Résumé

The Mitigation Hierarchy is the sequence of actions (avoid-minimise-restore-compensate) to anticipate and avoid adverse impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The avoid or prevent stage is the first and most important stage of the mitigation hierarchy in which developers anticipate adverse impacts on biodiversity before actions or decisions are taken.
Action is then taken to prevent adverse impacts by considering different options in the project location, scale, layout, technology and phasing. Avoidance is often the easier, cheaper and more effective way than trying to restore a damaged habitat or offset elsewhere.
The Mitigation Hierarchy application is mandatory in France, however, the French Biodiversity Agency put a request to Eklipse to find out to what extent the adherence to and implementation of the hierarchy is correctly applied and ecosystem services are considered and well documented.