biodiversity offsets

The protection of the environment in which cashmere goats, farmers and farming communities live is one of the central aims of The Good Cashmere Standard. One of its key principles in this regard is that goat farming should have no negative impact on the environment, especially on the land and biodiversity. The Standard also contains criteria regarding the responsible use of fertilisers and pesticides, which define when and how it is appropriate to deploy them. The Standard additionally stipulates that farmers co-exist with wildlife and restrain from negatively impacting biodiversity on and around the areas that they manage.

The protection of the environment in which cashmere goats, farmers and farming communities live is one of the central aims of The Good Cashmere Standard. One of its key principles in this regard is that goat farming should have no negative impact on the environment, especially on the land and biodiversity. The Standard also contains criteria regarding the responsible use of fertilisers and pesticides, which de

Meanwhile, a large mining operation in the region needed biodiversity offsets to comply with performance standards required by its lender, the International Finance Corporation. By partnering across these sectors, Kering could intervene in their supply chain with additional resources from mining offset commitments, to secure a future supply of better quality cashmere while also securing the livelihoods of the herders, improving the local environment, conserving biodiversity and even enhancing the air quality of major cities almost 10,000km apart.

WCS's Sustainable Cashmere project may offer part of the solution. The project, whose budget the organizers won't disclose, is funded by mining giant Rio Tinto, which runs a massive copper mine not far away, and Kering, the French luxury apparel giant that owns Gucci, Balenciaga, and other brands. Both aim to help offset their impact on the Mongolian environment, a requirement of Rio's mining agreement and part of Kering's corporate social responsibility program.

biodiversity offsets According to IUCN, these are 'measurable conservation outcomes designed to compensate for adverse and unavoidable impacts of projects, in addition to prevention and mitigation measures already implemented'. 'The aim of offsets is to achieve No Net Loss (NNL) and preferably a Net Gain (NG) of biodiversity when projects take place.'