State of Biodiversity Markets Offset and Compensation Programs Worldwide
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Banking Nature? the Spectacular Financialisation of Environmental Conservation
Banking Nature? The Spectacular Financialisation of Environmental Conservation Sian Sullivan Department of Geography, Environment and Development Studies, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK; [email protected] Abstract: In this paper I emphasise the financialisation of environmental conservation as 1. the turning of financiers to conservation parameters as a new frontier for investment, and 2. the rewriting of conservation practice and nonhuman worlds in terms of banking and financial categories. I introduce financialisation as a broadly controlling impetus with relevance for environmental conservation. I then note ways in which a spectacular investment frontier in conservation is being opened. I highlight the draw of assertions of lucrative gains, combined with notions of geographical substitutability, in creating tradable indicators of environmental health and harm. I disaggregate financialisation strategies into four categories—nature finance, nature work, nature banking and nature derivatives—and assess their implications. The concluding section embraces Marx and Foucault as complementary thinkers in understanding the transforming intensifications of late capitalism in environmental conservation, and diagnosing their associated effects and costs. Keywords: financialisation, environmental conservation, frontier, primitive accumulation, environmentality, Marx, Foucault Introduction: Nature’s Growing Financial “Value” Economic growth and the natural environment are mutually compatible. Sustainable economic growth relies on services provided by the natural environment, often referred to as “ecosystem services” ... [P]rotected natural areas can yield returns many times higher than the costs of their protection. There are multi-million pound opportunities available from greener goods and services, and from markets that protect nature’s services. Too many of the benefits we derive from nature are not properly valued. -
Title: Using Carbon Investment to Grow the Biodiversity Bank
The following submission argues for a recognition of the biodiversity A version of this submission has been accepted for publication in the journal Conservation Biology Title: Using carbon investment to grow the biodiversity bank Authors’ addresses: Sarah A. Bekessy* and Brendan A. Wintle † * School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne 3001, Australia † School of Botany, University of Melbourne 3010, Australia Introduction The fervour with which carbon initiatives are being adopted (Capoor & Ambrosi 2007) presents a unique opportunity to restore biodiversity while creating new financial and marketing incentives for investors. We argue that current approaches to carbon offsetting that rely largely on investment in monoculture plantations will rapidly lose appeal as the public becomes aware of their dubious carbon benefits (Guo & Gifford 2002; Glenday 2006) and the related environmental and social harm that they may bring (Jackson et al. 2005; Lamb et al. 2005). Here we describe a scheme that is more robust to uncertainty about carbon sequestration and is guaranteed to have broad environmental benefits, including restoration of degraded natural systems and endangered species habitats. The proposed scheme provides a mechanism for investing in the worlds most threatened ecosystems that makes carbon, biodiversity, and financial sense. The idea is simple: investors should be allowed to reap the dual benefits of carbon and biodiversity credits from the one parcel of land and those credits could later be traded on the relevant markets. Current approaches place investors’ hopes in future carbon and timber values that may be risky given available evidence about the real sequestration value of short rotation plantations (Guo & Gifford 2002) and the rapid rise in monoculture plantation projects (FAO 2005) potentially leading to a reduction in demand and a slowing of the plantation timber market. -
Traits Without Borders: Integrating Functional Diversity Across Scales
Review Traits Without Borders: Integrating Functional Diversity Across Scales 1, 1,2 Carlos P. Carmona, * Francesco de Bello, 3 1,4̌ Norman W.H. Mason, and Jan Leps Owing to the conceptual complexity of functional diversity (FD), a multitude of Trends different methods are available for measuring it, with most being operational at Functional trait diversity, in other words only a small range of spatial scales. This causes uncertainty in ecological the variation of traits between organ- isms, can be used to address a great interpretations and limits the potential to generalize findings across studies number of pressing ecological ques- or compare patterns across scales. We solve this problem by providing a unified tions. Consequently, trait-based framework expanding on and integrating existing approaches. The framework, approaches are increasingly being used by ecologists. based on trait probability density (TPD), is the first to fully implement the Hutchinsonian concept of the niche as a probabilistic hypervolume in estimating However, functional diversity com- FD. This novel approach could revolutionize FD-based research by allowing prises several components that can be evaluated at different spatial scales. quantification of the various FD components from organismal to macroecolog- Because of this conceptual complexity, ical scales, and allowing seamless transitions between scales. there is an overabundance of disparate approaches for estimating it, which leads to confusion among users and A Multi-Faceted FD hampers the comparability of different studies. The responses of species to environmental conditions, disturbance, and biotic interactions, as well as their effects on ecosystem processes, are determined by their functional traits (see A single mathematical framework Glossary) [1–5]. -
