{"id":148339,"date":"2024-12-24T19:21:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T13:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=148339"},"modified":"2024-12-24T19:21:27","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T13:51:27","slug":"biodiversity-credit-markets","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/biodiversity-credit-markets","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity Credit Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A study published in the<\/span><b> journal \u2018Proceedings of the Royal Society B\u2019<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> highlights substantial <\/span><b>methodological and regulatory gaps <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the functioning of the Biodiversity credits markets in its current state.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Key Highlights of the Study<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Subject:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To examine how a<\/span><b> biodiversity unit or a \u2018unit of nature<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 is <\/span><b>defined <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the rapidly growing voluntary biodiversity credits market.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Aim: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To <\/span><b>present a framework to explore how biodiversity is quantified, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how delivery of positive outcomes <\/span><b>is detected and attributed to the investment <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and how the number <\/span><b>of credits issued is adjusted<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to account for uncertainties.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Focus:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To <\/span><b>understand how organisations develop methodologies for biodiversity credits i<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n the voluntary market and how challenges are addressed in defining them.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pw.live\/batches\/upsc?utm_source=seo+upsc+batch&#038;utm_medium=seo+upsc&#038;utm_campaign=seo&#038;utm_id=upsc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enroll now for UPSC Online Course<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Stages of Creating a Biodiversity Credit:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Framing: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It defines<\/span><b> what kind of biodiversity a credit represents <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and over what time period.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Unit of Measurement:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Most methodologies reviewed sell credits by area representing <\/span><b>biodiversity in units of one hectare<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Specificity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Many methodologies are designed to represen<\/span><b>t any ecosystem <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(terrestrial, marine or freshwater) but ecosystem specific credits also exist.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Purpose:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There are two types of credits based on the purpose i.e. whether they <\/span><b>represent units of conserved<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (sometimes known as \u2018avoided loss\u2019 or \u2018preservation\u2019 credits) <\/span><b>or restored<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (sometimes known as \u2018uplifted\u2019) biodiversity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Time: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The time period that one credit represents is <\/span><b>often issued for five years but can range from one month<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the entire duration of a project.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Quantifying:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It considers how the biodiversity is <\/span><b>measured at the project site at any one point in time.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Two <\/span><b>broad approaches <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are taken to quantify the biodiversity, These are,<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Basket of Metrics: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><b>numeric value is assigned to measure various parameters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of an ecosystem like, a range of population, abundance of a target species, species richness,measure of ecosystem structure etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Binary Condition:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> As per this approach, A site is <\/span><b>marked as healthy or not<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> according to one metric usually reflecting some definition of healthy or not healthy.<\/span>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: disc;\">\n<li><b>Example:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A site could be<\/span><b> marked as healthy if deforestation has not occurred<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or if a sensitive indicator species is detected as present..\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Detecting:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The next stage i<\/span><b>s to detect the progress of the project by measuring how much of the conservation or restoration objective<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is attributed to the project.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As generally biodiversity is measured across the entire site and nearly all credits are sold per hectare,so d<\/span><b>etected gains are multiplied by the area of the project site to obtain <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the number of credits.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Adjusting:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This final stage determines how <\/span><b>the number of credits issued will be adjusted to account for factors <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">outside project control like, <\/span><b>leakage, other uncertainties or permanence.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Challenges:\u00a0<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Fungibility or Interchangeability: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some methodologies <\/span><b>standardise biodiversity gains across ecosystems, continents and biomes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">undermining the fact that biodiversity has an unique, place-specific importance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 99.7992%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: #000000;\"><b>Biodiversity Credit Alliance<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a<\/span><b> voluntary international alliance<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that brings together <\/span><b>diverse stakeholders<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (scientists, academics, conservation practitioners, and standard setters, with<\/span><b> direct links to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to support the realization of the <\/span><b>Kunming\u2013Montreal Global Biodiversity Frameworks Targets 19(c) and (d)<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Target 19(c):<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Businesses should monitor, assess, and disclose their risks, dependencies, and impacts on biodiversity.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Target 19(d): <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Businesses should provide information to consumers to promote sustainable consumption patterns.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Mission:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To help steer the<\/span><b> development of a biodiversity credit marke<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t by building a framework of high-level, science-based principles.