What a difference a year makes - The Responsible Body Annual Report

As we start the new financial year with much uncertainty on the horizon for nature and the economy, the great work and momentum of the RSK Biocensus Responsible Body brings optimism and reassurance that nature recovery is being delivered across a significant number of sites in England.

Just over a year on from our appointment by the Secretary of State and DEFRA, we have already come a long way, with even more exciting things on the horizon.

To celebrate this exciting first year we have just released the RSK Biocensus Responsible Body Annual Report. In this you will find a summary of everything we have been involved with including:

• The signing of 33 conservation covenants, including the first for BNG in England.
• Over 1409ha of land under obligation for delivering for nature, and ca. 4000 units potentially released to the market.
• A growing portfolio of agreements and relationships ensuring efficacy of BNG, but also increasingly including other areas such as heritage sites, SANGs and wider nature finance.

We’re seeing some exciting schemes pass through the Responsible Body process, including rewilding approaches such as those undertaken by Belmont Estate and Nattergal, large-scale restoration schemes like Wendling Beck’s Landscape Recovery Scheme and even nutrient neutrality projects.

There are also interesting new opportunities emerging, including: greater interest and movement on the voluntary biodiversity market; increasing use of carbon within wider and larger schemes; and new applications of Conservation Covenants to suit particular governance arrangements of landowners/managers.

It has been a monumental and fast-paced year for our growing team. We all look forward to what lies in store and to the shared learning over the coming months and years.

To find out more about our role as a Responsible body or what a Conservation Covenant involves, click here. If you’d like to set up a habitat bank and want to get in touch, follow the link below.