as a dedicated biodiversity offsets policy improved the environmental and social compensation outcomes of development in Australia?
Publication Details
Abdo, L.,
Kemp, A.,
Griffin, S.,
&
Coupland, G.
(2024).
as a dedicated biodiversity offsets policy improved the environmental and social compensation outcomes of development in Australia?.
Environment, Development and Sustainability,.
Abstract
Biodiversity offsets are used worldwide to provide environmental compensation for the impacts of development and to meet the goals of sustainable development. Australia has embraced the use of ofsets and its ofset methodologies have been used as models by other jurisdictions. However, the maturity of ofset requirements in Australia is unknown. To understand this, development referrals submitted under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Commonwealth) between October 2011 and September 2017 were reviewed to determine if ofset requirements in Australia were improving in complexity, transparency and/or environmental outcomes (termed maturity) over time. Despite the implementation of dedicated policy in Australia in 2012, our analysis showed that offset requirements were not on a trajectory towards improvement (maturity) over the 6-year period examined. There was no evidence to suggest the type of offsets required and compensation for impacts to specific species and habitats increased in complexity over time. The level of detail included for offset requirements, mandatory commencement dates and requirements for ecological outcomes similarly did not increase over time. Consequently, dedicated legislation for ofsets is recommended to remedy these omissions and enable efective functionality for biodiversity ofsets through the protection of the environment and conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem function and ecosystem services.
Keywords
offset, biodiversity, sustainable development, environmental policy, environmental management, sustainable development goals
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