Sustainability 2015, 7, 7357-7378; doi:10.3390/su7067357 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Article The Biodiversity Offsetting Dilemma: Between Economic Rationales and Ecological Dynamics Coralie Calvet 1,2,*, Claude Napoléone 2 and Jean-Michel Salles 3 1 Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, UMR CNRS IRD 7263/237 IMBE, Site Agroparc, BP 61207, 84911 Avignon, Cedex 09, France 2 INRA, UR0767 Ecodeveloppement, Site Agroparc, Domaine St Paul, CS 40509, 84914 Avignon, Cedex 09, France; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 CNRS, UMR5474 LAMETA, Campus SupAgro, 2 place Pierre Viala, 34060 Montpellier Cedex 2, France; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +33-687-035-497. Academic Editors: Géraldine Froger and Olivier Petit Received: 27 February 2015 / Accepted: 28 May 2015 / Published: 9 June 2015 Abstract: Although many countries have included biodiversity offsetting (BO) requirements in their environmental regulations over the past four decades, this mechanism has recently been the object of renewed political interest. Incorporated into the mitigation hierarchy in three steps aimed at avoiding, reducing and offsetting residual impacts on biodiversity arising from development projects, BO is promoted as the way to achieve the political goal of No Net Loss of biodiversity (NNL). The recent success of BO is mainly based on its ability to provide economic incentives for biodiversity conservation. However, the diversity of BO mechanisms (direct offsets, banking mechanism and offsetting funds) and the various institutional frameworks within which they are applied generate substantial confusion about their economic and ecological implications.