https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220428103955.htm

The study shows how simple analyses using easily accessible biodiversity data can support application of the "mitigation hierarchy," a tool used to ensure that project developers first avoid negative impacts on nature, then minimize and restore any damage and, as a last resort, compensate for residual impacts on nature.

The authors show how data from sources like Google Earth can be used to map the locations of threatened species and ecosystems, identify locations with important biodiversity where development should be avoided, and identify degraded areas where developers might conduct environmental restoration to compensate for the impacts of a project.