Assessing the performance of Ecological Compensation in Sweden : A comparative case study of an emerging tool in different contexts

Abstract: The concept of ecological compensation (EC) assumes that ecological values are substitutable across spatial units. EC is increasingly recognised in Sweden as a novel policy instrument for land-use planning, however, it suffers from inconsistency in application and outcome. For example, there are no legal provisions to require EC for urban development or new roads and railways. This study shows that there are many context dependent variables affecting the performance of EC in Sweden, which can partly be explained by authorities’ lacking experience in administrating these questions, and by the absence of a standardised structure for handling the full EC process. These shortcomings together with an inadequate legislation may cause EC to result in “license-to-trash” and fails to guarantee no net loss of ecological values. The performance of EC in Sweden was assessed through two case studies: the Sigtuna trading estate and the Aitik mine expansions. Implementation procedures and compensation designs were investigated by analysis of written documents and semi-structured interviews. The data was structured in an analytical framework, displaying similarities and context dependent disparities. The results suggest that, for the Aitik-case, licence-to-trash is a risk if compensation schemes are reviewed by the regulatory authorities during the processing of the application. The Sigtuna case suggests, opposed to earlier findings, that the Plan and Building Act can be utilised for EC if the compensation measures are regulated in a development agreement between the municipality and the landowner/developer. Both cases suggest that additionality can be met by appropriate institutional design, whereas no net loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services hardly can be achieved within the existing Swedish legal framework. To improve the performance of EC, structures for handling the process from quantification of social and ecological values, to monitoring of compensation outcomes must be implemented in all development projects affecting nature.