Compensation for impacts in biodiversity and natural resources

This article reviews the latest regulatory trend in relation to biodiversity and natural resources compensation. To this effect, we analyze several legal provisions in which these types of compensation measures con be found, with a special focus on the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA, for its Spanysh acronym), established by LAw N° 19.300, wich sets fort the General Environmental Framework. According to the SEIA, besides complying with the applicable environmental regulation, the project owner must mitigate, repair and/or compensate the significant environmental impacts the project produces, although the SEIA's Regulation does not establish in detail wich standards the compensation measures must fulfill. Therefore, in 2014 the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA, for its Spanish acronym) prepared the Guide for the Biodiversity Compensation within the SEIA, wich provides a series of elements to consider in the adequate implementation of compensation measures for the loss of biodiversity. Thus, considering the criteria developed in the aforementioned Regulation and Guide, we review practical cases from the SEIA, explaining how such criteria have been applied. Finally, we reflect upon whether such compensation mechanisms are sufficient to guarantee the protection of our biodiversity and natural resources, and about the direction in which we should now advance.