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Category: Project

Description: Development projects worldwide are increasingly required to quantify and fully mitigate their impacts on biodiversity, with an objective of achieving ‘no net loss’ or a ‘net gain’ (NNL/NG) of biodiversity overall. Seeking NNL/NG outcomes can affect people because society relies on, uses and values biodiversity. However these social impacts are often not adequately considered, even when development projects mitigate their broader social impacts. This document outlines good practice principles for addressing the social impacts that arise from all losses and gains in biodiversity from a development project and its NNL/NG activities. It aims to: • Define measurable social outcomes from biodiversity NNL/NG. • Provide a framework for assessing whether the social aspects of biodiversity NNL/NG have been designed and implemented in accordance with good practice. • Facilitate closer working between all stakeholders involved with biodiversity NNL/NG projects, especially between ecological and social specialists, throughout a project. The principles in this document are founded on international best practice that calls for development projects to achieve biodiversity NNL/NG while ensuring that affected people are ‘no worse off and preferably better off’. They are intended to set a high standard, which may be aspirational for some projects in practice. They build on existing literature and guidance, and reflect a substantial diversity of views captured during an extensive consultation process. However, we expect that they will undergo further refinement when tested in the field. The authors welcome feedback. Development projects seeking biodiversity NNL/NG should achieve an outcome whereby: People perceive the components of their wellbeing affected by biodiversity losses and gains to be at least as good as a result of the development project and associated biodiversity NNL/NG activities, than if the development had not been implemented. To achieve this the following principles should be followed: 1. Measure change in wellbeing. 2. Focus on affected people within the project’s area of influence. 3. Maintain the desired social outcomes from NNL/NG throughout the project’s lifetime. 4. Compare social outcomes from NNL/NG against an appropriate reference scenario. 5. Exceed existing obligations to achieve the desired social outcomes from NNL/NG. 6. Assess wellbeing for defined groups of people e.g. by gender or interest. 7. Benefit the people who have been affected. 8. Align the biodiversity and social objectives of NNL/NG. 9. Achieve equitable social outcomes from NNL/NG. 10. Avoid impacts on wellbeing that are deemed unacceptable by the people affected and cannot be compensated for. 11. Design and implement social aspects of NNL/NG with inclusive stakeholder engagement. 12. Ensure biodiversity and social specialists collaborate on NNL/NG. 13. Implement effective conflict-resolution mechanisms. 14. Monitor social outcomes from NNL/NG throughout. 15. Validate social outcomes from NNL/NG throughout. 16. Be transparent throughout.