What Does Biodiversity Net Gain Mean?
Biodiversity net gain is the concept that as humans continue to develop and manage land, they will work kindly with the environment and build infrastructure that has a positive impact on the environment, not a negative one. This is a concept that the UK government intends to use from here on out, so what is Biodiversity Net Gain in the context of businesses and developers? In a new environment bill, the government is making biodiversity net gain a legal requirement for any future developments in England. That means that businesses will have to work with the government to make sure they are complying with the new rules and regulations.
Steps for Business Compliance
As the law took effect in November of 2023, all businesses must be compliant with the rules of biodiversity net gain before they ever even break ground on new projects. This means that from here on out, all businesses will be actively working towards leaving the areas where they develop more naturally sustainable than when they found it.
Submit a Biodiversity Gain Plan
One of the main requirements of the Biodiversity Net Gain law is that all businesses must submit a comprehensive biodiversity gain plan, similar to how a BDAR report is required in Australia to assess and mitigate the environmental impact of development projects. It must detail the business’s plan to put measures into place to enhance the area that they are developing for the benefit of the natural habitat. The goal is that a business should not only avoid causing any kind of damage to the natural habitat but also find a way to use human technology to make it even more biodiverse than before.
A biodiversity gain plan must be plotted out step by step so that the government can assess whether or not the business is doing enough to create a delicate environment that causes no major interruptions to nature. This plan has to be submitted to and approved by the planning authority before any kind of development can begin.
The plan can be filled out in a template provided by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and should include a long list of evidence that the business has planned for everything. The template requires all businesses to fill in the following prompts: descriptions of how the business plans to minimise the impact on local environments, a list of on-site enhancements to the environment, if the business needs off-site biodiversity units, a post-development map or plan, calculations about pre and post-development biodiversity value in the area, and so much more.
The application is very comprehensive and requires the business to have worked for months if not years to ensure that whatever the development project is, it has the natural habitat in mind above all else.
Different Entities Must Work Together
A project that requires all of these steps cannot be accomplished by just one business. The process must be shared by many different entities to accomplish permits, brainstorm ideas, and develop the area correctly. Contractors, developers, local environmental groups, gardeners, and other businesses are all involved to make sure that the development plan stays on track and always keeps biodiversity at the forefront of the project.
Prioritise Avoiding Environmental Harm
As the development process begins, the number one priority must be the well-being of the local environment. By using a mitigation hierarchy throughout the process, you can sort out the priorities of the project. The number one priority is avoiding environmental harm, followed by minimising impact, then remediation. By following this principle, businesses have an entire timeline of development that is navigated with the environment in mind as opposed to past development projects that just built with no thought for the environment and then tried to make post-development moves to heal what they had done.
By prioritising avoiding environmental harm, from here on out there will no longer be human developments that come in and destroy everything in their path. Humans instead must work hard to find creative ways to build structures that work in harmony with the natural world and maybe even make it better.
Breakdown of Biodiversity Gain Plan Requirements
On-site Enhancements
All on-site enhancements are encompassed within the boundary of the project. These enhancements start at the conception of the project and include but are not limited to creating a sustainable ecosystem surrounding the project site, restoring lost habitats, green infrastructure, and habitat retention while the project is underway.
Off-site Enhancements
Off-site land related to a business’s biodiversity gain plan is a plot of land dedicated to habitat help or enhancements. The reason why many businesses must make offsite enhancements is that their projects have some component that makes it impossible to enhance the environment specifically on their site. That is why, no matter how far away it is, an off-site plot of land dedicated to making the environment better is required for the plan of any project because the business needs to reach a certain level of biodiversity units required by the biodiversity net gain law.
Long-Term Habitat Protection
A business’s biodiversity plan must include a long-term plan for local habitat protection in the area in and around its development site. This can be implemented in many ways including using renewable energy sources like solar panels and recycling water as well as building green infrastructure to exist in harmony with the surrounding habitat. If there is a newly developed habitat that was created by the business, then they have to have a plan to ensure that it is protected for a minimum duration of 30 years according to the new law.
Different Kinds of Businesses That This Law Will Appy To
This new law will affect all developments in the UK going forward and applies to the following kinds of businesses:
- Housing developers
- Any business that does major developments that require planning permission
- Land Managers
- Local Planning Authority
With the Biodiversity Net Gain environment bill taking effect right now, it is important for businesses to educate themselves on all of the requirements. This bill is designed to create a greener world going forward and will hopefully bring the UK closer to harmony with nature.
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