For those like me who watched yet another one of Sir David Attenborough's powerful and compelling documentaries, "Extinction, The Facts", we saw the stark, candid and poignant warning that the biggest driver of biodiversity loss is the destruction of natural habitats. 22 September marks #WorldRhinoDay where we all celebrate and support the conservation of this critically endangered species – for those who watched the documentary, you will have seen that it examined the two remaining northern white rhinos in Kenya's Ol Pejeta Conservancy (which brought back fond memories of seeing rhinos in the wild during my childhood in Kenya).
This week we are also celebrating World Green Building Week (#WGBW2020) and communities across the globe are stepping up to #ActOnClimate by making buildings even greener and more sustainable. One of the most important types of benefit green buildings offer is to our climate and the natural environment - green buildings can reduce or eliminate negative impacts on the environment and have a positive impact on the environment by generating their own energy or increasing biodiversity.
On 11 September 2020, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ("Defra") announced £3.9 million of funding to unlock housing growth in south Hampshire in a scheme that will reduce nitrate pollution from new development and aid wildlife recovery. The online nitrate trading auction platform (that is being piloted and will be rolled out over the next two years) will allow housing developers in Hampshire to buy credits to create new local habitats (such as woodlands and wetlands) as part of a nature based solution to prevent harmful levels of nitrates from new housing developments.
This platform will also assist the government in its wider work on solutions to environmental issues such as carbon offsetting, biodiversity net gain, water quality and flood risk management. This also builds on the Government's landmark Environment Bill, which aims to tackle some of the major environmental issues we are facing by introducing a mandatory requirement for developers to provide 10% biodiversity net gain in respect of any new development that results in loss or degradation of habitat.
If successful, the platform will hopefully be extended to other areas and provide a useful tool for developers to achieve net gains in biodiversity. The scheme under the proposed legislation will also incentivise on-site or local creation or enhancement of habitats and where suitable local projects are not available, developers will be able to invest in nationally strategic habitats through a system of statutory biodiversity units.
This will hopefully pave the way forward for sustainable developments that meets the housing needs of many but also protect wildlife and enhances biodiversity.
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