Facilitating better ecological outcomes from high-stakes decision-making requires evaluation of biodiversity models to address risk and transparency
Biodiversity offsetting and compensation are high-stakes endeavours. Much rests on the process by which an offset or compensation proposal is designed and the tools used to evaluate the proposal, as this has a strong and direct influence on the potential outcomes for biodiversity. Models by their nature are imperfect, but their ecological robustness, and therefore usefulness, can be improved by adhering to well-established principles of good model development.