Abstract:

Backgrounds & Aims: With the surging pressure on biodiversity conservation and the proposal of no net loss (NNL), biodiversity offsetting (BO) as the final step of the mitigation hierarchy, has been rapidly implemented in Europe and America, becoming a way to address the economic pressure of biodiversity conservation, insufficient social participation, and the contradiction between land development and the encroachment on ecological land. 

Review & Results: This paper reviewed the current research status in China and abroad and the overview of foreign BO projects, analyzed the gap in research and practice in China, distinguished the connotations of related concepts, and clarified the implementation paths of the projects. By summarizing the key issues and strategies in four aspects, namely, quantification of BO accounting abroad, enhancement of add-ons, improvement of mandatory frameworks, and guarantee of long-term nature, it provided theoretical basis and practical experience for BO in China. 

Suggestions: Three suggestions are put forward: clarifying the status and implementation path of BO, promoting the implementation of BO, and strengthening the research on the optimization of BO efficiency, with the aim of further improving China’s biodiversity conservation system and constructing a highly adaptable BO framework.

Key words: biodiversity offsetting, mitigation hierarchy, accounting quantification, biodiversity conservation, no net loss