Mitigation banking

Mitigation banking is a market-based system of debits and credits (used primarily in the United States as part of its "no net loss" policy) that involves restoration, creation, or enhancement of wetlands to compensate for unavoidable impacts to a wetland in another location.[1] It involves a system of mitigation banks, sites where projects to restore, create, or enhance wetlands can be carried out in advance of impacts. The outcomes of these projects are valued through the creation of compensatory mitigation credits that can be purchased from mitigation banks to offset the negative impacts of developments or agriculture expansion on wetlands and aquatic habitats.[2] This process is generally conducted with the aim of achieving no net loss of function and value for specific aquatic habitats, such as in terms of the biodiversity or ecosystem services provided by a wetland.[3]

Mitigation banking is a form of biodiversity banking, and a mechanism to conduct biodiversity offsetting (described by the term "compensatory mitigation" in the United States). Mitigation banking was developed in the United States with the aim of conserving wetlands (while still allowing development) by working towards a goal of "no net loss of wetlands", developing from compensatory mitigation policies under section 404 of the Clean Water Act.[4] Since then, the concept has expanded beyond the United States and, from mitigation banking, various other forms of biodiversity banking evolved, including conservation banking and habitat banking.[5]

Fox Creek looking south from county road bridge at Champion, Missouri, USA
Fox Creek near St. Louis, Missouri, the site of the first stream mitigation bank in the United States approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 2000.[6]

The public interest is served when enforcement agencies require more habitat as mitigation, often referred to as a mitigation ratio, than is adversely impacted by management or development of nearby acreage.[7] Wetland Mitigation Credits do not convey any interest in the real estate that hosts the mitigation bank. Wetland Credits are treated, for accounting purposes, as intangible personal property.

  1. ^ Environmental Protection Agency, United States (2024-06-28). "Mitigation banks under CWA section 404". EPA. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  2. ^ Environmental Protection Agency, United States (2008). "Compensatory Mitigation Rule Factsheet" (PDF). epa.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
  3. ^ "Background on Compensatory Mitigation | Environmental Law Institute". www.eli.org. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  4. ^ "Mitigation Trade: Making Up for Environmental Harm". Investopedia. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  5. ^ Froger, Géraldine; Ménard, Sophie; Méral, Philippe (2015). "Towards a comparative and critical analysis of biodiversity banks". Ecosystem Services. 15: 152–161. doi:10.1016/j.ecoser.2014.11.018. ISSN 2212-0416.
  6. ^ Harding, Scott D. (2001-09-28). "Fox Creek Mitigation Bank". Wetlands Engineering & River Restoration 2001. American Society of Civil Engineers: 1–10. doi:10.1061/40581(2001)25. ISBN 978-0-7844-0581-9.
  7. ^ "Mitigation Ratio Calculator | Ecosystem Based Management Tools". www.ebmtools.org. Archived from the original on 2013-01-25.