New paper published: Better approaches to biodiversity offsets

The Agile Sprint How do we account for biodiversity? has recently published a new paper in One Earth (Elsevier). The paper “Biodiversity offsets perform poorly for both people and nature, but better approaches are available” identifies and assesses a variety of alternative approaches to implementing BNG offsets, including options for producing better biodiversity and for improving access outcomes at no greater cost. It argues that current approaches to biodiversity net gain (BNG) should take into consideration the wildlife benefits of areas where BNG could be much greater.

The research is a collaboration between the Universities of Exeter, Southampton, Oxford and Trenton (Italy), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The authors include E.J. Milner-Gulland, Joseph Bull and Sophus zu Ermgassen, Oxford-based members of the How do we account for biodiversity? Sprint team. Sprint research showed that the Biodiversity Metric needed to change to better reflect invertebrate diversity or abundance; that BNG should be integrated with access to nature; and that current BNG offsetting practises were insufficient.

The Sprint team were highly commended in the Vice-Chancellor’s Award in Research Engagement, and Sophus zu Ermgassen won NERC’s Early Career Impact Award for his work on biodiversity net gain. Sophus is now leading on the Sprint, How can the UK implement the Global Biodiversity Framework’s finance goals?

To read the paper in full, view it on Science Direct.