Project background
Natural England have been working with various partners in the Peak District to create the Wye Valley Nature Recovery Project (NRP). This NRP aims to work with local partners (including landholders) to generate truly resilient natural landscapes, ecologically, socially and economically.
In order to support effective nature recovery – through the creation of bigger, better more and more joined-up habitats – Natural England wanted to explore potential investment regimes to fund habitat intervention on farms in the area, including Biodiversity Net Gain and carbon offsetting.
To develop these opportunities, Natural England wanted first to understand the current habitat baseline on a number of land holdings, then understand what changes acceptable to the landholder might result in potential investments in these areas, and ultimately in nature recovery across the wider area.
Scope of services
We undertook UKHab mapping of seven farms in the White Peaks area to help landowners make informed and effective decisions about environmental management. The aim was that these decisions should be based upon an understanding both of their current biodiversity resources (calculated using the Defra Metric) and how biodiversity and carbon sequestration could be enhanced through small-scale to farm-wide habitat interventions.
These recommended interventions included: the creation of herbal leys in rye grass dairy pasture; the restoration of dew ponds; grassland enhancement; and the creation of habitat mosaics.
Options for delivering these interventions through biodiversity net gain and the carbon market were also explored, alongside the potential to provide wider benefits through other natural capital income streams. We also introduced biodiversity net gain to the farmers, explaining what it is, why it is in place and the potential opportunities that BNG could provide for landowners looking to diversify their income streams.
Ultimately, this project has supported Natural England in their early development of the Wye Valley NRP in the Peak District, with further landowner engagement now taking place to take the NRP forward.
Impact
Our work introduced the concept of biodiversity net gain (BNG) to farmers in the White Peaks and explored how they could use it as a mechanism to fund habitat intervention on their land, primarily in order to build ecological resilience within the landscape as part of the Wye Valley Nature Recovery Project.