AUTHORS: Patrick ten Brink – Samuela Bassi – Tomas Badura – Kaley Hart – M. Pieterse

A recent CBD Decision (X/44) on Incentive Measures encourages Parties to the Convention to adopt a range of policy measures and regulations designed to promote positive incentives and phase out perverse incentives, as well as to account for the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services in decision making.

Based on existing international guidance for the identification and reform of environmentally harmful subsidies and building on IEEP, TEEB and OECD work, this guidance document was developed to assist the assessment and reform of incentives harmful to biodiversity. The aim is to provide a framework that is broadly applicable to a wide range of subsidies and incentives, but also amenable to further developments and tailoring should it be used for more sector-specific assessments. The guidance is intended to be relevant both in the UK and internationally.

The application of the guidance is illustrated with reference to three UK case studies, examining the CAP Single Farm Payment, water abstraction licensing and incentives for renewable energy.