Biodiversity offsetting - difficult to measure |
Defra have acknowledged that England faces the twin
challenges of simultaneously growing its economy and improving its natural
environment. Added to this is the need to ensure the planning system also
delivers on the environmental front. Biodiversity offsetting has been mooted as
one potential solution to these environmental challenges.
So what on earth is biodiversity offsetting? Well it a
system whereby developers can attempt to compensate for losses of biodiversity on
a particular site by generating ecologically equivalent gains elsewhere.
My immediate thoughts on this are that it places substantial
faith in the ability of restoration to recover lost biodiversity. It also potentially
increases the chances of gaining planning permission on important wildlife
areas, because there is the promise of “restoring” the habitat elsewhere in a
more “convenient” place. Many are very worried about this saying that it is simply
a “licence to trash”.
Tom Tew, chief executive of the Environment Bank which
is the company acting as the independent broker between planners and developers
said, "I think many completely misunderstand how biodiversity offsetting
works. It is not a licence to trash, it is the complete opposite. When you put
a value on biodiversity, you are putting a financial incentive for developers
not to trash it." He said: "If
done well, it could be one of the most beneficial schemes for wildlife in the
last 30 years."
It has been said that if you create one wetland to replace
another one you have filled in just across the road, they will never be the
same, no matter what species inhabit them. In the deepest ecological
sense, ‘like-for-like’ trading of nature isn’t possible. I think this is my
worry; It does depend on what you are attempting to replace.
If for instance, you are looking to build a new housing
estate on arable land, that will also destroy a small copse and an adjacent
pond, maybe a brand new, well designed wetland area with ponds and scrapes,
plus a new woodland planting a short distance away, might potentially
compensate for these habitat losses. However, I remember when the entrance to
the Channel tunnel in Kent was being constructed and the total destruction of an ancient
woodland took place. But all was OK because they removed the surface layer of
the forest floor and carefully “replaced it” onto some land close by, for it to
re-grow. Like for like? You must be joking.
The basic premise underlying the biodiversity offsetting
system is that it results in a net gain for biodiversity. But do we really
have sufficient guidelines and knowledge to measure this “net gain”? Currently, I don’t
think we do.
Specific biodiversity offsetting pilot schemes, running in
six areas in England since April 2012, have already influenced government
thinking and will continue to do so. Defra have now released a Green Paper on
biodiversity offsetting in England and opened their consultation on the same
subject. They have outlined their proposal for a system and are now seeking
views about how best it could operate.
But hurry if you want to say your bit - the consultation finishes on the 7th of November –
see: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/biodiversity/biodiversity_offsetting
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