Data from: Optimizing regulatory requirements to aid in the implementation of compensatory mitigation

Governments, companies, and conservation organizations seek to minimize the impacts of development through application of the mitigation hierarchy: avoid, minimize, restore, and offset (McKenney & Kiesecker 2010). Around the world, policies and performance standards for compensatory mitigation are being strengthened not just to reduce impacts to biodiversity, but to achieve goals for biodiversity that range from "no net loss" to "net gains" (IFC 2012). Although use of offsets is still in its infancy, offsets are gaining traction globally as a goal of public policy (Madsen et al. 2011; Villarroya, Barros & Kiesecker 2014), corporate practices (Rainey et al. 2014), and lending standards (IFC 2012; Equator Principles 2013). As such, these new policies and standards will be important drivers for companies to improve mitigation practices.

各国政府、企业与保护组织均致力于通过应用减缓层级框架（mitigation hierarchy）——即规避、最小化影响、修复与生态补偿（offset）——将开发活动的负面影响降至最低（McKenney & Kiesecker，2010）。当前全球范围内，针对补偿性减缓措施的政策与绩效标准正不断强化，其目标不仅在于降低对生物多样性的负面影响，更旨在实现从"无净损失"到"净增益"的各类生物多样性保护目标（IFC，2012）。尽管生态补偿（offset）的应用仍处于起步阶段，但作为公共政策目标（Madsen et al.，2011；Villarroya, Barros & Kiesecker，2014）、企业实践（Rainey et al.，2014）以及放贷标准（IFC，2012；赤道原则（Equator Principles），2013）的核心方向，生态补偿正于全球范围内获得日益广泛的应用与认可。据此，这些全新的政策与标准将成为推动企业优化减缓实践的关键驱动力。