Scoping Study for the Design and Use of Biodiversity Offsets in an English Context
Scoping Study for the Design and Use of Biodiversity Offsets in an English Context Scoping study for the design and use of biodiversity offsets in an English Context Final Report to Defra (Contract NE 0801) NEE 0801 Final Report: April 2009 1 Scoping Study for the Design and Use of Biodiversity Offsets in an English Context Compiled by Jo Treweek (Treweek Environmental Consultants) With contributions from: Kerry ten Kate, freelance consultant Bill Butcher, WGB Environment Orlando Venn, Treweek Environmental Consultants Lincoln Garland and Mike Wells, Biodiversity by Design Dominic Moran, Scottish Agricultural College Stewart Thompson, Oxford Brookes University Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for input from the participants at the stakeholder workshops and for advice and comments provided by several people including Roger Morris, Ian Hepburn, Riki Therivel, David Hill, Derek Wilkinson, Paul Raven, Graham Tucker. David Parkes, Michael Crowe, Anne Buchan and their colleagues at the Victoria Department of Sustainability and the Environment in Australia generously shared their experience of designing and operating a system of biodiversity offsets. The Project Steering Committee (Sarah Lucking, Pete Brotherton, Andrew Dodd, Helen Dunn, James Vause, Julian Harlow, Phil Lewis, Sarah Webster), provided valuable input and constructive criticism throughout. NEE 0801 Final Report: April 2009 2 Scoping Study for the Design and Use of Biodiversity Offsets in an English Context Executive Summary Defra commissioned a scoping study for the design and use of biodiversity offsets in an English context. The results of the study are summarised in this report and are intended to inform debate on the possible contribution of biodiversity offsets to conservation and sustainable development goals in England. -
Regulated Destruction: How Biodiversity Offsetting Enables
REGULATED DESTRUCTION How biodiversity offsetting enables environmental destruction Author Jutta Kill The research for this publication was carried out between February and October 2018. Design Somerset Bean Image credits Cover, p5, p24 Community agroecology and agro-forestry project, Sungai Buri, Sarawak, Indonesia. Members of the women’s group picking vegetables. Amelia Collins/Friends of the Earth International p11 Penang Inshore Fishermen Welfare Association (PIFWA), Mangrove Education Centre, Seberang Perai Selatan, Penang, Malaysia. Amelia Collins/Friends of the Earth International p21 Community agroecology and agro-forestry project, Sungai Buri, Sarawak, Indonesia, Members of the women’s group including the two women leaders. Amelia Collins/Friends of the Earth International Friends Of The Earth International is the world’s largest grassroots environmental network with 73 member groups and over two million members and supporters around the world. Our vision is of a peaceful and sustainable world based on societies living in harmony with nature. We envision a society of interdependent people living in dignity, wholeness and fulfilment in which equity and human and peoples’ rights are realised. This will be a society built upon peoples’ sovereignty and participation. It will be founded on social, economic, gender and environmental justice and be free from all forms of domination and exploitation, such as neoliberalism, corporate globalisation, neo-colonialism and militarism. We believe that our children’s future will be better because -
Exploring the Basic Ecological Unit: Ecosystem-Like Concepts in Traditional Societies
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Publications of the IAS Fellows Ecosystems (1998) 1: 409–415 ECOSYSTEMS 1998 Springer-Verlag M INIREVIEWS Exploring the Basic Ecological Unit: Ecosystem-like Concepts in Traditional Societies Fikret Berkes,1* Mina Kislalioglu,2 Carl Folke,3 and Madhav Gadgil4 1Natural Resources Institute and 2c/o Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada; 3Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University, S-10691 Stockholm, and Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Box 50005, S-10405 Stockholm, Sweden; and 4Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India ABSTRACT Ancient conceptualizations of ecosystems exist in dictable and uncontrollable, and of ecosystem pro- several Amerindian, Asia-Pacific, European, and cesses as nonlinear, multiequilibrium, and full of African cultures. The rediscovery by scientists of surprises. Traditional knowledge may complement ecosystem-like concepts among traditional peoples scientific knowledge by providing practical experi- has been important in the appreciation of traditional ence in living within ecosystems and responding to ecological knowledge among ecologists, anthropolo- ecosystem change. However, the ‘‘language’’ of tra- gists, and interdisciplinary scholars. Two key charac- ditional ecology is different from the scientific and teristics of these systems are that (a) the unit of usually includes metaphorical imagery and spiritual nature is often defined in terms of a geographical expression, signifying differences in context, mo- boundary, such as a watershed, and (b) abiotic tive, and conceptual underpinnings. components, plants, animals, and humans within this unit are considered to be interlinked. -
