ABSTRACT

Biodiversity offsets are a mechanism for allowing economic development to proceed while ensuring that this is not to the detriment of environmental and social values. In order to achieve this, biodiversity offsets need to include environmental, social and economic aspects in an equitable and effective way. Australian legislation and policy relating to biodiversity offsets was reviewed and rated according to the level of equity and effectiveness, in terms of transparency, measurability and enforceability, to achieve outcomes. In all jurisdictions, gaps were found in the transparency, measurability and enforceability of offset regulations. In particular, the Commonwealth, having the overarching responsibility for the protection of biodiversity, was found to be lacking in the ability to fill these gaps. These gaps could result in a loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function and services, as well as having economic repercussions for communities and developers. It also raises questions as to whether Australia is meeting its obligation as a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity and its ability to meet the corresponding Aichi Targets (and the subsequent Global Biodiversity Framework).

摘要

生物多样性补偿是一种允许经济发展同时确保这不会损害环境和社会价值的机制。为了实现这一目标，生物多样性补偿需要以公平和有效的方式包括环境、社会和经济方面。根据透明度、可衡量性和可执行性方面的公平性和有效性水平，对澳大利亚与生物多样性补偿相关的立法和政策进行了审查和评级，以取得成果。在所有司法管辖区，抵消法规的透明度、可衡量性和可执行性都存在差距。特别是，对保护生物多样性负有首要责任的英联邦被发现缺乏填补这些空白的能力。这些差距可能导致生物多样性和生态系统功能和服务的丧失，并对社区和开发商产生经济影响。它还提出了一个问题，即澳大利亚是否正在履行其作为《生物多样性公约》签署国的义务及其实现相应爱知目标（以及随后的全球生物多样性框架）的能力。