Abstract
The federal recovery strategy for boreal woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) sets a goal of self-sustaining populations for all caribou ranges across Canada. All caribou herds in Alberta are currently designated as not self-sustaining and the recovery strategy requires an action plan to achieve self-sustaining status. At the same time, continued natural resource extraction in caribou ranges may be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Some regulatory bodies have recognized an opportunity for biodiversity offsets to help meet the caribou recovery strategy’s goals while still permitting economic benefits of development. In this review, we evaluate offset opportunities for caribou in Alberta and practical impediments for implementation. We conclude that a number of actions to offset impacts of development and achieve no net loss or net positive impact for caribou are theoretically feasible (i.e., if implemented they should work), including habitat restoration and manipulations of the large mammal predator-prey system. However, implementation challenges are substantial and include a lack of mechanisms for setting aside some resources for long periods of time, public opposition to predator control, and uncertainty associated with loss-gain calculations. A framework and related policy for offsets are currently lacking in Alberta and their development is urgently needed to guide successful design and implementation of offsets for caribou.
Highlights
In an effort to halt escalating global biodiversity loss caused by human development activities, new development projects are increasingly required to achieve no net loss (NNL) or net positive impact (NPI) for biodiversity
Inability to implement averted loss offsets may not be a substantial constraint for caribou conservation because such offsets do not typically provide NNL or NPI relative to existing conditions; they cannot contribute to the net restoration of habitat required to achieve the caribou recovery strategy objective of achieving self-sustaining caribou herds
Offsets are the last resort in the mitigation hierarchy and are not a solution to failing to do a good job of avoidance, minimization and rehabilitation/ restoration
Summary
In an effort to halt escalating global biodiversity loss caused by human development activities, new development projects are increasingly required to achieve no net loss (NNL) or net positive impact (NPI) for biodiversity. To achieve measurable conservation outcomes of NNL or better for a development project in a cost effective way, offsets must focus efforts on addressing the most important of these causes. Based on our review of the causes of caribou decline, we investigated four types of actions that might achieve a caribou offset: 1) protecting existing caribou habitat that might otherwise be lost, 2) restoring disturbed caribou habitat, 3) manipulating the predator-prey system to reduce predation rates, and 4) in lieu fees. 104 Editor in Chief: Birgitta Åhman, Technical Editor Eva Wiklund and Graphic Design: H-G Olofsson, www.rangiferjournal.com
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