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Secretariat: It is facilitated by UNDP and UNEP FI<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>The BCA Task Force<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: It is the main decision making body and <\/span><b>is made up of methodology developers, standard setters, academic and research institutions,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> along with <\/span><b>representatives of the Communities Advisory Panel (CAP).<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><b>Example: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An isolated forest patch cannot be equated to one within a larger, connected landscape.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>Measuring Biodiversity Value:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0 Metrics necessarily <\/span><b>focus on aspects of nature that are quantifiable, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ignoring other aspects like <\/span><b>species interactions, the cultural value of nature, or its constitutive value <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(as a part of the identities of Indigenous peoples and local communities).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Commodifying Noise: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Credit methodologies<\/span><b> based on changes over short to medium time scales run the risk of rewarding, or penalizin<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g, project operators based on measurement error or random fluctuations<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Example: Butterfly population trends require long-term data due to yearly variations.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Demonstrating Additionality:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To show that <\/span><b>additional Project investments has led to positive biodiversity outcomes beyond<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> business-as-usual scenarios is a challenge as gathering data on outcomes<\/span><b> is expensive and additional investment doe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">s not always guarantee success.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Leakage: I<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t occurs when <\/span><b>harmful activities, such as deforestation, are displaced <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to other areas rather than reduced.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"3\"><b>Example: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farmers may s<\/span><b>witch land use to biodiversity credits, prompting<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> others to convert new land for agriculture elsewhere.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Permanence: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The question of<\/span><b> permanence i.e. whether the gains made today will have a permanent nature<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is just as important as, without long-term management, many conservation or restoration gains could be lost.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-148320\" src=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/242-676ab6f25fba4.webp\" alt=\"Biodiversity Credit\" width=\"749\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/242-676ab6f25fba4.webp 1025w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/242-676ab6f25fba4-300x179.webp 300w, https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/242-676ab6f25fba4-768x459.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 749px) 100vw, 749px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>About Biodiversity Credits<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A biodiversity credit is a <\/span><b>verifiable, quantifiable and tradeable financial certificate <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that rewards <\/span><b>positive nature and biodiversity outcomes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(e.g. species, ecosystems and natural habitats) through the <\/span><b>creation and sale of either land or ocean-based biodiversity units <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">over a fixed period<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Example: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some biodiversity credit schemes include, Terrasos, GreenCollar , ValueNature, CreditNature, Wilderlands<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Mechanism:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Non-profits, governments, landowners, or companies generate credits, which are then<\/span><b> purchased by private companies to meet their biodiversity commitments.<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One credit might represent a certain amount of land conserved or restored over a specific period of time<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Market: Estimates by the World Economic Forum<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> place the biodiversity credit market\u2019s current value at $8 million, with projections suggesting a surge to $2 billion by 2030 and $69 billion by 2050.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.pw.live\/govt-entrance-exams\/upsc-books?utm_source=SEO&#038;utm_medium=PW+Live&#038;utm_campaign=UPSC+CSE+Books\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check Out UPSC CSE Books From PW Store<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 99.8996%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\">\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 16pt; color: #000000;\"><b>About Biodiversity<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As per the<\/span><b> United Nations Earth Summit (1992) definition,\u00a0<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Biodiversity is <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Levels:<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Genetic Diversity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The variation in genetic information among organisms\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Species Diversity: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The variety of species, including plants, animals, and microorganisms\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Ecosystem Diversity:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The variety of ecosystems, which are made up of living and non-living organisms and their interactions\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Threats:<\/b><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Climate Change:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Warming Global Climate is changing the nature of ecosystems threatening the entire gamut of living organisms.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Habitat Loss and Fragmentation: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Natural habitats are being fragmented and destroyed in the name of development.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Invasive Species: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Invasive species can threaten the survival of native species leading to extinction and reduced genetic diversity.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Pollution: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pollution from human activities can include hormone mimics that affect the development and reproductive organs of wild organisms.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_table_green\"><\/p>\n<table 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state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":148326,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[2089],"subject":[4642],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/148339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148339"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/148339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148343,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/148339\/revisions\/148343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148339"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=148339"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=148339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}