenures
© Global Forest Watch Canada
All Logging Tenures
© Global Forest Watch Canada
Tenures + Roads + Oil & Gas
© Global Forest Watch Canada
20077 20107
Since the discovery in 2007 of world-class chromite-nickel-copper-gold deposits, there are currently at least 35 mineral exploration and mining companies with active claims in the Ring of Fire.
Unuk River
M. Fay
M. Fay
A biodiversity offset should be designed and implemented in a landscape context to achieve the expected measurable conservation outcomes taking into account available information on the full range of biological, social and cultural values of biodiversity and supporting an ecosystem approach.
Biodiversity is a complex, difficult-to-measure, and non-interchangeable resource, which challenges offsetting: scientific evidence for success is unfavourable
Canada is generally absent framework(s) that
enable best practices offsetting principles
This can and will promote BAU by another name
Ultimately, the value of any offset guidance depends on its integration with higher-level biodiversity policies/plans that clarify assumptions, specify conservation goals, address cumulative impacts, and are carefully monitored.