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The enforcement of biodiversity offsets is of utmost important for their effectiveness. According to many studies, the principal reasons offsets fail to achieve their intended purpose in regulatory systems are the lack of clear and unambiguous policy requirements, insufficient political will to require high standards, and inadequate monitoring, oversight and enforcement (Pilgrim and Ekstrom 2014). While many studies have been conducted on the standards that biodiversity offsets should meet in order to reach a no net loss of biodiversity, enforcement issues are often understudied. Yet, in the absence of adequate enforcement strategies, developers and offset suppliers are not incentivised to implement high quality offsets. In order to ensure their effectiveness, biodiversity offsets must be incorporated in binding legal tool and stated in terms that are sufficiently precise as to their content and objectives to generate enforceable obligations. In addition, responsible parties should be clearly identified (developer, offset suppliers and bank sponsors, intermediaries, …). Whereas developers are often the only party legally liable in first-party offsets, banking schemes usually operate a transfer of responsibility to the bank sponsors. The major advantage of transferring the responsibility of the biodiversity offsets measure is to facilitate the enforcement of the measures. If the project fails, public authorities can deal with the failure directly with the person in charge of implementing the measures instead of having to pursue each developer separately. Furthermore, public authorities should have at their disposal a variety of enforcement tools from monitoring powers to the application of several remedies. In this regard, the nature of enforcement means may have important impacts on stakeholders (Earnhart and Glicksman 2015). Whereas some public authorities rely on strong legal remedies (penalties, injunctive relief, forced execution), others adopt cooperative strategies (negotiation and adaptation of offset requirements) or economic approaches (financial guarantees, accreditation, progressive release of biodiversity credits). Lastly, public enforcement may be complemented by private enforcement through the use of conservation easements or citizen suits provisions (Owley 2013). 1. Pilgrim JD and Ekstrom JMM, Technical Conditions for Positive Outcomes from Biodiversity Offsets: An Input Paper for the IUCN Technical Study Group on Biodiversity Offsets (IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 2014) 2. Earnhart DH and Glicksman RL, 'Coercive vs. Cooperative Enforcement: Effect of Enforcement Approach on Environmental Management' 42 International Review of Law and Economics 135 3. Owley J, 'From Citizen Suits to Conservation Easements: The Increasing Private Role in Public Permit Enforcement' (2013) 43 Environmental Law Reporter 10486 ; peerReviewed

Résumé : Dans un contexte marqué par une perte sans précédent de biodiversité, la compensation écologique fait beaucoup parler d'elle. Au-delà des débats idéologiques, tous s'accordent sur la nécessité de réglementer strictement le mécanisme, tant la compensation soulève des défis juridiques, scientifiques et pratiques. Attendue depuis longtemps, la loi pour la reconquête de la biodiversité, de la nature et des paysages (RBNP), publiée le 8 août 2016, apporte ainsi des modifications significatives à son régime juridique dans le but d'en améliorer l'efficacité et d'en faciliter la mise en œuvre. Loin de constituer une révolution, cette réforme entérine certaines pratiques ainsi que des standards issus des recherches et des retours d'expériences depuis une dizaine d'années. Abstract: In a context whereby biodiversity has known an alarming decline, compensatory measures, also known as biodiversity ofsets, have been the object of heated debate. Aside from the ethical considerations, the lack of a legal framework that sets clear guidelines and safeguards as regards ecological equivalency, additionality, proportionality, long-term protection, and stakeholder participation opens the door to a "licence to trash". It was therefore essential for the legislator to tackle the issue. In line with the criteria and solutions developed by the scientiic community, the new French Biodiversity Act establishes a series of standards aimed at improving the efectiveness of compensatory measures. Additionally, it endorses some of the tools developed by stakeholders to facilitate their implementation.

