South African National Parks (SANParks) has officially launched a biodiversity offset bank aiming to expand protected areas while assisting developers in meeting their environmental, social and governance goals.
Biodiversity offset banks operate by creating a supply of conservation and restoration projects. Developers can purchase biodiversity credits to compensate for unavoidable impacts of development projects.
JP Louw, Head of Communications and Spokesperson for SANParks, said the offset bank will only purchase land for park expansion in the form of “important conservation corridors, strategic water source areas or critical biodiversity areas not protected currently”.
Louw emphasised that the bank will operate within the legal and regulatory frameworks of South Africa’s environmental impact assessment regime. It will be housed under the Biodiversity Finance Initiative, supported by the United Nations Development Programme, in collaboration with SANParks and the South African National Biodiversity Institute, as the official innovative financing mechanism of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) for the expansion and management of protected areas.
Establishment of the bank follows the publication of South Africa’s National Biodiversity Offset Guideline by the DFFE in June 2023.
“By implementing this guideline, we aim to achieve a net gain or no net loss of biodiversity, ensuring that future generations inherit a thriving natural environment that meets the goals of sustainable development,” said DFFE Director-General Nomfundo Tshabalala at the National Biodiversity Offset Conference in Midrand last week.
She stressed that, while effective biodiversity offsetting plays a significant role in biodiversity impact mitigation, it should be “considered as a last option after all other measures of avoiding, minimising and restoring biodiversity loss have been exhausted."
