COP10: Could biodiversity offsets be the answer?

By Keith Bowers, President, Biohabitats

Can biodiversity offsets help fund conservation and restoration around the word? The Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program thinks so. The BBOP, a committee to the Convention on Biological Diversity, (http://www.cbd.int/) is preparing guidelines by which companies, on a voluntary basis, would compensate for biodiversity lost through development by investing in the protection and restoration of different areas. Not too unlike mitigation programs in the US.

The question is: will businesses go for it? Many international industries are on the committee, which can be both good and bad. While these companies can help set an example for the rest of the worlds’ industries to follow, you also have to wonder if the emerging guidelines have been compromised to a great degree. Granted, you need all of the stakeholders at the table, but time is running out for many species across our planet. What do you think?

Photos by Sasha Alexander, SER International.