How to balance economic development goals with environmental
conservation

Date:
April 28, 2022
Source:
Wildlife Conservation Society
Summary:
An international study gives fast-growing nations a simple,
inexpensive guide to inform planning and decision-making to help
balance economic development goals with environmental conservation
and human well-being.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
An international study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practicegives fast-growing nations a simple, inexpensive guide to inform planning and decision-making to help balance economic development goals
with environmental conservation and human well-being.


==========================================================================
The study shows how simple analyses using easily accessible biodiversity
data can support application of the "mitigation hierarchy," a tool used
to ensure that project developers first avoid negative impacts on nature,
then minimize and restore any damage and, as a last resort, compensate
for residual impacts on nature.

The authors show how data from sources like Google Earth can be used
to map the locations of threatened species and ecosystems, identify
locations with important biodiversity where development should be avoided,
and identify degraded areas where developers might conduct environmental restoration to compensate for the impacts of a project.

"Over 100 countries now either have or are creating policies which
require developers to achieve better biodiversity outcomes by avoiding and minimizing impacts, and compensating for residual impacts on biodiversity
where necessary," said lead author Dr. Kendall Jones, conservation
planning specialist at the Wildlife Conservation Society. "However,
these policies are lacking in many of the most biodiverse regions of the planet, which are also the places where development frontiers are eroding natural areas at a rapid pace. Applying the mitigation hierarchy in these places is a crucial step to help balance environmental conservation and
local livelihoods against broader economic development." The methods
and techniques are demonstrated using a case study in Mozambique, a
nation that has undergone rapid economic growth over the past 30 years, resulting in environmental degradation and potentially significant
impacts in coming years. Mozambique has recently implemented national legislation requiring developers to adequately apply the mitigation
hierarchy, including biodiversity offsets, and the analyses outlined in
this study helped inform the policy development process.

The work was conducted as part of the 6-country COMBO+ programme --
funded by the Agence Francaise de Developpement and Fonds Francais pour l'Environnement Mondial -- which works with host governments and partners
to improve mitigation policy and practice.

Dr. Hugo Costa of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Mozambique, and
an author of the paper, said the study provided valuable guidance for
fast developing countries that often face the combined problem of rapid development and limited data to inform development of environmental
policies.

Said Dr. Costa: "By showing how simple analyses can facilitate application
of the mitigation hierarchy in countries like Mozambique, this paper
provides conservationists and governments the tools to ensure that
pursuing economic development goals doesn't come at the expense of us
being able to meet national and international biodiversity targets."
Dr. Costa also stressed that the mitigation hierarchy is useful for
ensuring that project development addresses the wellbeing of local people.

"This isn't just about biodiversity. Rigorous application of the
mitigation hierarchy also allows us to safeguard the wellbeing of
communities, and ensure that developers design measures that include
local communities as part of the solution and improve people's livelihoods
and wellbeing," Costa added.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Wildlife_Conservation_Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kendall R. Jones, Amrei von Hase, Hugo M. Costa, Hugo Rainey,
Naseeba
Sidat, Benjamin Jobson, Thomas B. White, Hedley S. Grantham. Spatial
analysis to inform the mitigation hierarchy. Conservation Science
and Practice, 2022; DOI: 10.1111/csp2.12686 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220428103955.htm

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