Manual de Compensaciones por Pérdida de Biodiversidad — Colombia's National Biodiversity Offset Framework

Colombia holds an estimated 14% of the planet's biodiversity, yet rapid expansion of mining, oil and gas, and infrastructure licensing — an estimated 24 million of the country's approximately 79 million hectares of remaining natural cover had been authorised for exploration and development — created pressure for a standardised way to compensate unavoidable biodiversity loss from licensed projects.

Building on Law 99 of 1993 (Article 50) and Resolution 1503 of 2010, Colombia's Ministry of Environment adopted Resolution 1517 of 2012, establishing the Manual for Allocating Compensations for Biodiversity Loss (MACPB) — later folded into the broader Manual de Compensaciones del Componente Biótico, updated in 2018 and again in 2026 by the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA). The manual requires licensees in mining, hydrocarbons, infrastructure, electrical, maritime and port sectors to offset residual biodiversity impacts using a science-based ratio combining four factors — representation in protected areas, ecological rarity, remaining extent relative to historic distribution, and the rate of loss over the preceding six years — each scored from 1:1 (no gap) to 3:1 (complete omission). A landscape-scale pilot applying this framework across five development-pressure zones (coal mining in Cesar, gold mining in Sur de Bolívar, a port at Bahía Tribugá, a road in Meta, and oil and gas in Casanare) found that compensating 2,518 ha of threatened natural ecosystem overlapping coal-mining development in Cesar required 12,890 ha of offsets — individual ratios of 7:1 to 9:1 depending on ecosystem rarity.

In practice, the framework has driven real land-based compensation. For the Hidrosogamoso hydroelectric dam, operator ISAGEN, the national parks authority (Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia) and the NGO Patrimonio Natural purchased 40 private properties inside Serranía de los Yariguíes National Park (59,063 ha, department of Santander) for ecosystem restoration between 2013 and 2018.

Independent academic review (published in Sustainability, 2013, and subsequent policy-conflict studies) documents significant shortcomings: offset security was historically required for only a three-year period — described by researchers as 'clearly inadequate' against permanent development impacts — and site selection has often lacked genuine ecological equivalency to the areas damaged. Critics, including environmental groups writing in the World Rainforest Movement bulletin, argue that offsets can help extractive projects present an image of environmental redress while continuing biodiversity loss, rather than delivering a verified no-net-loss outcome.

Read the full analysis: https://archivo.minambiente.gov.co/images/BosquesBiodiversidadyServiciosEcosistemicos/pdf/gestion_en_biodiversidad/180912_manual_compensaciones.pdf