In recent years mining companies have become actively engaged in promoting ‘biodiversity offsetting’ as a way of ‘greening’ the mining sector. Biodiversity offsets are effectively a promise to make up for destroying biodiversity in one location by protecting biodiversity said to be at risk of being said to be at risk elsewhere. In practice, this gives companies a licence to continue with environmentally destructive operations. (...)

The Rio Tinto QMM biodiversity offset project in the Anosy region of southeastern Madagascar is probably the most widely advertised offset project in the mining sector. Many glossy brochures - published by IUCN, BirdLife International, the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, and the Business and
Biodiversity Offsets Programme (BBOP) for example - showcase the Rio Tinto QMM initiative as an exemplary biodiversity offset initiative. They repeat the mining giant’s promise that mining will not only compensate for biodiversity loss but even have a “Net Positive Impact” on biodiversity in the end.(...)

What do those most directly affected by the Rio Tinto QMM biodiversity offset make of this pilot initiative in the mining sector ?

A joint Re:Common and World Rainforest Movement (WRM) field investigation in September 2015 sought the views of villagers living in the vicinity of a Rio Tinto QMM offset project site :

For more information download the complete report below :

Rio Tinto’s biodiversity offset in Madagascar