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  • Executive summary
  • Front Material
    • Contents
    • Index of figures
    • Index of tables
    • Acronyms and abbreviations
    • Terms and definitions
  • Getting started
  • Introduction
    • The urgency of targeted biodiversity conservation
    • Simplicity, complexity theory, and biodiversity
    • Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local communities by design
    • Biodiversity methodology benefits
  • Overall description
    • Objectives
    • Scope
    • Limitations
  • Project description
    • Principles
      • Principles of working with IP
    • Eligibility criteria
      • Land ownership and law
    • Additionality
    • Project boundaries
      • Spatial limits of the BCP
      • Temporal limits of the BCP
      • Grouped projects
    • Implementation plan
      • Measurement approaches
      • Indicator species observations
      • Risks and uncertainty
    • Effective participation
      • Community involvement
      • Capacity for action
      • Financial transparency
      • Safeguards checklist
  • Calculation
    • Unit calculations
    • Area calculations
    • Time calculations
    • Integrity calculations
    • Value calculations
  • Baseline assessment
    • Baseline ecosystem categorization
    • Analysis of agents and drivers of biodiversity loss
    • Baseline biodiversity (optional)
    • Baseline risk of biodiversity loss
    • Indicator species selection
    • Indicator species integrity score
  • SDG contributions
  • Monitoring plan
    • Monitoring report
    • Additional monitoring requirements
  • Authors
  • References
  • Appendices
    • Appendix A: Biodiversity methodologies comparison table
    • Appendix B: Sample legal proof of land control
    • Appendix C: Sample baseline ecosystem categorization
    • Appendix D: Species categorization of richness
    • Appendix E: Sample selection of indicator species
    • Appendix F: Sample indicator-species observations
    • Appendix G: Sample open-source code and calculation
    • Appendix H: Indigenous authors
    • Appendix I: Letters of support
      • Fernando Ayerbe, Ornithology
      • Ned Hording, Biodiversity
      • Olber Llanos, Zoologist
      • Mike McColm, Ethnology
      • Peter Thomas, Anthropologist
      • Jesús Argente, Marine biology
      • Sara Andreotti, Marine Biologist
      • Carolina Romero, Lawyer.
      • Daniel Urbano, Herpetologist
      • Ramesh Boonratana PhD, Primatologist
      • Theodore Schmitt, Conservationists
      • Anja Hutschenreiter, Ecologist and Tropical Conservationist
      • Miguel Chindoy, Indigenous leader
    • Appendix J: Sample uses of biodiversity unit
    • Appendix K: How to do FPIC
    • Appendix L: Independent Expert Panel Checklist
    • Appendix M: How to calculate a biodiversity credit by hand
    • Appendix N: How to calculate home ranges
    • Appendix O: How to calculate integrity scores
  • Document history
  • Disclaimer
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  1. Calculation

Unit calculations

This methodology uses an interoperable unit for biodiversity crediting

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Last updated 1 year ago

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This methodology calculates biodiversity and issues VBC credits using an interoperable unit which is also used by other types of methodologies (eg. restoration or impact assessments). This allows for international accounting under Kunming-Montreal and NBSAPs. A full description of the Indigenous-led interoperable unit which has been negotiated with stakeholders cross-market is .

In brief, the unit is:

A fixed of one hectare, for a fixed of one month with measured reported on a scale from 0-1. Where full integrity is an ecosystem with every ecological niche available to, and filled by, native species.

The unit is independently categorized by its location and assigned a (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) representing the underlying biodiversity density and threat of the ecosystem.

This methodology issues conservation biodiversity credits, therefore it is most accurate at the high-end of the Integrity scale, and is concerned with demonstrating no change, in the integrity of an ecosystem.

The calculation formula for this methodology is:

VBCs=∑a∈A∑t=1TIntegritya,t\textrm{VBCs}= \sum_{a \in A} \sum_{t=1}^{T} \textrm{Integrity}_{a, t} VBCs=a∈A∑​t=1∑T​Integritya,t​

Variables:

  • Where a is the unit area (one hectare)

  • Where A is the project area

  • Where t is the unit time (one month), the starting point of a unit time is t=0, and the end of the first unit time is t=1.

  • Where T is the monitoring period

Notes:

  • Under Cercarbono's adoption of this methodology, and hopefully under others, the first year of this methodology’s adoption under certification bodies it will issue iVBCs. After which if accepted by the market projects will automatically convert to issuance of VBCs.

The unit and the ISBM methodology were developed concurrently but have since taken on related but divergent paths. As many other types of methodologies began to adopt the unit for alternative biodiversity actions.

Next we will discuss calculations of this unit that are specific to this methodology.

here
Area
Time
Integrity
Value
iVBCs and VBCs.
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