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BCA’s Mission
The Mission of the BCA is to bring clarity and guidance for the formulation of a credible and scalable biodiversity credit market under global biodiversity credit principles. Under these principles, the BCA seeks to mobilize financial flows towards biodiversity custodians while recognising local knowledge and contexts
Understanding Biodiversity Credits
- In BCA’s view, a Voluntary Biodiversity Credit (VBC) is a tool to enable investment in biodiversity conservation and/or enhancement, and can be broadly defined as a quantifiable unit representing a biodiversity conservation and/or enhancement claim using a scientific methodology.
- A VBC sits in contrast to a regulated biodiversity offset credit used primarily for compliance purposes, which in most cases presupposes existence of “equivalence”, i.e. the principle of compensating for nature damage inflicted elsewhere.
- VBCs are not an attempt to capture nature, nor commodify or put a price on nature. Instead, VBCs are a means to enable the financing of biodiversity conservation and/or enhancement interventions based on the transparently determined cost to deliver those interventions and associated outcomes. Accordingly, VBCs do not put a price on nature, but instead put a price on the human labour and technology cost to cause biodiversity conservation and/or enhancement.
- VBCs are generated to fulfil nature-positive aspirations and assertions without being used for compliance purposes nor offsetting biodiversity loss elsewhere.
- Biodiversity custodians are defined as stakeholders in the biodiversity value chain and ecosystems identified as having rights to or being responsible for the natural resources within a project site. Identifying these entities or persons for a parcel of land is essential to ensure adequate incentives and compensation for its protection and enhancement.
The BCA in Perspective
Being primarily an alliance of experienced field-based conservation practitioners and academics, BCA’s value is the direct connection to communities, project supply and science. The BCA aims to define and categorise biodiversity credits, co-develop a model set of digital standards for the market, and establish a peer review mechanism for biodiversity credits.
The BCA and its members will continue to work with partners in the biodiversity credits market in relation to their integrity and governance initiatives.
The BCA is open to and welcomes discussions on how it can cooperate with ecological standard setters. Members of the BCA are already participating actively in standard setters’ working groups on biodiversity credits.
BCA's Objectives
- To define and categorise biodiversity credits
- To identify global biodiversity credit principles (global principles) that all biodiversity credit methodologies should achieve
- To develop and/or identify a model set of Digital Standards that can be adopted into Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) to create a transparent, easily auditable and scalable ecosystem for biodiversity credits.
- To establish a peer review mechanism for methodologies against the global principles
- Index of all credits issued under the Global Principals
- To establish a community of practice for those organisations in the quantification of biodiversity credits.
A Digital Approach
To attract the funding required to set us on the path to achieve the 2030 nature positive goal, scalability should be front of mind. Lack of trust, transparency and traceability will impede rapid growth.
The BCA aims to learn from the mistakes made in the development of the carbon credit market: many of its principles, while following science, did not plan for scalability including the design and deployment of technology like Distributed Ledger Technology ( DLT) in its architecture.
BCA’s goal is to have verification integrated within Web3 / DLT policy engines, helping shape a scalable and trusted biodiversity credits market.
BCA Governance
Secretariat
The BCA Secretariat, led by the BCA Coordinator, will facilitate the BCA’s work by supporting the Taskforce, Task Force working groups, Forum, and Communities Advisory Panel. The formal Secretariat will be established by July 2023. The BCA Secretariat is supported by UNEP, UNEP FI and SIDA.
Lead developers
Experts who help lead the development of concepts for each element of the BCA mandate, including: VBC definitions, global principles, credit categorization, peer-reviewing structure & process, and digital architecture.
Task-force
The BCA Task-Force is the main working organ of the BCA, and primary reviewers of concepts developed by lead developers. Task Force members form focused working groups to work with Lead Developers on specific elements of the BCA mandate. TF membership is limited to:
- biodiversity credit methodology developers,
- biodiversity standard-setters,
- academic and research institutions working on the subject of biodiversity quantification for market transactions.
Communities Advisory Panel
The mission of the Communities Advisory Panel (CAP) is to fully and effectively engage nature-dependent IPs and LCs in the design and development of BCA principles and products and secure full respect of the rights of IPs and LCs therein.
