What’s it about in short: infor­ma­tion on marine bio­di­ver­sity off­sets (via a related sym­po­sium and BBOP webinar)

When was it released: August 18, 2016

By whom: Nicki Shumway

More info: Pre­sen­ta­tion by Nicole Shumway, http://brisbane2016.scboceania.org/sessions/confronting-threats-to-marine-ecosystems-through-the-use-of-biodiversity-offsets/

Short extract:

Bio­di­ver­sity off­sets are increas­ingly being used as a mech­a­nism to mit­i­gate impacts from eco­nomic expan­sion and devel­op­ment on species and ecosys­tems. Cur­rent off­set research and pol­icy are pri­mar­ily focused on ter­res­trial ecosys­tems while marine off­set devel­op­ment has lagged behind, despite a global increase in marine devel­op­ment and exploita­tion. Address­ing this gap is cru­cial to pro­vid­ing bet­ter out­comes for marine species. The sym­po­sium addressed the fol­low­ing key issues:

• Devel­op­ment of novel and inno­v­a­tive marine off­set actions and explore strate­gies that will best ben­e­fit peo­ple and biodiversity;
• Assess­ing cur­rent off­set strate­gies in the marine environment;
• Chal­lenges for iden­ti­fy­ing mit­i­ga­tion strate­gies and set­ting the research agenda;
• Pol­icy issues related to gov­er­nance and implementation;
• Case stud­ies of marine bio­di­ver­sity off­sets in con­ser­va­tion planning;
• Dis­cus­sion: what are the next steps forward?