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NZAIA: Biodiversity Offsets
Presenter: Gary Bramley10 December 2012
Application of Biodiversity Offsets in New Zealand
• Background to offsets
• How offsets are quantified
• Mt William North Mining Project as a case study
What are biodiversity offsets?“Measurable conservation outcomes resulting from actions designed to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken.”
Why offset?
• Recognition that most accessible resources have been used
• Societal pressure to protect biodiversity• Attempt to address “tension” between
development and conservation
Where did offsets come from?• International Business and Biodiversity
Offset Programme (BBOP)• New Zealand CDRP on Biodiversity
Offsets (NZBOP)• 45 ‘compensatory mitigation’
programmes worldwide• Another 27 programs in development or
investigation
Where did offsets come from? (cont).
• Numerous individual offset sites, over 1,100 biodiversity banks
• Global annual market size at least US$ 2.4 – 4.0 billion (likely to be more, 80% of programs not transparent enough to estimate size)
What is driving offsets?
• Legal requirements: US, Brazil, Australia. Laws enabling offsets (e.g. EIA/planning law)
• Loan requirements• The business case for voluntary offsets• Much of discussion in NZ by technical
specialists
What is the business case for offsets?
• Corporate commitments to retaining social license to operate and/or competitive advantage
• May facilitate operations (permits etc.)• Contributes positively to stakeholder
and employee relationships
When might offsets apply?• Laws require offsets in some countries• Usually larger scale projects in NZ
(because of complexity), but theoretically any project concerned about biodiversity
• After “mitigation hierarchy” has been applied and there are still residual effects on biodiversity
Offsets in New Zealand• Voluntary at the moment• NPS on biodiversity • Green Growth Advisory Group
recommended NZ government adopt a nationally consistent offsetting regime that will facilitate projects for economic growth and at the same time deliver gains to indigenous biodiversity
Principles of offsets• Adherence to the mitigation hierarchy• Limits to what can be offset• Landscape Context• No net loss• Additional conservation outcomes• Stakeholder participation• Equity
Principles of offsets cont.
• Long-term outcomes• Transparency• Science and traditional knowledge
Explicit
calculation of loss
and gain Account
for uncertainty
and risk
Consider social and
cultural values
Ensure that gains
are additional
Take account of the wider landscape
Limits to what can be offset
The mitigation hierarchy
Like for like exchange of losses and
gains
No net loss of
biodiversity
Three Essential Parts to Calculation
1. The choice of what to count and measure to describe the biodiversity
2.The choice of a currency for quantifying biodiversity exchanges
3.The choice of an accounting model to define the size and specification of the offset site
What to count
• Depends on what the values are at the development site
• Attempt to capture rare species, threatened species, indicator species, keystone species, important habitats
• Need to know area and number of individuals affected
Possible Currencies• Area• Iconic species (e.g. number of kiwi)• Habitat hectares• Condition hectares• Progress towards national goals
Ideal Currency
Direct, disaggregated, context dependent, and captures “what we care about”
Choice of Model
• Simplify to a few variables without losing anything important
• Approach has tended to be mechanistic in New Zealand
Accounting Model
• Largely based on predictions• Consider equity across time and space• Consider uncertainty• Avoid hidden trade offs
Equity, Risk and Uncertainty
• “Borrowing” biodiversity from future • Biological uncertainty• Financial uncertainty• Legislative uncertainty
Types of Offset
• Averted Risk
• Condition/Area
• Provision of new habitat (achievable?)
Method
• Identify boundaries• Map the vegetation and identify fauna• Identify the “key attributes”• Set a benchmark(s) for the site and
compare site with the benchmark to estimate quality
Choose an Offset Site
• Predict the future ecosystem values based on management of key attributes (how close to benchmark can you get?)
• Compare losses with gains to identify where no net loss can best be achieved
• Next step is to develop a package of measures that will produce no net loss for key attributes
What the model does
• Calculate the impact for each attribute in each habitat at development site
• Calculate the expected gain from restoration, natural regeneration and management in each habitat at the offset site(s)
• Calculate the difference
What does NNL mean?No net loss of what?• “What people care about”
(composition, structure, function at all levels of biological organization)
• Identified as key attributes/components which are measured prior to the project (relies on expert judgment – what goes into the model)
• Scale and landscape are important
Like for like (or better)
• Also known as “in kind” offsets• Intended to prevent trade offs of rare
things for common things• In terms of ecological features and
conservation priority• Compositional, structural, functional,
cultural and social
Key Points
• Offsets are a structured and transparent way to plan mitigation
• Model does not provide a precise or exact measure of the biodiversity offset but indicates the magnitude of the likely outcome (don’t focus on the numbers)
• Monitoring and adaptive management crucial
Mt William North Mining Area
• Stockton Plateau north of Westport, Buller District
• 137 ha open cast coal mine (243 ha affected, 294 ha limit). Some previously mined.
• Coal Measures vegetation and sandstone erosion pavement
Important Biodiversity
• Coal measures vegetation• Coal measures tussock• Dracophyllum densum, M. parkinsonii• Bryophytes• Great spotted kiwi• Land snail (Powelliphanta patrickensis)• Lizards• Tarns and sandstone pavement
Mitigation Hierarchy• Avoidance – hard because of location
of resource • Alternative haul road removed• Minimise footprint, sequential strip
mining• VDT and planting• Pest control• Translocation of some fauna
Minimisation
• High quality rehabilitation• Planting of C. juncea, M. parkinsonii
and D. densum• VDT for bryophytes and other plants• Transfer of snails• Recreate at least 0.2 ha of tarns• Rock features and pavements
Calculating the offset
• Modified habitat hectares approach.• 4 habitats (forest, shrubland, wire rush
and open rocky habitats).• 8 key attributes (vary with habitat)• Rehabilitation discounted to almost no
value
Conclusions
• Essentially biodiversity offsetting is a more rigorous way to consider biodiversity
• Offsetting is a developing field• Offsets are gaining traction
internationally and locally• Involves stakeholders earlier (and more
comprehensively)
Conclusions (cont.)• RMA process still requires consideration
of overall effects, so not a guarantee that consent will be granted
• NPS on biodiversity incorporates 7 of the 10 principles
• Monitoring and adaptive management are critical
Conclusions (cont)
• Offsets are complex, probably only worth it for large projects (but will likely change)
• Offsets are a long term commitment• Offsets have the potential to contribute
to “halting the decline” of biodiversity
