Ecological compensation

The Ministry of the Environment has launched a project to test and develop ecological compensation, as set out in the Government Programme. Through ecological compensation, adverse effects on biodiversity caused by human action in a certain area are compensated for by improving biodiversity in another area.

In the project ecological compensation is envisaged as a last resort, meaning that it would only be used in situations where no other feasible solutions can be found. The project will examine in more detail the cases where ecological compensation could be used.

During 2020 a pilot site will be selected to test ecological compensation. So far the possibility to use ecological compensation has not been tested with the legal perspective in mind. Based on the results from the pilot site, provisions on ecological compensation may be included in the updated Nature Conservation Act.

The Ministry of the Environment has appointed a broad-based project group with representatives of public bodies and stakeholders to implement the project. The project group works under the steering group appointed to coordinate the reform of the nature conservation legislation.