
Reflections on Biodiversity Net Gain
One of the best parts of my job is that I get to speak to ecologists and conservationists every day; people who are passionate about the environment and working to protect it. These conversations are rewarding in their own right, but also critical in terms of shaping what we do as a business. That’s because our fundamental purpose is to have a positive impact on the environment – to help to turn the tide on biodiversity loss. That’s not something we can do directly as a business, but by enabling you, the ecologists, conservationists, scientists and passionate amateurs to keep doing what you’re doing, better and better.
It takes time to adapt
We all know the scale of the problems the environment is facing, and sometimes it can feel like we’re swimming against the tide. But, there is hope. Whilst BNG is a divisive subject and far from perfect, it is one thing that does give me hope. It’s probably the single best mechanism we have to fund ongoing nature recovery in the UK at this time, and it’s largely now up to us to run with it and make it a success. However, I know from the conversations I have with people daily that many, if not most of you, feel overwhelmed by the changes and the speed with which you’ve been expected to adapt. In addition, all this has happened without there being clear or robust support available. We are having to work quite a few things out ourselves, not least because of the mismatch between UKHab and the metric.
Adversity and necessity can be catalysts for invention
We’ve been working hard to try to help with these issues. Our UKHab Survey application and new UKHab and BNG Platform are tools designed specifically to help those of you working in this area, both to streamline and strengthen data collection and your BNG work. Working with directors at UKHab.org, and many other fantastic ecologists, we’ve collaboratively designed a system that will remove a lot of the burden and allow you to focus on your field work and report production. Well over 100 organisations, from large multidisciplinary consultancies to sole traders, are already using the system and that number is constantly growing.
Seeing the wood for trees
Whilst a lot of the work involved with BNG can feel like a remote number crunching exercise, it’s good to take a step back and focus on the bigger picture. We are all making an important contribution to nature recovery with the work we do. We might not have a direct feedback mechanism to enable us to see and quantify that benefit (yet) but almost every survey you now do will give a boost to our besieged biodiversity, and start turning the tide. We’re really happy to be able to support you with this. But let’s not stop there. We want to be able to keep improving what we do, so that you can move from coping with your workload, to thriving. I always love hearing your feedback, so drop me a line directly any time at dave@natural-apptitude.co.uk and share your thoughts on how we can help you to take your UKHab and BNG work to the next level.