Title:	Biodiversity Offsets
Authors:	Wolfgang Wende Graham - M. Tucker Fabien Quétier Matt Rayment Marianne Darbi
Keywords:	Biodiversity Offsets
Issue Date:	2018
Publisher:	Springer
Description:	The intensification of land use and increasing urbanisation seen in Europe are causing a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services on a dramatic scale. In response, Europe has successfully established Natura 2000, a Europe-wide network of protected sites, and protected many species of threatened fauna and flora. This is certainly an important step in the right direction. Yet outside of protected areas and beyond protected species, there are so far—at least on a pan-European level—few measures to reduce the loss of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, and this despite the fact that the intensification of land use shows no sign of letting up. This policy gap in the wider environment is also a reason why the decline and loss of species has not (yet) been stopped in the EU. Outside Europe, in countries as diverse as the USA, Australia, Brazil and South Africa, considerable efforts are being made to introduce and implement policies in the wider environment that strengthen or expand requirements to avoid, mitigate and, if necessary, offset impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Offsets implement the “polluter pays” principle and thereby incentivise the reduction of impacts and require no net loss (or a net gain) to be achieved where residual impacts are unavoidable. With its Wetland Mitigation programme, the USA has long been a pioneer in this field. Australia can point to its Bushbroker scheme set up several years ago, while compensation instruments have also been introduced in South Africa. Brazil has its own system to address deforestation in private land and access private funding for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration. There is now a lively international debate among practitioners and scientists alike on the optimal design of mitigation hierarchies and offset systems to ensure their success and to minimise the risks of the failure or misuse of offsets
URI:	http://10.6.20.12:80/handle/123456789/55169
ISBN:	978-3-319-72581-9
Appears in Collections:	Population Studies

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