Work package 1
WP1 examines how biodiversity offsetting can be a means for a just transition towards No Net Loss Finland (PI Huttunen). For offsetting to become a useful tool in practice, there is a need to (i) critically assess its role in the context of conservation policies and related institutional environment, and (ii) understand public perceptions and legitimacy of biodiversity offsetting. This will include developing an understanding how socio-cultural and political factors can be included better in the applications of ecological compensations We will examine how biodiversity offsets align with the broader societal context in which conservation policy decisions are made and how it fits institutionally with existing policy-making practices and tools for nature conservation and natural resource governance in Finland. We will interview relevant policy actors including officials, industry representatives and stakeholder organizations, analyse state and organizational policies and organise workshops to develop a shared understanding of public perceptions and legitimacy of offsets. Parallel with the institutional context, we will reveal the preconditions of public legitimacy of offsets via a survey targeted at citizens. The survey will be co-designed and analysed with the Living Labs (WP6), and the survey, workshop series and interviews will feed to the legal analysis in WP2.

Suvi Huttunen (PI)
SYKE
Tuija Seppälä
SYKE

Heidi Lehtiniemi
SYKE

Juha Peltomaa
SYKE

Iikka Oinonen
SYKE
Liisa Varumo
SYKE