指导生物多样性信贷市场的高级原则_26页_8mb

Summary of "High-Level Principles to Guide the Biodiversity Credit Market"

Core Content

This white paper outlines a set of high-level principles to guide the development and implementation of a high-integrity biodiversity credit market. The principles are designed to ensure that biodiversity credits deliver real and measurable benefits to both nature and people, while promoting transparency, accountability, and equitable participation.

Main Viewpoints

1. Verified Positive Outcomes for Nature
   Biodiversity credit projects must produce scientifically verifiable and positive impacts on nature. This includes:

   • Defining clear biodiversity objectives and activity types (e.g., uplift, avoided-loss, maintenance).
   • Ensuring that the theory of change is credible and endorsed by the project's governance body.
   • Using transparent and scientifically valid indicators to measure biodiversity outcomes.
   • Avoiding harm to biodiversity, communities, and the climate.
   • Establishing baselines and ensuring that credits reflect real and measurable improvements.

2. Equity and Fairness for People
   The principles emphasize the importance of respecting human rights, particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Key points include:

   • Ensuring legal and customary land and water rights are recognized.
   • Obtaining free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) from Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
   • Involving these groups in the governance and decision-making of biodiversity credit projects.
   • Implementing no-harm policies and ensuring fair benefit sharing.
   • Establishing grievance mechanisms to address concerns and disputes.

3. Good Governance for High-Integrity Markets
   Governance structures must be transparent and robust to support the credibility and long-term sustainability of biodiversity credits. This includes:

   • Ensuring third-party audits and transparent governance frameworks.
   • Guaranteeing data sovereignty and the secure tracking of credits.
   • Aligning biodiversity credit schemes with global frameworks like the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF).
   • Supporting tradability and the development of comparable units for biodiversity credits.

Key Information

• Biodiversity Crisis Context: Over a million species are at risk of extinction, and the rate of biodiversity loss is significantly higher than the background extinction rate. A biodiversity finance gap of $700 billion annually exists, which biodiversity credits aim to address.
• Market Potential: Biodiversity credits are seen as a valuable mechanism to encourage investment in conservation and restoration, contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and climate mitigation and adaptation.
• Collaborative Development: The principles were developed through a collaborative process involving the World Economic Forum, the Biodiversity Credit Alliance (BCA), the International Advisory Panel on Biodiversity Credits (IAPB), and the International Environmental Guardianship (IEG).
• Implementation Requirements:
  • Projects must be designed to ensure additionality, meaning they must produce outcomes that would not have occurred without the project.
  • Ex-post credits are preferred due to their verifiability, with ex-ante credits requiring conservative and dynamically adjusted methodologies.
  • Transparent and independent credit issuance and tracking systems are essential to prevent double-counting and ensure credibility.
• Stakeholder Involvement:
  • Civil society and NGOs play a key role in upholding market integrity.
  • Indigenous Peoples and local communities must be actively involved in the design and oversight of biodiversity credit schemes, with their rights to self-determination and FPIC prioritized.
  • The private sector can both purchase credits and act as project proponents.
  • Standard-setting institutions and public sector actors are crucial in developing and enforcing the necessary ESG requirements and regulatory frameworks.

Structure of the Principles

The principles are organized into three core themes:

1. Verified Positive Outcomes for Nature

   • HLP 1: Defined Biodiversity Objectives and Activity Types
   • HLP 2: Demand Integrity and the Mitigation Hierarchy
   • HLP 3: Credit Issuance and Tracking
   • HLP 4: Ex-ante and Ex-post Credits
   • HLP 5: Additionality
   • HLP 6: Baselines
   • HLP 7: Durability
   • HLP 8: Leakage
   • HLP 9: Monitoring, Reporting and Verification
   • HLP 10: Third-Party Audits

2. Equity and Fairness for People

   • HLP 11: Legal and Customary Land and Water Rights
   • HLP 12: Respecting Human Rights and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
   • HLP 13: Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
   • HLP 14: Indigenous Peoples' and Local Communities' Involvement in Governance
   • HLP 15: No Harm
   • HLP 16: Benefit Sharing
   • HLP 17: Grievance Mechanism

3. Good Governance and High-Integrity Markets

   • HLP 18: Transparent Governance Structure
   • HLP 19: Data Sovereignty
   • HLP 20: Alignment with Frameworks
   • HLP 21: Tradability

Conclusion

The principles aim to establish a robust, credible, and inclusive framework for the biodiversity credit market. They emphasize the need for scientific rigor, respect for Indigenous and local rights, and transparent governance. The principles will evolve alongside the market and are intended to guide all participants, from project developers to buyers, in ensuring that biodiversity credits contribute to real, lasting, and equitable benefits for nature and people.