Demystifying the Mitigation Hierarchy
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Justina Ray
President & Senior Scientist
Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne
Director of Conservation Strategy
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Biodiversity Boreal Climate change Conservation planning Freshwater Natural resource developmentPublished
2026-04-09A practical guide to one of the most important, yet misunderstood, frameworks in conservation and development decision making.
As pressure mounts to fast-track major projects across Canada, the need for credible, science-based approaches to manage impacts on nature has never been greater.
The mitigation hierarchy is central to that effort, yet it is frequently misunderstood or misapplied.
This collection brings together our recent work unpacking what the mitigation hierarchy is, how it works, and why getting it right matters. Through a feature article, expert commentary, and a four-part blog series, we explore each step of the hierarchy and what it means in practice for responsible development and lasting conservation outcomes.
What is the Mitigation Hierarchy?
The mitigation hierarchy is a framework used to manage the impacts of development on nature. It follows a clear sequence:
- Avoid impacts wherever possible
- Minimize impacts that can’t be avoided
- Remediate damage that occurs
- Offset only as a last resort, when reasonable options under preceding steps have been exhausted.
Applying it well is complex, especially amidst accelerated industrial development and the cumulative effects of growing pressures on ecosystems.
That’s why we created this series: to help demystify the mitigation hierarchy, clarify some common misconceptions, and show how meaningful implementation can be achieved.
Explore the series
Main Report
As Canada moves to accelerate federal approvals for major resource and infrastructure projects, this report calls for a unified federal framework to apply the mitigation hierarchy - including a full outline of the steps required and the sequence in which they should be applied.
Feature Op-Ed
Published in The Conversation, this piece explores why the hierarchy is increasingly relevant in today’s policy and development landscape, and lays out Canada's has an opportunity to bring coherence and discipline to the management of environmental impacts.
LinkedIn Blog Series: The Four Steps
Avoidance
The most effective impact management is impact that never happens. This piece by Director of Conservation Strategy Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne explores why avoiding impacts upfront is the strongest and most reliable step in the hierarchy.
Minimization
When impacts can’t be fully avoided, they must be reduced as much as possible. Justina Ray outlines what meaningful minimization involves, and why it must go beyond small design tweaks and be integrated into planning early.
Remediation
Some damage can be repaired, but not all of it. In this piece, Dave Poulton examines the role of remediation, its limitations, and why while restoration after the fact has its place, it is rarely a substitute for protecting nature in the first place.
Offsetting
Often the most visible step as well as the most misunderstood. In the final blog of our series, Justina Ray unpacks what offsetting is, what it is not, and why it should only come after all reasonable efforts to avoid, minimize, and remediate impacts have been exhausted.
Pre-print: D.W. Poulton and J.C. Ray, (2026), “Interpreting Environmental Protection: How Canadian Public Servants View the Mitigation Hierarchy” Pre-print on SSRN https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6731379