Building Biodiversity Business
Building Biodiversity Business Joshua Bishop, Sachin Kapila, Frank Hicks, Paul Mitchell and Francis Vorhies 1. One of the 73 frog species found in the 1 Gamba Complex, Gabon © Carlton Ward Jr. 2. A water lily in Jacana, Botswana IUCN Photo Library © IUCN / Sue Mainka 3. Masked butterflyfish in the Red Sea, Egypt IUCN Photo Library © Christian Laufenberg 2 3 4. Chameleo dilepis © Carlton Ward Jr. 5. Alcedo leucogaster © Carlton Ward Jr. 6. Forest in the Garajonay National Park, Spain IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell Carlton Ward Jr. is an environmental photojournalist from Florida, 4 5 6 USA with graduate training in ecology and anthropology. Through his photographs, he aims to promote conservation of natural environments and cultural legacies. Building Biodiversity Business Joshua Bishop1, Sachin Kapila2, Frank Hicks3, Paul Mitchell4 and Francis Vorhies5 2008 1 IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) 2 Shell International Limited 3 Forest Trends 4 Green Horizons Environmental Consultants Limited 5 Earthmind Publication Data Bishop, J., Kapila, S., Hicks, F., Mitchell, P. and Vorhies, F. 2008. Building Biodiversity Business. Shell International Limited and the International Union for Conservation of Nature: London, UK, and Gland, Switzerland. 164 pp. © Shell International Limited, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the authors 2008 ISBN: 978-2-8317-1019-8 Reproduction of this publication for educational or other non-commercial purposes is authorised without prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of this publication for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without prior written permission of the copyright holder. -
Postnote 369 'Biodiversity Offsetting'
POSTNOTE Number 369 January 2011 Biodiversity Offsetting Overview Biodiversity offsetting is a market-based conservation tool that measures negative impacts on biodiversity, replacing the loss through improvements usually nearby. Offsets aim to compensate for residual biodiversity loss incurred by development projects by maintaining an equivalent amount of biodiversity elsewhere that would otherwise be lost, or by enhancing Given growing recognition of the importance of biodiversity at an alternate location. biodiversity, all sectors are looking for ways to Several countries currently implement offset mitigate the environmental costs of law and policy with different levels of development activity. Biodiversity offsetting regulation and varying success. refers to market-based schemes designed to compensate for losses of biodiversity due to Offsets aim to achieve ‘no net loss’ or a ‘net development projects. This POSTnote gain’ of biodiversity. summarises biodiversity offsetting and Offsetting remains largely undervalued, examines opportunities and risks of offsets especially with regard to undervalued or as within a UK context. yet unknown biodiversity. recognised, this strategy has proved unable to stop the Biodiversity persistent and widespread loss and degradation of Biodiversity is the genetic diversity within species, species biodiversity in almost all regions. Participants to the recent diversity within ecosystems, and ecosystem diversity across intergovernmental meeting of the 193 parties at the landscapes. It supports ecosystem -
Economics and the Ecosystem 19 March 2019
sanity, humanity and science probably the world's most read economics journal real-world economics review Please click here to support this journal and the WEA - Subscribers: 26,210 subscribe RWER Blog ISSN 1755-9472 - A journal of the World Economics Association (WEA) 14,432 members, join back issues Issue no. 87: Economics and the Ecosystem 19 March 2019 Introduction: Economics and civilization in ecological crisis 2 Jamie Morgan and Edward Fullbrook Growthism: its ecological, economic and ethical limits 9 Herman Daly Producing ecological economy 23 Katharine N. Farrell Economics 101: Dog barking, overgrazing and ecological collapse 33 Edward Fullbrook Addressing meta-externalities: investments in restoring the Earth 36 Neva Goodwin Degrowth: a theory of radical abundance 54 Jason Hickel Environmental financialization: what could go wrong? 69 Eric Kemp-Benedict and Sivan Kartha Elements of a political economy of the postgrowth era 90 Max Koch Victim of success: civilisation is at risk 106 Peter McManners Economism and the Econocene: a coevolutionary interpretation 114 Richard B. Norgaard End game: the economy as eco-catastrophe and what needs to change 132 William E. Rees An ecosocialist path to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C 149 Richard Smith Toward sustainable development: democracy-oriented economics 181 Peter Söderbaum Like blending chalk and cheese – the impact of standard economics in IPCC scenarios 196 Joachim H. Spangenberg and Lia Polotzek Of ecosystems and economies: re-connecting economics with reality 213 Clive L. Spash and Tone Smith How to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals within planetary boundaries by 2050 231 Per Espen Stoknes The simpler way: envisioning a sustainable society in an age of limits 247 Ted Trainer and Samuel Alexander Board of Editors, past contributors, submissions, etc. -
