Appendix M: How to calculate a biodiversity credit by hand
We DON'T recommend manual calculations. But if you want to do them, here’s how.
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We DON'T recommend manual calculations. But if you want to do them, here’s how.
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Biodiversity credits can be calculated by hand, but there is a high probability of error from data overlapping in space and time. Here are simple instructions for how to do this using the free software Google Earth Engine Pro with sample videos.
A simple .kml polygon of the in your BCP site can be generated on Google Earth Engine software using geocoordinates.
Tip: For manual calculations, select observations that do not overlap in time as time is the most difficult summation by hand.
3) Calculate the area credited
Draw a polygon by hand that gives you the intersection of the crediting area and the observation area. The number of hectares in the area, multiplied by the indicator-species integrity score will be the number of your biodiversity credits.
4) Overlapping observations
Overlapping observations with different integrity scores should achieve the highest integrity score in the merged area.
Create a shape for your where the area of the circle equates to the home range of the species in the observation.
As described in the section, overlapping observations with the same date, will have a merged crediting area.