Developing a Framework for Biodiversity Credits that Create Effective Conservation Outcomes with the World Wildlife Fund
Abstract
As the devastating impact of the biodiversity crisis comes into clearer focus, there
has been heightened interest in alternative means of financing critical conservation
work, including how to engage on the growing momentum around “biodiversity credits.”
Through work with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), the report considers the
efficacy and suitability of biodiversity credits as an economic instrument to incentivize
investing in nature. The proposed financial mechanism outlined herein is designed
to channel payments directly to communities acting as nature stewards in exchange
for the achievement of positive, measurable conservation outcomes. The scope of this
study considers how WWF intends to define biodiversity credits, as well as what monitoring
techniques should be used to ensure credits are measurable and equitable, with the
intention of implementing the recommendations in a pilot project in the Maya Forest
of Mexico beginning in late 2023.
Ultimately, we determined that biodiversity credits can be a viable method of privately
financing conservation if they are equitable, transparent, measurable and comparable
across time and space. We recommend WWF pursue biodiversity credits, not biodiversity
offsets, and avoid including carbon stocks when measuring a Biodiversity Unit. Finally,
we found that a limited number of monitoring tools can be sufficient for ensuring
transparency and reliability in most cases.
Type
Master's projectDepartment
Nicholas School of the EnvironmentPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/27149Citation
Holbrook, Cheney Gardner (2023). Developing a Framework for Biodiversity Credits that Create Effective Conservation
Outcomes with the World Wildlife Fund. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/27149.Collections
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