In 2007, the Canadian Boreal Initiative, the Pembina Institute, and the Alberta Research Council organized a conference entitled “Biodiversity offsets in the Boreal Forest: Implications and Opportunities in the Athabasca Oil Sands.” The conference brought together key players in Northern Alberta including representatives from industry, government, environmental non-government organizations, academic research organizations, and First Nations. The objectives of the workshop were to:

• improve understanding of biodiversity offsets in the Boreal Forest with a particular focus on the Athabasca region 
   
• discuss and improve understanding of biodiversity offset policy alternatives 
   
• discuss the roles and responsibilities of different actors
   
• outline specific plans to begin addressing and investing in biodiversity offsets

Services: Dr. Andrew Howard, along with Drs. Ted Gullison and Arthur Blundell from the Biodiversity Neutral Initiative, gave a presentation on biodiversity offsets at the conference entitled “Voluntary Corporate Biodiversity Offsets in the Athabasca Oil Sands Presentation ( 101 Kb).” This presentation outlined several reasons why voluntary offsets are an essential part of a progressive corporate offsets program, and how companies could ensure that such offsets were credible and effective.