Ecological Compensation – Challenges And Opportunities

Voluntary ecological compensation in brief

The overall reform of nature conservation legislation is currently underway. The government proposal concerning the Nature Conservation Act was submitted to Parliament on 12 May 2022 and the new act is intended to enter into force on 1 June 2023. One entirely new addition to the Act in particular has already given rise to a great deal of debate. The amendment in question concerns voluntary ecological compensation.

Pursuant to the proposed Nature Conservation Act, ecological compensation refers to "offsetting the degradation of species and habitat types by improving the state of species and habitat types outside the area of degradation after to primarily avoiding and secondarily minimising the degradation and, if possible, restoring the state of the degraded species and habitat types in the area of degradation".