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Biodiversity offsets in limestone quarries: Investigation of practices in Brazil

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  • Souza, Barbara Almeida
  • Sánchez, Luis Enrique

Abstract

In response to the increasing loss of biodiversity, several countries have adopted offsetting policies that seek to balance habitat destruction by restoring, enhancing and/or protecting equivalent values offsite. Such mechanisms are increasingly important in quarrying, where habitat loss may be unavoidable due to colocation of mineral resources and areas of biodiversity importance. Seeking to contribute to advance understanding of the current gaps and challenges, biodiversity offsetting required for environmental approval of three limestone quarries in compliance with Brazil's Atlantic Forest Act, a federal law that aims at protecting this biodiversity hotspot, were investigated. Both protection and restoration offsets were applied at area ratios from 1:1.1 to 1:5. Offset implementation costs ranged from ~3 to ~8% of quarry investment. The main difficulties reported by practitioners are finding suitable areas, lack of methods to calculate residual losses and uncertainties about the success of restoration. Internationally recommended best practices are partially followed with the highest adherence observed for the quarry whose environmental impact study was more detailed and provided a stronger basis for designing the offset. Results suggest that the quality of offset planning and implementation is directly related to the quality of the environmental impact assessment.

Suggested Citation

  • Souza, Barbara Almeida & Sánchez, Luis Enrique, 2018. "Biodiversity offsets in limestone quarries: Investigation of practices in Brazil," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 213-223.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:57:y:2018:i:c:p:213-223
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.03.007
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    Cited by:

    1. da Cruz, Júlio César & Barella, César Falcão & Fonseca, Alberto, 2020. "Compensating deforestation with forest surplus: Key regulatory issues within Brazil's atlantic forest," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Souza, Barbara A. & Rosa, Josianne C.S. & Siqueira-Gay, Juliana & Sánchez, Luis E., 2021. "Mitigating impacts on ecosystem services requires more than biodiversity offsets," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    3. Mello, Kaline de & Fendrich, Arthur Nicolaus & Borges-Matos, Clarice & Brites, Alice Dantas & Tavares, Paulo André & da Rocha, Gustavo Casoni & Matsumoto, Marcelo & Rodrigues, Ricardo Ribeiro & Joly, , 2021. "Integrating ecological equivalence for native vegetation compensation: A methodological approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

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