Land-use changes in coastal wetlands have led to a worldwide degradation of marine coastal ecosystems and a loss of the ecological services they provide. Ecological offsetting is a popular strategy and an effective mi...Land-use changes in coastal wetlands have led to a worldwide degradation of marine coastal ecosystems and a loss of the ecological services they provide. Ecological offsetting is a popular strategy and an effective mitigation measure for ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed and is critical for habitats where natural recovery is hindered. However, the current understanding of the theory and practice of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands is extremely limited in many developing countries. We conducted a review of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands projects and studies in China in 1979–2017 to explore the application and limitations of ecological offsetting theory. It was found that China's coastal ecological offsetting regime has recently entered a rapidly developing stage, with an increasing number of different types of offsetting projects conducted, but theoretical research lags behind practical applications. Considerable governmental, social, technological and ethical challenges remain to resolve. Coastal ecological offsetting schemes have been inconsistent in meeting conservation objectives or preventing net losses because of the challenges of ensuring they are fully consistent in practice(mainly in-kind offsets) and theory(mainly out-of-kind offsets). Ecological offsetting projects were primarily implemented by government, developers, and non-profit organizations. The available funding of coastal ecological offsetting projects is insufficient, which makes ecological offsetting a risky operation. Therefore, we propose strategies for improvement that integrate the consideration of theoretical and practical challenges in the offsetting process, while providing a scientific basis and directional guidance for the future practice of biodiversity conservation and environmental management.展开更多
Biodiversity offsetting plays a crucial role in managing the impacts of development on natural habitats. Developers, conservation groups, governments and financial institutions have used biodiversity offsetting to des...Biodiversity offsetting plays a crucial role in managing the impacts of development on natural habitats. Developers, conservation groups, governments and financial institutions have used biodiversity offsetting to design measurable conservation actions to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from development. However, the concepts and methodologies of biodiversity offsetting have rarely been systematically reviewed, and best practices are still lacking. This hinders the development and applications of this field, and makes it difficult for new researchers to learn, develop, and apply biodiversity offsetting. This paper aims to review research progress on biodiversity offsetting during the period of 1992 to 2019. We mainly used bibliometric analysis and social network analysis methods to expose the topic diversity, development and promotion of this research field, and assess collaboration among biodiversity offsetting scholars. Our research identified 1190 records, and revealed that the total number of publications increased rapidly since 2002. The most productive journal, country, and author were Biological Conservation, USA, and Dr. Maron M of University of Queensland, respectively. Co-author analysis identified that the 23 authors most relevant to biodiversity offsetting were involved in a collaboration network. And they were mainly from 30 countries in a collaboration network, and the authors from USA, Australia and the United Kingdom have the most cooperation, which mainly driven by policy related to biodiversity offsetting. Our review shows that biodiversity offsetting research is at an early stage of rapid development with topically diverse and collaborative science domains. The majority of studies focus on terrestrial environments, which makes the implementation of aquatic ecosystem is more difficult. Theoretical problems and the implications of research evolution and social network in biodiversity offsetting are discussed, and further development of the theory and methodologies of biodiversity offsetting and management was recommend.展开更多
基金Under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Advisory Project(No.2018-XZ-14-03)Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51639001)National Key Basic Research Program of China(No.2013CB430406)
文摘Land-use changes in coastal wetlands have led to a worldwide degradation of marine coastal ecosystems and a loss of the ecological services they provide. Ecological offsetting is a popular strategy and an effective mitigation measure for ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed and is critical for habitats where natural recovery is hindered. However, the current understanding of the theory and practice of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands is extremely limited in many developing countries. We conducted a review of ecological offsetting for coastal wetlands projects and studies in China in 1979–2017 to explore the application and limitations of ecological offsetting theory. It was found that China's coastal ecological offsetting regime has recently entered a rapidly developing stage, with an increasing number of different types of offsetting projects conducted, but theoretical research lags behind practical applications. Considerable governmental, social, technological and ethical challenges remain to resolve. Coastal ecological offsetting schemes have been inconsistent in meeting conservation objectives or preventing net losses because of the challenges of ensuring they are fully consistent in practice(mainly in-kind offsets) and theory(mainly out-of-kind offsets). Ecological offsetting projects were primarily implemented by government, developers, and non-profit organizations. The available funding of coastal ecological offsetting projects is insufficient, which makes ecological offsetting a risky operation. Therefore, we propose strategies for improvement that integrate the consideration of theoretical and practical challenges in the offsetting process, while providing a scientific basis and directional guidance for the future practice of biodiversity conservation and environmental management.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.U1901212,51639001)Fund for Innovative Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51721093)National Key R&D Program of China(No.2017YFC0404505)。
文摘Biodiversity offsetting plays a crucial role in managing the impacts of development on natural habitats. Developers, conservation groups, governments and financial institutions have used biodiversity offsetting to design measurable conservation actions to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from development. However, the concepts and methodologies of biodiversity offsetting have rarely been systematically reviewed, and best practices are still lacking. This hinders the development and applications of this field, and makes it difficult for new researchers to learn, develop, and apply biodiversity offsetting. This paper aims to review research progress on biodiversity offsetting during the period of 1992 to 2019. We mainly used bibliometric analysis and social network analysis methods to expose the topic diversity, development and promotion of this research field, and assess collaboration among biodiversity offsetting scholars. Our research identified 1190 records, and revealed that the total number of publications increased rapidly since 2002. The most productive journal, country, and author were Biological Conservation, USA, and Dr. Maron M of University of Queensland, respectively. Co-author analysis identified that the 23 authors most relevant to biodiversity offsetting were involved in a collaboration network. And they were mainly from 30 countries in a collaboration network, and the authors from USA, Australia and the United Kingdom have the most cooperation, which mainly driven by policy related to biodiversity offsetting. Our review shows that biodiversity offsetting research is at an early stage of rapid development with topically diverse and collaborative science domains. The majority of studies focus on terrestrial environments, which makes the implementation of aquatic ecosystem is more difficult. Theoretical problems and the implications of research evolution and social network in biodiversity offsetting are discussed, and further development of the theory and methodologies of biodiversity offsetting and management was recommend.
