Written by Justina Ray, Executive Director and Chief Scientist, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada

1. Justina C. Ray, Ph.D.
Executive Director & Senior Scientist
Wildlife Conservation Society Canada

2. Biodiversity: the variability among living
organisms within species, between species,
and between ecosystems (CBD 1992)

4. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005): 15 of the 24 ecosystem
services evaluated have degraded over the past half century

5. Biodiversity is integral to many of the highranking problems on the public radar screen

7. 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

9.  Conventional
 Justification
 Applicable
Mitigation
for a bad development project
in all circumstances
 Comprehensive
A
Panacea
environmental protection

10. Minimise =
reduce harm
Mitigate =
alleviate residual
harm
Offset =
compensate for
residual, unavoidable
harm.

12.  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

13. 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

15. BBOP 2012

16. Pilgrim et al. 2013

17. BBOP 2012

18.  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

21. World Resources Institute

22. Intact Forest Landscapes
© Global Forest Watch Canada

23. Pulp and Paper Tenures
© Global Forest Watch Canada

24. All Logging Tenures
© Global Forest Watch Canada

25. Tenures + Roads + Oil & Gas
© Global Forest Watch Canada

26. 20077
20107
Since the discovery in 2007 of world-class chromite-nickel-coppergold deposits, there are currently at least 35 mineral exploration and
mining companies with active claims in the Ring of Fire.

29. Unuk River
M. Fay

30. M. Fay

32. 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.

36. 
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.