TY - JOUR

T1 - Net Gain: Seeking better outcomes for local people when mitigating biodiversity loss from development

AU - Jones, Julia P.G.

AU - Bull, Joseph W.

AU - Roe, Dilys

AU - Baker, Julia

AU - Griffiths, Victoria F.

AU - Starkey, Malcolm

AU - Sonter, Laura J.

AU - Milner-Gulland, EJ

N1 - We acknowledge funding from an ESRC Impact Accelerator Award to Bangor University and the United Kingdom Government's Darwin Initiative 's funding to project 23-019. We benefited from valuable input from the SNAPP (Science for Nature and People Partnership) working group on compensatory conservation, the COMBO Project: COnservation, impact Mitigation and Biodiversity Offsets in Africa, IUCN's business and biodiversity team, the Social Practice Forum, and the Business and Biodiversity Offset Partnership.

PY - 2019/10/25

Y1 - 2019/10/25

N2 - Economic development projects are increasingly applying the mitigation hierarchy to achieve No Net Loss, or even a Net Gain, of biodiversity. Because people value biodiversity and ecosystem services, this can affect the wellbeing of local people, however these types of social impacts from development receive limited consideration. We present ethical, practical and regulatory reasons why development projects applying the mitigation hierarchy should consider related social impacts. We highlight risks to local wellbeing where projects restrict access to biodiversity and ecosystem services in biodiversity offsets. We then present a framework laying out challenges and associated opportunities for delivering better biodiversity and local wellbeing outcomes. Greater coordination between social and biodiversity experts, and early and effective integration of local people in the process, will ensure that efforts to reduce the negative impacts of development on biodiversity can contribute to, rather than detract from, local people’s wellbeing.

AB - Economic development projects are increasingly applying the mitigation hierarchy to achieve No Net Loss, or even a Net Gain, of biodiversity. Because people value biodiversity and ecosystem services, this can affect the wellbeing of local people, however these types of social impacts from development receive limited consideration. We present ethical, practical and regulatory reasons why development projects applying the mitigation hierarchy should consider related social impacts. We highlight risks to local wellbeing where projects restrict access to biodiversity and ecosystem services in biodiversity offsets. We then present a framework laying out challenges and associated opportunities for delivering better biodiversity and local wellbeing outcomes. Greater coordination between social and biodiversity experts, and early and effective integration of local people in the process, will ensure that efforts to reduce the negative impacts of development on biodiversity can contribute to, rather than detract from, local people’s wellbeing.

U2 - 10.1016/j.oneear.2019.09.007

DO - 10.1016/j.oneear.2019.09.007

M3 - Article

VL - 1

SP - 195

EP - 201

JO - One Earth

JF - One Earth

IS - 2

ER -