Comments on: New Poll: Do you think it is pos­si­ble to mea­sure the suc­cess of bio­di­ver­sity offsets? http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/ A Platform for Information and Exchange on Biodiversity Offsets and the Mitigation Hierarchy by Marianne Darbi Tue, 02 May 2017 16:49:45 +0000 hourly 1 By: Marianne Darbi http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-8561 Fri, 11 Sep 2015 10:33:59 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-8561 David, Thanks for sharing your insights. I’d be very interested in your Powerpoint Slides and probably many other people are. Please do send me the slides to m.darbi[at]ioer.de. Maybe this would also make a great post for the Biodiversity Offsets Blog — what do you think?

]]> By: David Polster http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-8531 Wed, 09 Sep 2015 20:47:06 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-8531 I think it is best to provide a restored condition that is so much more than the degraded condition that it is obvious that there has been a benefit. I would be happy to share PowerPoint segments that illustrate this point for folks who are interested. Send me an e-mail at the above e-mail and I can send you the segments.

]]> By: Peter Doyle http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-8350 Wed, 02 Sep 2015 09:29:36 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-8350 On a purely personal note — I’ve always thought nature worth valuing purely for its own sake and resist attempts to value this in monetary terms aka ecosystems approach etc. I recognise, however that our policy makers, governments and politicans have generally adopted and advocate this ‘modern’ approach so as to justify both policy and public expenditure !

That said, biodiversity offsets are likely to remain an important tool for the future but will need monitoring to ensure that any attempt to make do with a minimalistic approach. In the UK, I would profer the opinion that developers and planners mostly work to a ‘minimalistic’ standard.

]]> By: Marianne Darbi http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-7109 Tue, 23 Jun 2015 11:56:57 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-7109 very true, Andy! So would you call for a global No Net Loss target/scheme? It would most likely be very idealistic to have an overarching worldwide compensation requirement so that the shift from one location to another (because the demand stays the same as you have pointed out) does not occur. Or don’t you think that is ever possible?
Obviously, we need to reduce the demand and thus change our behaviour…

]]> By: Andy Whitman http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-7089 Mon, 22 Jun 2015 16:06:48 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-7089 The largest challenges have to do with baseline and leakage. We are on a trajectory of ever deceasing baselines. Even if you maintain or increase biodiversity on one site, typically project impacts are simply occur somewhere else. There is a similar problem with forest carbon offsets in managed forests. Even if you reduce the timber harvest levels in location A, global demand will often result in increased timber harvest elsewhere to compensate for reductions at location A.

]]> By: Marianne Darbi http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-6471 Tue, 24 Mar 2015 14:19:30 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-6471 Of course, Andrew, success is obviously shaped by the objectives that you set in the very beginning, i.e. whether you set low level or high level targets will give a different evaluation of success (even though the actual outcome on the ground may be the same)

]]> By: Martin Andrew http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-6455 Sat, 21 Mar 2015 12:14:53 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-6455 Yes. This is a program evaluation question. How you assess success will depend to some extent on what the objective(s) of the offset is. But likely you would use a range of approaches — just as in any real world complex program evaluation.

]]> By: Marianne Darbi http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-6224 Tue, 03 Feb 2015 12:30:53 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-6224 Very true, Mark. Thanks. That’s why I framed the second question around the definition of success or in your words the different objectives that an action thrives for, in order to be called “successful”. However, as long as the objective is kind of very general and abstract (who can tell exactly what “no net loss” of an ecosystem means?!), all evaluations of success remain vague…

]]> By: alloporus http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/new-poll-think-pos%c2%adsi%c2%adble-mea%c2%adsure-suc%c2%adcess-bio%c2%addi%c2%adver%c2%adsity-offsets/#comment-6219 Tue, 03 Feb 2015 05:01:11 +0000 http://www.biodiversityoffsets.net/?p=1816#comment-6219 You can only measure success against a stated objective. Usually the problem is defining the objective not its measurement.

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