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NilsDroste

Nils Droste

Associate professor

NilsDroste

A global overview of biodiversity offsetting governance

Author

  • Nils Droste
  • Johanna Alkan Olsson
  • Helena Hanson
  • Åsa Knaggård
  • Guilherme Lima
  • Linda Lundmark
  • Terese Thoni
  • Fariborz Zelli

Summary, in English

We analyze the development of biodiversity offsetting governance through a research-weaving approach. Here, we combine information from a systematized review of the literature and a qualitative analysis of the institutional developments in different world regions. Through this triangulation, we synthesize and map the different developmental streams of biodiversity offsetting governance around the globe over the last four decades. We find that there is a global mainstreaming of core principles such as avoidance, no-net-loss, and a mitigation hierarchy, as well as pooling and trading of offsets for unavoidable residual damages. Furthermore, we can observe an ongoing diversification of institutional designs and actors involved. Together this constitutes an emerging regime complex of biodiversity offsetting governance that comes with both a set of shared norms and a growing institutional complexity. While this may imply institutional innovation through diversification and policy experimentation, it also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of offsetting practices.

Department/s

  • CIRCLE
  • Department of Political Science
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
  • Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)

Publishing year

2022-05-09

Language

English

Publication/Series

Journal of Environmental Management

Volume

316

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
  • Ecology

Keywords

  • Biodiversity offsetting
  • Comparative environmental politics
  • Conservation governance
  • Regime complex

Status

Published

Project

  • Biodiversity offsetting policies

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0301-4797