Biodiversity Metrics Guidance
Biodiversity metrics describe landscape, water, adaptation, and nature-stewardship outcomes. They combine physical ecological indicators with one financial-dimension stewardship metric.
Metrics
Section titled “Metrics”| Metric | Unit | Reporting Boundary | Primary Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distributions to Nature | currency | Money directed to nature stewards, ecological reinvestment, or equivalent stewardship channels. | Ledger entries, distribution approvals, bank records, steward receipts. |
| Landscape Restoration | hectares | Distinct area restored or under active restoration through the project. | GIS boundary, restoration plan, field records, imagery, monitoring reports. |
| Farmland Adaptation | hectares | Farmland area under adaptation practices supported by the project. | Farm records, adoption records, GIS or parcel list, field verification. |
| Freshwater Conserved | KL | Freshwater savings or conservation attributable to the project for the period. | Metering, water-balance calculation, baseline method, operating logs. |
Distributions To Nature
Section titled “Distributions To Nature”This metric reports a money flow. It is grouped under Biodiversity because the economic purpose is nature stewardship, but its dimension is financial. Report the amount distributed or allocated in the period, not the cumulative lifetime commitment unless the submission clearly labels it as cumulative.
Common errors include reporting budgeted stewardship amounts before they are approved, mixing sponsor distributions with steward distributions, or reporting a cumulative account balance as a monthly distribution.
Landscape Restoration
Section titled “Landscape Restoration”Landscape Restoration should be reported in hectares. Sponsors should define the landscape boundary and distinguish newly restored area from area already under restoration. Where progress is staged, the submission should explain whether the value represents planted area, treated area, maintained area, or verified restored area.
Farmland Adaptation
Section titled “Farmland Adaptation”Farmland Adaptation should capture hectares under adaptation practices, not counts of farms. A project may keep farm-count records internally, but the common RICA metric uses hectares so projects of different farm sizes can be compared more reliably.
Freshwater Conserved
Section titled “Freshwater Conserved”Freshwater Conserved should report kilolitres conserved or saved against a clear baseline. Reviewers should test whether the baseline is credible and whether savings are being double-counted across equipment efficiency, reduced losses, or changed production levels.