ECOLOGICAL COMPENSATION

ERC sequence and compensatory measures

The law for the recovery of biodiversity, nature and landscapes of August 8, 2016 strengthens the obligation to compensate for the residual impacts of a project and sets a new framework: the sequence “Avoid – Reduce – Compensate”.

The ERC sequence carries a hierarchical principle. The first is to avoid the impacts of a development project as much as possible, then to reduce them and finally to compensate for them.

Current ecological equivalence calculations still raise scientific and technical questions as to the concepts and knowledge to be mobilized and the evaluation methods to be developed and implemented. This field is all the more experimental in the marine field where no method is really validated.

Despite its limits, the calculation of ecological equivalence is an opportunity to share a rational view of compensation measures by integrating quantified data on the area and ecosystem services rendered by habitats.

Andromède Océanologie offers a simple and operational calculation derived from the American method UMAM (Uniform Mitigation Assessment Method, Florida administrative code) as well as a complete panel of measures adapted to shipyards.