UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Institutions for governing biodiversity offsetting: An analysis of rights and responsibilities

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.040

Authors

Eeva Primmer · Liisa Varumo · Juha M. Kotilainen · Elina Raitanen · Matti Kattainen · Minna Pekkonen · Saija Kuusela · Peter Kullberg · Johanna Kangas · Markku Ollikainen

Reported year

2018

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:18:45.606542+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:18:45.606542+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

Finnish Environment Institute · University of Eastern Finland · University of Helsinki

Documentary abstract — original language

Offsets for compensating biodiversity loss are increasingly suggested as a system for allocating responsibilities onto those actors who contribute to the loss. As the mechanism is outlined as a new opportunity, the expectations need to be analyzed relative to the ensuing changes in rights and responsibilities over biodiversity degradation, conservation and restoration. In this paper we conduct an analysis of rights and responsibilities using literature and empirical material. Our empirical case is in Finland, where ecological compensation and biodiversity offsets represent an emerging avenue for conservation. We find that rights to conservation, property and economic activity have generally not been explicitly addressed in parallel, and that the focus has been on evaluating biodiversity loss through ecological assessment or as an ethical notion. Offsetting literature focuses on developer rights to a predictable operational environment rather than on human rights to biodiversity or the property rights of offset suppliers. At the same time, the literature on offsets analyzing the responsibilities over management, avoiding degradation and meeting societal expectations, has placed much emphasis on governance and control by authorities. These analyses result in doubts and criticism of the capacity of governance arrangements to reach the set targets. Echoing the literature, the Finnish case shows that even though the mechanism is framed as a way to place the responsibility onto developers, numerous responsibilities are expected to be taken by authorities or a yet non-existing mediating actor, while developer rights are expected to be secured and landowner rights are either mostly assumed not to change, or not addressed at all. Our study shows that the assumptions on rights and responsibilities need to be exposed to empirical analysis, to support the design of meaningful new institutional arrangements.

Identifiers

OPENALEX

W2904147186

DOI

10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.040

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

article

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.040
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2904147186

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

• openalex:w104811708 · CITES
• openalex:w1142769842 · CITES
• openalex:w1444047749 · CITES
• openalex:w1528274651 · CITES
• openalex:w1550138923 · CITES
• openalex:w1600429647 · CITES
• openalex:w1606407196 · CITES
• openalex:w1790052228 · CITES
• openalex:w1797637662 · CITES
• openalex:w1936341065 · CITES
• openalex:w1970523058 · CITES
• openalex:w1977666785 · CITES
• openalex:w1982798453 · CITES
• openalex:w1983909501 · CITES
• openalex:w1991265106 · CITES
• openalex:w1994555098 · CITES
• openalex:w2009299416 · CITES
• openalex:w2021321036 · CITES
• openalex:w2037165956 · CITES
• openalex:w2046833976 · CITES

2 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

Library

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