“Our economy relies on natural resources and a whole range of benefits that nature supplies…. Society has taken nature and its benefits for granted which means they are not costed in the economy and are underrepresented in decision making. This results in decisions that cause damage to nature and increases risks for the economy and society into the future.”

Our farmers and rural land managers are well-placed to help the Secretary of State to deliver on his 5 core priorities, provided that it makes business sense for them to do so.

25th March is Lady Day, one of the traditional Quarter Days when agricultural rents were due and new tenancies began on livestock farms, so it seems an appropriate date to look forward with a sense of hope and consider what is coming up in the world of natural capital.

Will 2024 be the year when we start to make biodiversity count?

Why is BNG like an onion…?

Almost two years ago I wrote a blogpost with the heading “Lost in the Maze” and sometimes it feels as though we’re still trying to find our way out of the labyrinth of environmental and agricultural policy, confounded from time to time by a Government which dithers over its commitment. However we are making progress and here’s how:

The planned start date for statutory Biodiversity Net Gain is now only 3 months away and last week saw a flurry of announcements and updates.

As I drove north towards Cumbria on the M6 recently I saw the proliferation of tree planting on the hills as the motorway followed the Lune Valley through the Howgills and up towards Shap summit.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are to be an integral part of the Government’s commitment to environmental enhancement and improvement.

Government announcements on environmental restoration are coming thick and fast this spring and now, in the face of growing public pressure over the condition of our rivers, Defra has published a Plan for Water.

Natural England (NE) launched the first Nutrient Mitigation Scheme in the Tees catchment on 31st March 2023, offering nitrate credits to developers at a fixed price of £1,825 per unit.

We and many others have been calling on the Government to support the emerging natural capital markets by helping to set governance frameworks to bolster confidence for sellers, buyers and investors. Defra has now set out its position in Nature markets: A framework for scaling up private investment in nature recovery and sustainable farming, published on 30th March 2023.

On 21st February 2023 the Government published its long-awaited response to the 2022 consultation on the implementation of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) in England. We summarise the key points…

Interest in natural capital grew enormously in 2022 and the challenge for 2023 is how we turn that interest into real markets for ecosystem services and nature restoration. This is a bit like doing a jigsaw, with some of the pieces missing and only an outline of the picture on the box as a guide!

Natural flood management (NFM) can provide a range of benefits to society, from flood risk reduction to improved biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and we are likely to see more of it as it becomes part of mainstream policies. However there are lots of challenges to address if NFM is to become embedded in land management.

On 25th November 2022 Natural England (NE) published a little more information on its proposed Nutrient Mitigation Scheme.

What is the most valuable use for land to our society today? Should it be used to build homes, grow food, provide energy or protect nature? We need a national and local debate…

The Welsh Government has outlined 8 ways in which it will lead the effort to tackle nutrient pollution in Wales…

Defra has published more detail on the proposed Local Nature Recovery (LNR) scheme, but what new information is shared? We summarise the key points…

On 20th July 2022 the Government announced a two-pronged approach to tackling the problem of nutrient pollution and the moratorium on development in affected catchments…