A Report on Biodiversity Offsetting
Nice to see another PhD in the biodiversity offsets field – with more analyses such as this we will be able to have a better informed discussion! Many thanks Carlos!
As the PhD is still “fresh” and under “investigation” it is not yet publicly available. But instead, you may want to have a look the executive summary (Ferreira_2014_Biodiversity Offset Markets).
Spoiler alert: Carlos agreed to write a guest post on his PhD and findings soon here on the Biodiversity Offsets Blog! We are looking forward to that.
“Biodiversity offset markets: current challenges and prospective developments”
I have recently completed my PhD on biodiversity offsets, and produced a summary of findings. If you’d like to know a little more about what biodiversity offsets are, and what they are being used for throughout the world – as well as some of the most important debates about it, you can find the report here. It’s titled Biodiversity offset markets: current challenges and prospective developments: PhD thesis – executive summary.
Nice work Carlos, i am from South Africa and have been dealing with a couple of projects(mining) that require offsetting. I even decided to do my Masters Dissertation on the subject matter with emphasis on South Africa, if we slowly can address skepticism and improve baseline data as well the metrics applied, we would take this form of mitigation forward.
Thank you for posting your work Carlos. I also agree, biodiversity offsets are achievable, and I agree with you — the use of metrics/calculators will vary with the species/ecosystem etc. Megan Evans conducted a workshop at the Australian National University in January of this year at which we looked at different perspectives to offsetting. ie the business, legal and financial structure as well as we touched on the social and cultural aspects. Biodiversity offsets will continue to mature and I applaud the great work that is being presented here and a special thank you to Marianne for organising this great resource.
Alan and Carlos, definitely, Carlos is exploring an interesting aspect of biodiversity offsets. Personally, I am very much looking forward to your insights on why there is such a huge anti-lobby for (against) biodiversity offsets and how this relates to consumer preferences (i.e. is there a way in shaping this positively — for good outcomes and good communication?!).
For your interest, the full text of Carlos’ PhD is now available here: https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/uk-ac-man-scw:215514 (I will soon also prepare a short post to announce this). And you may also want to have a look at a recent guest post by Carlos: http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/compensation-for-biodiversity-losses-can-varied-approaches-deliver-a-comment-by-carlos-ferreira/ (however, I am sure, Alan, you have already read this ;o))
And for anyone who is interested in more information on the workshop Alan has mentioned, here’s a workshop report by Megan: http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/the-legal-and-institutional-dimensions-of-biodiversity-offsetting-a-workshop-report-by-megan-evans/
And finally, Alan, thanks again for your always very kind words and support — with more committed and thoughtful people like you we can make this platform even more valuable for even more people!