Infinite diversities in infinite combinations
Biodiversity
All species richness of an ecosystem, whether plants or animals.
Will development, even sustainable development, inevitably result in loss of biodiversity? Decisions regarding development are complex and generally involve the balance of economic, social and environmental factors. Consequently, it is common practice for impacts to biodiversity to be “offset” with other types of gain, resulting in a net loss of biodiversity.
For many years, this kind of outcome was considered acceptable and perhaps inevitable. Now, however, many individuals and organizations, from companies, banks and governments to civil society organizations, believe that the inevitability of this outcome can and must be challenged. In many cases, development projects can take place without any loss of biodiversity.
Voluntary biodiversity offsets offer a potential mechanism for balancing the impact of development activities and the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of its benefits.
It essentially constitutes measurable conservation gains, deliberately achieved in order to offset any significant loss of biodiversity that cannot be reversed by preventing or minimizing the impact from the outset or by repairing the damage caused. It has been specifically developed to address the remaining impact in such a way that compensation can be anticipated, based on the scientific knowledge we have, and that there is zero net loss of biodiversity from the perspective of all parties involved.
In this way, it represents a promising opportunity to take advantage of the growing interest of many companies in developing partnerships with governments, civil society and conservation organizations to deal with the environmental impact of the activities they carry out and increase their contribution to biodiversity conservation and development. sustainable.
The definition of the BBOP (Business and Offsetting Program for Biodiversity)
These are the measurable conservation outcomes from actions designed to offset significant residual adverse impacts on biodiversity from development projects, after appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken. The objective of biodiversity offsets is to achieve “zero net loss” and, preferably, net gain of biodiversity in the environment with respect to species composition, habitat structure, ecosystem function and population use.