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South Africa: Forestry, Fisheries and Environment publishes South Africa’s Draft National Biodiversity Offset Guidelines for Public Consultation
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South Africa: Forestry, Fisheries and Environment publishes South Africa’s Draft National Biodiversity Offset Guidelines for Public Consultation

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April 12, 2022
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The draft South Africa National Biodiversity Offset Guideline is now available for public consultation.

The draft Biodiversity offset guideline was published by Ms Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, in the Government Gazette (Notice No. 1924) on 25/03/2022, in accordance with Section 24J of 1998’s National Environmental Management Act (Act No. 107 of 1998). Additionally, a notice was published in The Sunday Times the 27 March 2022.

Biodiversity Offsetting is a form impact mitigation that addresses the negative impacts that an activity has on biodiversity. This involves compensating for those effects that remain after all efforts have been made to minimize or avoid them. It often involves securing an area (biodiversity offsetting site) that has the same or comparable ecological features as the area negatively affected in perpetuity and managing the biodiversity offsetting site for a specific period.

It is important to secure suitable biodiversity offset locations for long-term biodiversity conservation. Sites must be effectively protected for the long term. The proponent would need to either own or purchase suitable land or enter into a biodiversity management agreement with the owners of land located in biodiversity offset sites for at least 99 year. There are many legal options for protecting biodiversity offset sites. The most popular mechanisms include the declaration of protected area under the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act. 3 of 2003); conservation services and purchasing credits from a recognized biodiversity offsets banking. These mechanisms may, however, require that the applicable zoning, land-use, or town-planning scheme be modified in order to ensure that the biodiversity offsetting site is/can be used for conservation purposes.

Biodiversity offset is an important tool to preserve biodiversity. It is essential for the health and well-being, economic activity, and socio-economic upward mobility of people. It could play an important role in achieving national development priorities and the protection of the environment.

Unfortunately, South Africa’s biodiversity offset has not been implemented in a consistent and defensible manner, especially in the context of environmental impact assessment. The national biodiversity offset guideline was created to address the shortcomings in biodiversity offset practice in South Africa. It outlines the basic principles of biodiversity offset and provides guidance on when and how to determine the requirements for a offset.

It is expected that the guideline will be used first by competent authorities and environmental assessment practitioners, biodiversity specialist, developers, and stakeholders in this sector. The guideline is expected to improve South Africa’s biodiversity offset practices, so that South Africa’s significant biodiversity loss and degradation can be effectively offset.

The draft national biodiversity offset guideline applies only to terrestrial and freshwater realms. It does not apply to offshore marine areas or estuarine ecosystems.

To access the Government Gazette, click on: https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/gazetted_notices/nema_draftbiodiversityoffsetguideline_g46088gon1924.pdf

Please note that the Minister extended the comment period an additional 30 days. The deadline for comments submission is now 26 May 2022. All inputs and comments should be sent to:

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