Table 1.

Examples of biodiversity conservation tools and actions categorized into each of the four steps of the mitigation hierarchy.

Mitigation-hierarchy step	Examples of existing conservation tools and approaches
Avoid	Protected areas†; Alliance for Zero Extinction sites; Key Biodiversity Areas; no development in Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (FAO vulnerable ecosystems) or critical habitat (International Finance Corporation PS6+); no damage to any listed threatened species or ecosystems (IUCN Red List of threatened species and ecosystems; national conservation list species); no damage to intact habitat, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, or Wilderness Areas.
Minimize	Sustainable use; agrienvironment schemes; shift from passive nonselective gear to actively targeted gear in fisheries; multiuse protected areas; payment for ecosystem services; demand reduction; certification and ecolabeling; economic incentives (market prices, taxes, subsidies, and other signals); green infrastructure; corporate environmental strategies and operations; maintenance of ecosystem resilience.
Remediate	Rewilding†; restoration†; natural flooding of wetlands†; artificial habitat creation†; deextinction.
Offset	Degraded ecosystem restoration away from impact site†; averted risk; reseeding or respawning†; captive breeding; invasive removal; species creation.

^†Conservation tool or action that can shift between steps of the mitigation hierarchy depending on (a) whether the biodiversity baseline is set at a present-day or historic point in time and (b) what national and regional legislation is in place to enforce the action taken.