Shortly after EIANZ’s last National Biodiversity Offsets Conference in 2022, the Commonwealth released its Nature Positive Plan. Looking ahead, Australia will host the inaugural Global Nature Positive Summit in October 2024. With this ongoing focus on Nature Positive outcomes, what is the role of biodiversity offsets? Can we move from biodiversity offsets to nature positive outcomes?
The 2024 National Biodiversity Offsets Conference will explore how biodiversity offsets have changed since the last conference and ask whether we are equipped to progress to a Nature Positive future. The conference will also revisit some of the themes explored at the previous Offsets Conferences in 2019 and 2022, including progress on the recommendations of the Independent Review of the EPBC Act by Professor Graeme Samuel AC.
We are delighted to announce that our keynote speakers will include Professor Graeme Samuel AC and Professor Hugh Possingham. The preliminary conference program including plenary speakers will be released soon.
This conference will interest policy makers, regulatory authorities, academics, environmental accountants, offset brokers, environmental practitioners, offset providers and the legal fraternity. Participants will gain a greater understanding of the evolving field of biodiversity offsets and an opportunity to inform how we move from biodiversity offsets toward a nature positive future.
The time is right to meet again for a national forum on biodiversity offsets, to reflect on how things have changed since 2022 and help facilitate/navigate the shift from biodiversity offsets to nature positive outcomes.
This event will provide an opportunity to:
- Learn from academics, the legal fraternity, industry and those involved in offset markets;
- Share in the experiences of other professionals;
- Hear from landholders and organisations involved in the hands-on delivery of offsets;
- Discuss biodiversity offsets at the local government scale;
- Consider if and how current metrics for biodiversity offsets can be applied to nature positive outcomes;
- Explore environmental markets.