Biodiversity Offsetting's Lingering Issue: Under-Compensation

Biodiversity offsetting is a criticised conservation tool that compensates for harm to biodiversity with positive actions. This paper, framed within a compensatory theory framework, starts from a charitable interpretation principle to defend that biodiversity offsetting omits from the compensatory calculous people's attachment to a place: an element that cannot be fully compensated. Since compensation theory demands perfect and full compensation, biodiversity offsetting amounts to an ethically and politically questionable under-compensation. Consequently, the paper advocates for a shift to a radically protective justice understanding of biodiversity offsetting and for this tool not to be used to compensate for future damages.