Discussions are ongoing re-garding how the requirements of the CBD can be integrated into existing assessment instruments, e.g. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), assessments required under the Habitats Directive or German Impact Mitigation Regulation (Eingriffsregelung). The present study compares compensation approaches taken with respect to impacts on biological diversity in selected countries from four different continents: Africa, Asia, North America and South America. With regard to the future development of German and international impact mitigation and compensation the focus lies not only on approaches that are already being implemented, but also those that are currently under discussion. As main findings an overview on compensation practices in chosen countries on the background of the specific legal and institutional framework was elaborated and assumptions for further research were formulated. Furthermore the inalienability of the German Impact Mitigation Regulation in the interna-tional context was underlined.