Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria for projects wishing to use this methodology

The Indicator Species Biodiversity Methodology (ISBM) is applicable to projects that meet the following eligibility criteria:

Table 1. Eligibility criteria for ISBM

	Criteria	Description
	Project activities	Conservation initiatives aiming to maintain the “in situ” conditions” of biodiversity, avoiding losses in biodiversity. The conservation activities prevent the partial or total loss of an ecosystem, population or species, or the extinction of an endemic and or threatened species.
	Implementation entity	Entities implementing the projects can be any recognized legal entity, and they should have a clear mandate from the local Indigenous people to represent the project in their area.
	Land rights	Proof of land ownership, possession, stewardship, or land-use rights must be legally valid and compliant with Cercarbono’s program requirements. BCPs must have documentation from all land-rights holders for project implementation.
	Identification of stakeholders and beneficiaries	All IP and LCs must be identified, and their inclusion in remuneration from the project transparently disclosed.
	Vulnerability	The project area is vulnerable to or on a trajectory towards biodiversity loss due to degradation and/or deforestation if no program is implemented.
	Prior funding or stacking	As addressed in BCPP additionality section. The location to be conserved has not received previous funding through mechanisms that overlap in time or duplicateconflict with the funding to be allocated by biodiversity credit. Projects may only stack VBCs with carbon crediting if they can clearly demonstrate they are doing additional activities (over and above what they are doing for carbon).
	Project Scale	The minimum project geography must encompass an area that is the size of the natural range of an individual of the indicator species that qualify for validation of biodiversity. Projects can include adjacent or non-adjacent properties with a trajectory to create contiguous areas.
	Geographical location	No limitations. This methodology was developed with tropical rainforests in mind but it can be adapted with appropriate evidence for other geographies.
	Legal projects	Projects must comply with all relevant local, regional, national, and international laws and regulations.
	Project duration	Projects should be viable for the long-term future, preferably for a maximum of 30 years, but IP and LC contracts may be structured as autorenewing yearly, and cancellable after one year.
	Governance	Governance of the project should be driven by a collaborative approach with IP and LC and transparency into all aspects of the project.