Nature and carbon standard Plan Vivo has launched a second consultation on its ‘PV Nature Methodology’, making significant changes from the first draft based on public feedback, such as introducing a standardised way to collect and analyse data, and amendments to the calculating of percentage change in biodiversity.
The so-called ‘PV Nature Public Consultation 2.0: Methodology’ opened Monday and will run until Sep. 4, asking stakeholders to review the updated draft of the PV Nature Methodology, following the first consultation that took place earlier in the year.
British biodiversity analytics startup Pivotal collaborated in drawing up the latest version, which makes “significant” changes to the first iteration, according to the Plan Vivo website.
The methodology presented in the first public consultation was that of the Wallacea Trust, which pioneered a ‘percentage change per hectare’ approach and linked the measurement of this change to a ‘basket of metrics’.
However, taking into account feedback from the first consultation, which opened in Feb. 2023, the new PV Nature methodology will continue to employ the percentage change per hectare and species-based approach to generate certificates but employs a different method to how that percentage change is calculated.
The second draft also includes a set of protocols that standardise how biodiversity data is collected and analysed, to try and increase the rigour with which biodiversity outcomes are assessed and evidenced.
This will enable the full data pipeline to be audited via third-party verification.
As part of this next phase, resources are also being developed to support projects in collecting the required data, aimed at helping as many as possible access the methodology in future.
CERTIFICATES
Eventually, Plan Vivo Biodiversity Certificates (PVBCs) will be issued to projects that can demonstrate, using the in-development methodology, there is high-quality, auditable data that provides evidence of biodiversity outcomes.
“In other words, PVBCs are only issued where there is evidence that species and habitats have benefited,” the Plan Vivo website states.
Each PVBC will represent measured, evidenced outcomes delivered for biodiversity – either via ecosystem restoration or the protection of globally important species and habitats, it continued.
Under the PV Nature Methodology, projects must collect and report data on a number of broad species groups, across a range of trophic levels.
This may be on birds, plants, amphibians, or bats, for example.
“It will not be possible to issue certificates based on numbers of one iconic species or on simple measures like area of habitat, because these types of very simple indicators do not reliably represent ecosystem health,” Plan Vivo said.
The firm announced its partnership with Pivotal in July, as they aim to launch the Biodiversity Standard, PV Nature, by the end of 2023.
The methodology for calculation of PVBCs will be open source and published in full, the firms confirmed.
By Roy Manuell – roy@carbon-pulse.com
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