Apx Table C. 13 Strengths and weaknesses of debt for conservation swap style incentives
Strengths
� Removes a known barrier to improved land management
� Could engage landholders who have been difficult to engage with before, especially if they are struggling with high debt servicing obligations
Challenges
� How to ensure landholders conduct their on-ground actions
C. 2.8
Offsets
Development offsets( referred to as offsets) are a form of environmental policy that allows development to impact on the environment provided that impact is mitigated on the development site, on another site( third-party offset) or in non-physical ways such that there is no net loss in the supply of environmental goods and services( Gibbons & Lindenmayer, 2007; Moilanen, van Teeffelen, Ben-Haim, & Ferrier, 2009; Norton, 2009; ten Kate, Bishop, & Bayon, 2004). There is much debate within the ecological literature surrounding what can be used as an offset( Gibbons & Lindenmayer, 2007; Maron et al., 2012). For example, offsetting activities may include planting trees or protecting existing vegetation in perpetuity. There are often limits to what can be offset, however. For instance, development approval and permitting provisions may require damage to be avoided or minimised on-site before an offset is allowed. It is also possible that some on-site impact mitigation may be required before an offset is allowed. By requiring mitigation but facilitating flexibility, in theory, offsets allow no net impact from a development to be achieved at least cost. The concept of third-party offsets, the offset scheme type concentrated on is illustrated in Figure 11.
88 | Landholders driving change: Exploring new incentives