The politics of influence in biodiversity offsetting

Abstract

Biodiversity offsetting has become a cornerstone of environmental policy since the 1990s, to counterbalance the habitat lost to a development project by conserving equivalent lands elsewhere. This Review describes how actors interpret, shape and contest offsetting policies, placing emphasis on governance and politics rather than the most commonly explored technical design and implementation issues. It highlights the manifold discursive, legal, resource-driven and capacity-building strategies that stakeholders use to influence offsetting processes and outcomes. On this basis, we state future directions for social science research and policy-making.