NGOs & Civil Society

There are several ways in which NGOs and civil society groups can use or contribute to the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy:

1. Becoming part of the global movement: NGOs are already leading the way to develop and advocate for Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy concepts

• IUCN World Conservation Congress motion on the Contributions of the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy to the Post-2020 CBD Framework signed by IUCN Species Survival Commission, PROVITA, Synchronicity Earth, The Nature Conservancy, The Wildlife Conservation Society, World Wildlife Fund, Zoological Society of London. Read the motion here!
• Co-authouring research on the evidence base for the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy. For example, our foundational paper was co-authoured by: IUCN, The Wildlife Conservation Society, Zoological Society of London, Synchronicity Earth, BirdLife International, BBO Wildlife Trust, Forest Trends Association, Luc Hoffman Institute, UNEP-WCMC, The Nature Conservancy, World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF).

2. Supporting implementation: NGOs are supporting national and local governments and civil society groups to adopt Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy principles in countries, landscapes and seascapes

Find out more via our case studies:

• E.g. ISSF and sea turtle conservation in fisheries
• E.g. The Biodiversity Consultancy and the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine’s biodiversity offset in the Mongolian Gobi
• E.g. The Nature Conservancy’s ‘Development by Design’ initiative.
• E.g. The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Conservation, Impact Mitigation and Biodiversity Offsets (COMBO) project

3. Recipients of biodiversity offsets: NGOs can benefit from operationalisation of the Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy elsewhere, as recipients of biodiversity offsetting funds

As with certified carbon offsetting, this will require that NGOs are able to demonstrate how much additional positive impact they are having on a biodiversity feature, and how much it costs per unit of conservation. For more information on how this can be done, read our case study on turtle conservation in fisheries.

4. Adopting Mitigation & Conservation Hierarchy principles: NGOs can structure their own conservation activities and organisational operations to demonstrate how they deliver net positive impacts on nature

Some examples are provided in the figure below: