Unit of a biodiversity credit
An interoperable unit for biodiversity crediting
This is an area-based unit. It is meant to measure a functional ecosystem. This biodiversity unit has standard dimensions (Area, Time, and Integrity) and it has a grade (Value).
After a comprehensive review of the biodiversity credit landscape, we have intentionally normalized the Voluntary Biodiversity Credits issued in our conservation methodology to an interoperable Unit which can also be used for other methodologies. This unit works for any ecosystem, metric, or methodology and covers conservation, restoration, pollination, or eradication activities.
Of particular note, although we are opposed to offsetting, this unit also works for corporate disclosures of biodiversity impacts and can contribute to international accounting at the local, state, national, or international levels.
The area-based biodiversity unit has the following components:
UNIT = AREA (1 hectare) for TIME (1 month) with INTEGRITY (scale from 0 to 1, as determined by bespoke methodologies) categorized by VALUE (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze)
Where the dimensions are:
Area fixed at 1 hectare.
Time fixed at 1 month (monitoring periods will almost always be longer but units are small).
Integrity on a scale from 0 to 1, as determined by bespoke methodologies. Where full integrity is all ecosystem niches available to and occupied by native species.
And the grade is:
Value or the planet-wide value of preserving the ecosystem where the hectare is located.
A complete explanation of these components follows.
Value vs Integrity
Value and Integrity components were designed to make ecosystems comparable, ocean vs desert. Humans have no right to judge the intrinsic worth of other species. Desert animals have as much right to exist as jungle animals do; however, the density of unique DNA protected by an ecosystem makes higher biodiverse regions a higher priority for planetary funding.
It is critical to distinguish between the Integrity of the ecosystem, which is based on how many ecological niches are filled, and the Value of the ecosystem, which represents the underlying biodiversity density and the threat of degradation and is determined by geographical location.
For example, an ecosystem in the arctic ice sheets which is fully occupied by native species would receive a bronze grade and issue bronze units because it is less biodiverse than a hectare in the Colombian Amazon, which would receive a platinum grade.
Full credits are awarded to completely intact ecosystems (with Integrity of 1), and partial credits are awarded to partially degraded ecosystems, in accordance with their measured Integrity (eg. 0.5).
Areas near high-value ecosystems (forest outside of a biodiversity hotspot), or high-density ecosystems that are not threatened (Amazon with low deforestation rates) could have full Integrity, but will have a lower Value.
Degraded areas within high-value ecosystems, (eg. cattle farm in a biodiversity hotspot) could be high Value, but would have low Integrity.
We will address each element in turn.
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