‘Biodiversity Net Gain Credits’ are a way to value plants, animals and habitats, so that their ecological worth can be bought and sold, thereby creating financial incentives for people to preserve them. Biodiversity Net Gain Credits are created and traded via a regulated market and can be used as a part of a development’s biodiversity offset requirement.This Link:civitynge.com
Trading for Tomorrow: The Economics of Biodiversity Net Gain Credits
In the long-term it is envisaged that on site and offsite BNG delivery will be able to be recorded in a national biodiversity gains sites register but this is not currently required under the Environment Act. Defra’s Make on-site biodiversity gains a developer requirement guidance suggests that significant enhancement of pre-development habitat on the development site is expected to be secured through planning conditions or planning obligations (or in future, conservation covenants).
A developer may also choose to buy and use BNG credits to offset any loss of on-site habitat. To do this they need to carry out a survey and exploration of options using the statutory biodiversity metric. The result will tell them how many of the on-site ‘biodiversity units’ they need to make up and if they can’t meet this requirement on site, they will need to buy offsite units.
The 3.1 metric is only the start, but there are alternatives that complement it. One of the most exciting is the rewilding project in the Lake District. It is bringing back woodland and heathland, restoring meadows and reintroducing predators – as well as making more space for people.