The Mitigation Hierarchy (MH) offers a framework for effective management of environmental risks and potential impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services across development sectors. It supports explicit decision-making that balances conservation needs with development priorities. Developing mitigation strategies based on prioritized steps of —'avoid', 'minimize', 'restore' and 'offset' is key to achieving sustainable outcomes for biodiversity and ecosystem services and helps businesses to reduce and manage their residual impacts.

This course would trace the origin of mitigation steps in impact assessment; introduce the hierarchical framework; improve understanding and significance of the key stages in the MH and guide its practical implementation through design and planning stages and through to the project's lifespan.

The course advocates use of "upstream" perspectives to discourage application of mitigation as a "band-aid", focusing only on project-by-project impacts. It will consider the role of cumulative impact assessment of multiple projects and Strategic Environmental Assessment as proactive approaches that can help to avoid reactive mitigation. The course is aimed to benefit a range of professionals both within and outside the spheres of environmental impact assessment.

The course aims to benefit a wide range of professionals involved in improving the environmental sustainability of projects from the perspective of biodiversity and ecosystem services. This includes impact assessment practitioners, members of the conservation community; investors, decision-makers and policy makers. The course is designed to help the these different "players" to make smart development decisions.