Redd Forests works with proponents looking to offset the effects of developments and business-as-usual practices which result in damage to a given environment, by restoring and/or protecting similar threatened environments elsewhere.

We also broker biotrades for companies and countries that wish to commercialise the positive environmental benefits of a given project (much like Fair Trade). In this way we can bring much needed income to local environmental managers and achieve measurable positive biodiversity outcomes.

Currently the world is witnessing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity in ecosystems around the globe. Some 10-30% of all mammal, bird, and amphibian species are threatened with extinction. A major cause of this loss is the destruction of natural habitats by developments in the agriculture, forestry, oil and gas, mining, transport, and construction sectors, among others. At the same time, countries rely on these developments for economic growth and for products, services, and jobs.

A growing number of companies, governments and NGOs are now aware that biodiversity offsets could achieve an increasing number of better and higher priority conservation and livelihood outcomes. Biodiversity offsets not only rehabilitate sites but also address the company’s full impact on biodiversity at the landscape scale. Biodiversity offsets can also support sustainable livelihoods by addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and can assist companies to manage their risks, liabilities and costs.

Types of offset activities

We pursue biodiversity offsets only at the end of the mitigation hierarchy, after proponents have reduced and alleviated residual environmental harm as much as possible. Biodiversity offsets can then be used to compensate for the residual impact to biodiversity that cannot be mitigated onsite and therefore balance the impact of the project.

We subscribe to the Principles on Biodiversity Offsets Supported by the Business and Biodiversity Offsets Program (BBOP) Advisory Committee