As much as 80% of the world’s biodiversity is found in the lands and territories of nature-dependent Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs). It is understood that nature-dependent IPs and LCs will in many (if not most) cases stand to benefit as key beneficiaries of proceeds generated by the sale of biodiversity credits. It is therefore paramount that the BCA develops its principles and products together with IPs and LCs and with full respect of their rights.
As much as 80% of the world’s biodiversity is found in the lands and territories of nature-dependent Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs). It is understood that nature-dependent IPs and LCs will in many (if not most) cases stand to benefit as key beneficiaries of proceeds generated by the sale of biodiversity credits. It is therefore paramount that the BCA develops its principles and products together with IPs and LCs and with full respect of their rights.
Forum
The BCA Forum is a global multi-disciplinary advisory group, composed of institutions who share the vision and mission of the BCA and make themselves available to contribute to its work or benefit from it. BCA Forum may review and contribute to BCA's outputs as elaborated by BCA TF. The work of the BCA Forum is arranged for by the BCA Secretariat.
Broad membership is envisaged and may include (as an example) the following categories of organizations:
Broad membership is envisaged and may include (as an example) the following categories of organizations:
- Private sector companies
- Governments
- International organizations
- Multilateral development institutions and banks
- NGOs
- Data developers and data providers
- Market facilitators
BCA Task Force Members
BCA Forum Members
- Green Belt Ltd
- NatureMetrics
- Holmstone
- Sabbio
- Fauna & Flora International
- SLR Consulting
- Revalue Earth
- AECOM
- Arauco
- Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
- Dorr Asset Management
- Sustainable Finance Coalition
- Soil Capital
- ETIFOR Benefit Corporation
- Overseas Environmental Cooperation Center, Japan
- Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
- AMES Foundation
- RSPB
- LEGACY HABITAT BANK LIMITED
- Regen Network Development
- Forico
- EcoAdvisors
- Whinfell Partners | FishReef.org
- Viridis Terra International
- Nattergal
- Marsden Jacob Associates
- Numerco
- Federated Hermes Limited
- Banca de Inversión Sostenible
- TBN Atlantic Rainforest
- ClimeCo
- Amazon Investor Coalition
- Earthly
- Ol Pejeta Conservancy
- Finance Earth
- Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), Universiti Sains Malaysia
- SoilWater Ltd.
- Respira
- SEED/Crowther Lab
- Conservation Finance Alliance
- WBCSD
- Accounting for Nature
- LandBanking Group
- Wilderlands
- Cassinia
- The Biodiversity Consultancy
- Institut de la Finance Durable - Paris Europlace
- Alliance Ecology Ltd
- Single.Earth
- ClimateTrade
- Scottish Forum on Natural Capital
- Toha
- Nori
- ClearBlue Markets
- Running Tide
- Regen Farmers Mutual
- Greensway (Ecology consultancy)
- THE ARK
- C-Quest Capital
- Conservation Strategy Fund
- South West Catchments Council
- Ecosphere+
- BioCarbon Registry
- Climate Farmers
- Conserve Global
- Bella Biochar Corporation
- The Table Mountain Fund
- FSD Africa
- American Bird Conservancy
- Francis Badii Professional Consultancy Services
- FirstRand Group
- Plockhugget
- Anthesis Group
- Thallo
- BMO Radicle
- NatureFinance
- Natural Capital Alliance
- Archireef Limited
- C4 Ecosolutions
- Skogr Kaupa Group AB
- Nadar
- EQX
- Landscape Lab
- Intrinsic Exchange Group
- The Works Research Institute B.V.
- Seas The Opportunity
- BMV GLOBAL
- Ecogain
- Wadappt.io
- BGCI
- Permutable AI
- MRV Collective
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Disclaimer: Being a member of, or participating in, the BCA Taskforce and/or Forum does not involve entering into a contractual partnership or other formal relationship with BCA or its funding partners, nor does engagement or participation of organizations in the BCA mean endorsement by BCA’s funding partners of the participant’s business activities or conduct