Ecology, Ecosystems, and Plant Populations
Chapter 26 Ecology, Ecosystems, and Plant Populations LIFE HISTORY PATTERNS Life Spans Are Annual, Biennial, or Perennial Reproduction Can Be Semelparous or Iteroparous Sexual Identity Is Not Always Fixed Life History Patterns Range from r to K PLANT DEMOGRAPHY: POPULATION AGE STRUCTURE OVER TIME POPULATION INTERACTIONS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT Water and Soil Are Important Environmental Factors Solar Radiation Is Another Environmental Factor Fire Can Be a Natural Part of the Environment Each Population Is Ecologically and Genetically Unique INTERACTIONS AMONG NEIGHBORING POPULATIONS Competition Creates Stress by Reducing the Amount of a Commonly Required Resource Amensalism Creates Stress by Adding Something to the Environment Herbivory Is the Consumption of Plant Biomass by Animals Mutualism Increases the Success of Both Populations SUMMARY ECOSYSTEMS AND BIOMASS PYRAMIDS THE POPULATION: THE BASIC ECOLOGICAL PLANTS, PEOPLE, AND THE UNIT ENVIRONMENT: The Natural Fire Cycle in the Southeastern Pine Savanna 1 KEY CONCEPTS 1. Each organism has one of three roles in any ecosystem: producer, consumer, or decomposer. (a) Producers are green plants or protists that manufacture their own carbohydrate food from inorganic water and carbon dioxide. (b) Consumers are animals, pathogens, or parasites that obtain food by ingesting other organisms. (c) Decomposers are nongreen protists or prokaryotes that digest dead organic remains of producers and consumers. 2. Only about 1% of the solar radiation that reaches vegetation is absorbed and converted into metabolic energy, which can be measured as the caloric content of tissue. The transfer of metabolic energy by herbivores from plant tissue consumed to herbivore tissue is incomplete; only about 10% of available plant tissue is browsed and the rest remains uneaten. -
Metrics and Equivalence in Conservation Banking
land Article Metrics and Equivalence in Conservation Banking Marie Grimm Technische Universität Berlin, Environmental Assessment and Planning Research Group, EB 5, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany; [email protected]; Tel.: +49-(0)30-314-27388 Abstract: Offsets are increasingly used to compensate for unavoidable development impacts on species and habitats. Many offset programs pursue no net loss, but research on the success of these programs is lacking, including research on conservation banking’s success in conserving protected species under the US Endangered Species Act. This article provides a case study analysis of two conservation banks in the state of California, comparing the conservation gains provided by banks with the losses from development impacts. It provides an analysis of credits and metrics to determine whether the gains are equal to the losses in terms of type, condition, and amount. Results do show that the gains exceed the losses in terms of acreage. However, the program uses indirect metrics (acreage), and the equivalence of the losses and gains, besides habitat type and size, is not reflected. Banks provide a baseline in their documentation and conduct monitoring of species abundance and habitat quality, but they do not use it to measure additional conservation gains. More detailed metrics and transparent indices to certify the acres in production could allow for a quantification of conservation benefits and an evaluation of program success. However, selecting standardized metrics is challenging because they need to be species-specific to reflect the goal of species recovery, and still be operational in practice. Keywords: conservation banking; biodiversity offsets; Endangered Species Act; habitat banking; species conservation; metrics; equivalence; habitat quantification tools; effectiveness Citation: Grimm, M. -
Biodiversity Management 8 2.5 Key Biodiversity Threats and Opportunities 9
LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY BIODIVERSITY MANA GEMENT LEADING PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR THE MINING INDUSTRY BIODIVERSITY MANA FEBR U GEMENT AR Y 2 00 7 Disclaimer Leading Practice Sustainable Development Program for the Mining Industry This publication has been developed by a Working Group of experts, industry, and government and non-government representatives. The effort of the members of the Working Group is gratefully acknowledged. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Commonwealth Government or the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the contents of this publication are factually correct, the Commonwealth does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the contents of this publication. Users of this handbook should bear in mind that it is intended as a general reference and is not intended to replace the need for professional advice relevant to the particular circumstances of individual users. Reference to companies or products in this handbook should not be taken as Commonwealth Government endorsement of those companies or their products. Cover image: Ely Creek, Cape York, QLD, Ross Smith. © Commonwealth of Australia 2007 ISBN 0 642 72506 3 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.