A study of Canadian conservation offset programs

Such complexities include the metrics used to assess equivalence,3 the extent to which offsets must be permanent or if they can be temporary and revolving, the monitoring and verification of offsets, and the use of cost effective mechanisms to secure the offsets. [...] A Study of Canadian Conservation Offset Programs • Prosecution and Enforcement In the case study section below, the Southeastern Alberta Conservation Offset Pilot 6(SEACOP, Case 4) is used as an example of the measurement of the TCs. [...] The conservation reserve program (CRP) in the United States has TCs estimated at 1% (calculated as TCs as a percentage of the overall program expenditure), the Countryside Stewardship Program in the UK has TCs of 18%, and a program of payments for carbon in Mexico has TCs between 30% and 50% (TCs reported here are total TCs for the program) (Alston et al 2013). [...] In the case of a conservation offset this negative incentive is the requirement to offset the impact. [...] Another potential expanded use of the framework is the fact that the negative incentive on the developer (requirement to offset) constitutes a “willingness to pay” for a type of input into the development project.