Biodiversity offsetting as a form of depoliticised nature: Social aspects of a pilot project in Lahti, Finland

Abstract

We examine the public perceptions of an urban biodiversity offsetting pilot project and the implications of such a project for conflicts in urban planning. The City of Lahti was the first in Finland to pilot biodiversity offsetting in its urban planning in 2021. This pilot project demonstrates the contradictions of depoliticised nature, which the urban context makes visible. We draw on interviews with city planners and other city officials, residents and stakeholders, workshops, and documents tracing the pilot project. The case study shows how biodiversity offsetting risks rendering urban planning and its inherent conflicts over preserving greenspaces and enabling development to a set of technical measurements and valuation, while “the social” in urban planning becomes secondary. The theoretical framework of depoliticisation highlights the tensions between the biodiversity offsetting scheme and the participatory planning processes. The former is presented as depoliticised and incontestable, while the latter are overrun by a technocratic measuring of ecological values. We conclude that the contradictions of depoliticised nature are built into the core of biodiversity offsetting and consider ways to improve the social fairness of offsetting in urban contexts.