Book Review
This book covers its subject in great detail, with copious referencing, showing the complex mix of motives, issues and regulations involved in its development to date, and the possible developments of regulation and their impacts in the future. Its four appendices cover 61 pages. Anyone contemplating entering this field would do well to study it.
The first, main part of the book describes the developments, motives, problems and solutions in the USA, arising from legislation from the 1970s on, aimed at preserving endangered species, and later, habitats. It then widens its coverage to other parts of the world, mainly Australia, comparing the developments and results.
In the final chapter – The Future of Biodiversity Offset Banking – the editors reiterate that “mitigation (or offsetting) should never be the first action taken when conserving biodiversity in a land development setting. Indeed, it should be the last step in a so-called ‘mitigation hierarchy’”. Nevertheless, they argue that it has considerable potential value, and should be developed. The ‘banks’ should cover large areas, and connect to ‘wildlife corridors’ where possible.
The problems arise from the relentless expansion of human activities into the natural environment, threatening the survival of ever more species. Conventional costings give the natural world no ‘economic value’, and the aim in creating ‘conservation and biodiversity banks’ is to provide a market mechanism to make ‘unimproved’ or undisturbed areas – or areas specially modified to support endangered species – financially rewarding for wildlife preservation. A concern is to ensure that the protection they offer should extend as far as possible into the indefinite future. This can be threatened in many ways, which are discussed in some detail.
As the editors write, ‘Species banking and biodiversity offsets may be the worst of all possible systems (and we hope this book will help make them better), but they are better than all the others, and they are certainly better than the alternative model that sees biodiversity as something that is virtually worthless’.