Calculation

Calculating biodiversity credits under the indicator species biodiversity methodology

The core of the methodology is this. We have a fungible, traceable, and culturally translatable metric for conserved biodiversity which is interoperable with other biodiversity metrics and methodologies.

A VBC under the ISBM represents 30 days of 1 hectare of a protected ecosystem with a value corresponding to the baseline ecosystem value (normalized to four levels). The protection of the ecosystem is determined by the presence of a qualified indicator species and its integrity score. Which if <1.0, may result in fractional crediting.

Here is an example site, with one year of data showing an interactive view of this methodology. Following, we will explain the sequential steps required to arrive at this view.

Figure 7. Biodiversity credits appearing and disappearing over time with different species observations.

It should be noted that calculations are simple in theory, and relatively complex in execution. The complexity has been offloaded to open-source computer code in order to make the observation points required at a project level simpler.

Here we explain the theory and the logic of the computer code but recommend BCPs use automated calculations from a vetted source.

However, all calculations can be easily automated, and open-source code for this is available Appendix G while manual calculations are demonstrated in Appendix M.

The calculations are devised to avoid double-crediting under a simplified methodology that does not identify individual species. Any specific hectare of land can only be counted only once at any given time, and cannot achieve a value greater than 1.0, nor will it achieve full crediting if the indicator species found there does not merit it.