The article provides a comprehensive comparison between concurrent offset schemes in New South Wales (NSW), Australia: the biobanking scheme and the negotiation of offsets within the traditional development control and planning system. In an attempt to improve the protection of biodiversity values in NSW, the Parliament adopted in 2006 an offset scheme (biobanking) that aims to better integrate biodiversity values into development projects. Rather than making it mandatory, the scheme works in parallel with the existing negotiation of biodiversity offsets under the traditional assessment and approval process. As the biobanking scheme is voluntary, its effectiveness depends in part on its attractiveness as compared with the alternative route. While the article helps to better understand how the biobanking scheme operates in theory and in practice, its teachings are particularly useful in the European Union context, with the European Commission currently developing a no net loss policy (action 7b of the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy) and several Member States adopting habitat banking and offset policies. The NSW experience highlights the importance of carefully integrating banking and offset schemes within the existing legal framework for assessing and approving impacts on biodiversity. It also highlights the need to establish common decision-making and offset standards applicable to all developers, whether they compensate on a case-by case basis or through the use of biodiversity credits

Résumé : Dans un contexte marqué par une perte sans précédent de biodiversité, la compensation écologique fait beaucoup parler d'elle. Au-delà des débats idéologiques, tous s'accordent sur la nécessité de réglementer strictement le mécanisme, tant la compensation soulève des défis juridiques, scientifiques et pratiques. Attendue depuis longtemps, la loi pour la reconquête de la biodiversité, de la nature et des paysages (RBNP), publiée le 8 août 2016, apporte ainsi des modifications significatives à son régime juridique dans le but d'en améliorer l'efficacité et d'en faciliter la mise en œuvre. Loin de constituer une révolution, cette réforme entérine certaines pratiques ainsi que des standards issus des recherches et des retours d'expériences depuis une dizaine d'années. Abstract: In a context whereby biodiversity has known an alarming decline, compensatory measures, also known as biodiversity ofsets, have been the object of heated debate. Aside from the ethical considerations, the lack of a legal framework that sets clear guidelines and safeguards as regards ecological equivalency, additionality, proportionality, long-term protection, and stakeholder participation opens the door to a "licence to trash". It was therefore essential for the legislator to tackle the issue. In line with the criteria and solutions developed by the scientiic community, the new French Biodiversity Act establishes a series of standards aimed at improving the efectiveness of compensatory measures. Additionally, it endorses some of the tools developed by stakeholders to facilitate their implementation.

The article provides a comprehensive comparison between concurrent offset schemes in New South Wales (NSW), Australia: the biobanking scheme and the negotiation of offsets within the traditional development control and planning system. In an attempt to improve the protection of biodiversity values in NSW, the Parliament adopted in 2006 an offset scheme (biobanking) that aims to better integrate biodiversity values into development projects. Rather than making it mandatory, the scheme works in parallel with the existing negotiation of biodiversity offsets under the traditional assessment and approval process. As the biobanking scheme is voluntary, its effectiveness depends in part on its attractiveness as compared with the alternative route. While the article helps to better understand how the biobanking scheme operates in theory and in practice, its teachings are particularly useful in the European Union context, with the European Commission currently developing a no net loss policy (action 7b of the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy) and several Member States adopting habitat banking and offset policies. The NSW experience highlights the importance of carefully integrating banking and offset schemes within the existing legal framework for assessing and approving impacts on biodiversity. It also highlights the need to establish common decision-making and offset standards applicable to all developers, whether they compensate on a case-by case basis or through the use of biodiversity credits

Résumé La fiction est le biais par lequel l'artiste conceptuel libanais Walid Raad conjugue les thèmes de la guerre et de l'histoire dans ses œuvres. En 1999, il fonde l'Atlas Group, un centre d'archives destiné à rassembler des documents de toutes sortes relatifs à l'histoire récente du Liban. Les dossiers conservés par cette organisation renferment des témoignages de personnes ayant eu une expérience particulière des guerres civiles qui frappèrent le pays entre 1975 et 1990. Or, la fondation elle-même, les récits ainsi que leurs auteurs sont fictifs. Que penser alors de ce qui se donne à voir et à lire dans les œuvres de Walid Raad, de ce qui se présente pour vrai, sans dissimuler toutefois les indices du subterfuge ? Utilisant les techniques de l'archive, empruntant aux méthodes scientifiques et journalistiques pour restituer les événements, se servant du modèle de la reconstitution historique, l'artiste détourne ces moyens pour déceler les aspects les plus diffus de l'impact d'une guerre sur la psychologie humaine, s'interroger sur le récit de l'histoire, réfléchir sur la construction d'une mémoire collective.