NZAIA: Biodiversity Offsets

Presenter: Gary Bramley10 December 2012

Application of Biodiversity Offsets in New Zealand

• Background to offsets

• How offsets are quantified

• Mt William North Mining Project as a case study

What are biodiversity offsets?“Measurable conservation outcomes resulting from actions designed to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from project development after appropriate prevention and mitigation measures have been taken.”

Why offset?

• Recognition that most accessible resources have been used

• Societal pressure to protect biodiversity• Attempt to address “tension” between

development and conservation

Where did offsets come from?• International Business and Biodiversity

Offset Programme (BBOP)• New Zealand CDRP on Biodiversity

Offsets (NZBOP)• 45 ‘compensatory mitigation’

programmes worldwide• Another 27 programs in development or

investigation

Where did offsets come from? (cont).

• Numerous individual offset sites, over 1,100 biodiversity banks

• Global annual market size at least US$ 2.4 – 4.0 billion (likely to be more, 80% of programs not transparent enough to estimate size)

What is driving offsets?

• Legal requirements: US, Brazil, Australia. Laws enabling offsets (e.g. EIA/planning law)

• Loan requirements• The business case for voluntary offsets• Much of discussion in NZ by technical

specialists

What is the business case for offsets?

• Corporate commitments to retaining social license to operate and/or competitive advantage

• May facilitate operations (permits etc.)• Contributes positively to stakeholder

and employee relationships

When might offsets apply?• Laws require offsets in some countries• Usually larger scale projects in NZ

(because of complexity), but theoretically any project concerned about biodiversity

• After “mitigation hierarchy” has been applied and there are still residual effects on biodiversity

Offsets in New Zealand• Voluntary at the moment• NPS on biodiversity • Green Growth Advisory Group

recommended NZ government adopt a nationally consistent offsetting regime that will facilitate projects for economic growth and at the same time deliver gains to indigenous biodiversity

Principles of offsets• Adherence to the mitigation hierarchy• Limits to what can be offset• Landscape Context• No net loss• Additional conservation outcomes• Stakeholder participation• Equity

Principles of offsets cont.

• Long-term outcomes• Transparency• Science and traditional knowledge

Explicit

calculation of loss

and gain Account

for uncertainty

and risk

Consider social and

cultural values

Ensure that gains

are additional

Take account of the wider landscape

Limits to what can be offset

The mitigation hierarchy

Like for like exchange of losses and

gains

No net loss of

biodiversity

Three Essential Parts to Calculation

1. The choice of what to count and measure to describe the biodiversity

2.The choice of a currency for quantifying biodiversity exchanges

3.The choice of an accounting model to define the size and specification of the offset site

What to count

• Depends on what the values are at the development site

• Attempt to capture rare species, threatened species, indicator species, keystone species, important habitats

• Need to know area and number of individuals affected

Possible Currencies• Area• Iconic species (e.g. number of kiwi)• Habitat hectares• Condition hectares• Progress towards national goals

Ideal Currency

Direct, disaggregated, context dependent, and captures “what we care about”

Choice of Model

• Simplify to a few variables without losing anything important

• Approach has tended to be mechanistic in New Zealand

Accounting Model

• Largely based on predictions• Consider equity across time and space• Consider uncertainty• Avoid hidden trade offs

Equity, Risk and Uncertainty

• “Borrowing” biodiversity from future • Biological uncertainty• Financial uncertainty• Legislative uncertainty

Types of Offset

• Averted Risk

• Condition/Area

• Provision of new habitat (achievable?)

Method

• Identify boundaries• Map the vegetation and identify fauna• Identify the “key attributes”• Set a benchmark(s) for the site and

compare site with the benchmark to estimate quality

Choose an Offset Site

• Predict the future ecosystem values based on management of key attributes (how close to benchmark can you get?)

• Compare losses with gains to identify where no net loss can best be achieved

• Next step is to develop a package of measures that will produce no net loss for key attributes

What the model does

• Calculate the impact for each attribute in each habitat at development site

• Calculate the expected gain from restoration, natural regeneration and management in each habitat at the offset site(s)

• Calculate the difference

What does NNL mean?No net loss of what?• “What people care about”

(composition, structure, function at all levels of biological organization)

• Identified as key attributes/components which are measured prior to the project (relies on expert judgment – what goes into the model)

• Scale and landscape are important

Like for like (or better)

• Also known as “in kind” offsets• Intended to prevent trade offs of rare

things for common things• In terms of ecological features and

conservation priority• Compositional, structural, functional,

cultural and social

Key Points

• Offsets are a structured and transparent way to plan mitigation

• Model does not provide a precise or exact measure of the biodiversity offset but indicates the magnitude of the likely outcome (don’t focus on the numbers)

• Monitoring and adaptive management crucial

Mt William North Mining Area

• Stockton Plateau north of Westport, Buller District

• 137 ha open cast coal mine (243 ha affected, 294 ha limit). Some previously mined.

• Coal Measures vegetation and sandstone erosion pavement

Important Biodiversity

• Coal measures vegetation• Coal measures tussock• Dracophyllum densum, M. parkinsonii• Bryophytes• Great spotted kiwi• Land snail (Powelliphanta patrickensis)• Lizards• Tarns and sandstone pavement

Mitigation Hierarchy• Avoidance – hard because of location

of resource • Alternative haul road removed• Minimise footprint, sequential strip

mining• VDT and planting• Pest control• Translocation of some fauna

Minimisation

• High quality rehabilitation• Planting of C. juncea, M. parkinsonii

and D. densum• VDT for bryophytes and other plants• Transfer of snails• Recreate at least 0.2 ha of tarns• Rock features and pavements

Calculating the offset

• Modified habitat hectares approach.• 4 habitats (forest, shrubland, wire rush

and open rocky habitats).• 8 key attributes (vary with habitat)• Rehabilitation discounted to almost no

value

Conclusions

• Essentially biodiversity offsetting is a more rigorous way to consider biodiversity

• Offsetting is a developing field• Offsets are gaining traction

internationally and locally• Involves stakeholders earlier (and more

comprehensively)

Conclusions (cont.)• RMA process still requires consideration

of overall effects, so not a guarantee that consent will be granted

• NPS on biodiversity incorporates 7 of the 10 principles

• Monitoring and adaptive management are critical

Conclusions (cont)

• Offsets are complex, probably only worth it for large projects (but will likely change)

• Offsets are a long term commitment• Offsets have the potential to contribute

to “halting the decline” of biodiversity

Thank you

gary.bramley@mitchellpartnerships.co.nz