Production-Integrated Compensation in Environmental Offsets—A Review of a German Offset Practice

Catharina Druckenbrod and Volker Beckmann
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Catharina Druckenbrod: Faculty of Law and Economics & Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald 17487, Germany
Volker Beckmann: Faculty of Law and Economics & Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald 17487, Germany

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-22

Abstract: Environmental offset schemes designed to compensate for adverse development impacts are found in countries worldwide, pursuing no-net-loss policy. In Germany, a practice combining environmental improvements with farming evolved in the early 2000s, known as production-integrated compensation (PIC) (Produktionsintegrierte Kompensation). This paper provides a review of PIC, presenting origins, legal and cost aspects, as well as examples of PIC practice. PIC key challenges are the complexity of environmental improvements of agrarian habitats and the high efforts for communication among diverse actors and for designing and monitoring PIC. Benefits for nature conservation lie in the protection of strongly endangered species and an increase of acceptance of compensation measures. Positive effects for farmers are the sustaining of arable farmland and involvement in setting up land management terms. Investors profit from the increased availability of sites. However, a specific legal framework for PIC is still developing and representation of PIC in offset registries in the German States is only very small. In conclusion, targeted design, continuous monitoring, and long-term financing provided, PIC may (a) increase offset efficiency by focusing on implementation while avoiding land purchase and physical investments and (b) increase offset effectiveness by high conservation benefits and a collaborative approach towards farmers.

Keywords: production-integrated compensation; impact mitigation regulation; no-net-loss; environmental offsets; biodiversity offsets; arable wild plants; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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