Biodiversity offsets schemes are based on the idea of requiring actions to be undertaken to compensate for ecological damage caused by development projects or other human-induced activities.
Species or communities that are endangered will have a higher value in a biodiversity offset market compared to species not under threat. These values are reflected in the price of biodiversity credits that can be bought and sold.
For example, a developer can offset loss of biodiversity in one location by purchasing biodiversity credits from a landholder with a stewardship site. Stewardship sites are locations where native vegetation and threatened species and habitats are protected and managed into the future.
The goal of offsetting is to achieve no net loss, and ideally a net gain, in biodiversity values, even in the face of development and other human activities. It also:
- incentivises landholders to protect biodiversity
- provides landholders with a source of income
- protects biodiversity into the future.
The challenge
Participating in the NSW Biodiversity Offsets Scheme can be confusing: keeping track of the changing market price of biodiversity credits can be complex and difficult to manage.
Before the Biodiversity Credits Market Sales Dashboard was developed, interested parties had to access and understand raw data on publicly available spreadsheets without having the tools to process and use that data.
Our offsets market team has developed the Biodiversity Credits Market Sales Dashboard to help people easily work out how to participate in the offsets market and contribute to protecting our biodiversity.
The dashboard:
- contains all biodiversity credit price data since August 2017
- has been continually upgraded since it was launched in November 2019
- allows users to view historic sales and market trends to understand prices of specific credits
- enables users to plan biodiversity credit strategies, whether buying or selling.
Dr Rogelio Canizales-Perez principal economist likens the dashboard to a sign at the entrance of a street market, displaying the various prices a buyer will encounter inside the market.
'Wouldn’t you prefer to have all that information at the entrance of the market?' he said. 'Then you will know what to do and where to go. The most important reason for tools like this is transparency of, and accessibility to, the prices.'
'People wanted to have more clarity in terms of the prices of credits. We have a very simple dataset: price, quantity, number of credits.'
The Biodiversity Credits Market Sales Dashboard is available for people to use.
The dashboard is receiving many visitors. Australians make up 90% of the site’s visitors, but it has also attracted the attention of international investors, including from India.
Students from graduate programs in the UK have also contacted the department to better understand and use the dashboard’s datasets.
We are currently exploring new technologies to enhance data accessibility and making valuable information more readily available to both current and future users.