Biodiversity offsets: Protecting nature while fostering future development

Anyone who’s watched a David Attenborough nature documentary will quickly appreciate that the beauty of nature goes hand in hand with its variety. And it’s that natural variety – or biodiversity – which is being lost at an alarming rate. The scale of this problem requires new, innovative thinking rather than business-as-usual.

While we don’t actually know how many species call Planet Earth home, we do know that the rate of extinction is far higher than before humans were on the scene. Most of the time, shrinking habitats due to agriculture, urban and industrial development are to blame. Regulations and permits have historically tried to assess the impact of this development – but have had little success in reducing it.

“To offset that background rate of loss, we have to do something significant to either add biodiversity back into the system where we’ve lost too much, or help stop the loss of further biodiversity. To accomplish either requires an unprecedented shift in the way we do things,” says Jeffrey Manuel, Manager for Park Planning and Development at SANParks.

Biodiversity offset schemes present one such shift – a transformative approach to tackling biodiversity loss that also accounts for the needs of human development. This system aims to counterbalance environmental damage by protecting or restoring similar ecosystems elsewhere. In essence, offsets aim to "trade" the loss of biodiversity in one area for the protection of a similar ecosystem in another area, so that no ecosystem becomes more endangered due to habitat loss. This also shifts development to less sensitive and threatened areas that can accommodate impacts.

Great idea – but there’s a catch. Land acquisitions are time-consuming in any industry, and managing land effectively is a complex task with multiple stakeholders – particularly where conservation is concerned. Sometimes landowners are reluctant to sell, and the right skills for conservation management can be hard to find or prohibitively expensive. Too many delays can put the entire renewable energy project at risk, which ultimately impacts South Africa’s sustainable development progress. So, although biodiversity offsets were first introduced in 2002, the take-up has been slow.

“What we found over 20 years of implementing offsets is that it’s incredibly time-consuming and hard to find an appropriate offset. There have been instances where the offset is in place only 12 years after the development of a project has been completed,” Manuel explains.

That’s why SANParks is piloting a different approach: investing upfront in securing land for conservation that can be used as offsets later. This ensures conservation areas are protected from the start, eliminating delays and streamlining the offset process. By purchasing land that aligns with conservation goals and expanding national parks, which can also be effectively managed for conservation, SANParks also aims to address an unintended consequence of traditional offset approaches, which deliver ad-hoc offsets that are often inefficient and suboptimal.

Success depends on setting the right price and ensuring seamless transactions, which will become clearer as the initiative unfolds. “We’ve developed a framework to guide the pricing of these offsets, and the market will help us refine it further.” By making the process straightforward and offering competitive pricing, the SANParks scheme will hopefully be seen as an attractive and practical choice for developers.

The offset scheme is particularly relevant for renewable energy projects, such as wind farms and solar installations, which are most often located on large areas of land in rural areas, and to Eskom, which is preparing to invest in transmission lines. By banking land around areas with high development pressure (especially grid access points and earmarked development zones), SANParks is preparing to meet the offset needs of future projects. SANParks’ aim is to reduce developers’ delays and costs by providing ready-to-use offsets and to safeguard critical conservation areas.

Red Cap sees SANParks as a major stakeholder and biodiversity custodian and has partnered with them on several wind projects to protect the environment. Innovative approaches to balance renewable energy and conservation, such as the biodiversity offset scheme, could make all the difference in helping South Africa to fulfil critical development needs while looking after future generations. Red Cap fully supports this initiative, which is actively contributing to a future where development and conservation go hand in hand.

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