Meanings
plural biodiversity offsets
- environmental policyA measurable conservation outcome that has been designed to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity that cannot be avoided or minimised.
Biodiversity offsets, on the other hand, are meant to “cancel out” the damage caused to nature in one location by paying for reparations elsewhere.
2024 March 19, Shreya Dasgupta, “Are biodiversity credits just another business-as-usual finance scheme?”, in Mongabay1 more example
The goal of biodiversity offsets is to achieve no net loss and preferably a net gain of biodiversity on the ground with respect to species composition, habitat structure, ecosystem function and people’s use and cultural values associated with biodiversity.
2012 November 1, “Standard on Biodiversity Offsets”, in Forest Trends, retrieved 27 Jul 2024
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 生态补偿机制;
- 生态补偿机制; (shēngtài bǔcháng jīzhì)measurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
French mesures de compensation, compensation écologique
- mesures de compensationmeasurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
- compensation écologiquemeasurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
German ausgleichsmaßnahmen, ersatzmaßnahmen
- ausgleichsmaßnahmenmeasurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
- ersatzmaßnahmenmeasurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
Spanish compensaciones de biodiversidad, compensaciones ambientales
- compensaciones de biodiversidadmeasurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
- compensaciones ambientalesmeasurable conservation outcome to compensate for negative impacts on biodiversity
Cite this entry
biodiversity offset. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biodiversity%20offset
“biodiversity offset.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biodiversity%20offset. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “biodiversity offset,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/biodiversity%20offset.
Source: biodiversity offset on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.