Can Biodiversity Banking Go Global?

Nathaniel Carroll on July 30, 2009 Comment

That was the central question of a workshop held late last month by Forest Trends' Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program. The workshop brought together nearly 70 participants from around the world to explore the viability of banking and aggregating biodiversity offsets in varying political, legal and economic circumstances.

The scene was set with presentations introducing the basic principles, features, benefits, risks, and necessary conditions of offset banking. Followed by private and public sector practitioners from the United States and Australia who spoke about best practices and lessons learned in their countries. And finally, topped off by a panel discussion exploring experiences outside of the US and Australia, included panelists from Ghana, South Africa, Peru, Brazil, and Germany.

While a definitive answer to the question of "going global" was not necessarily achievable in a day, there did seem to be consensus that biodiversity banking and aggregation held promise in both developed and developing countries and adapting the tool to local contexts should be encouraged and incubated.

For more on this meeting and links to presentations follow the link below:
http://bbop.forest-trends.org/ln_meetings.php