Researchers from the University of Cambridge have found that the new statutory biodiversity metric in the UK may not effectively help birds or butterflies despite the legal requirement for developers to show a 10% biodiversity net gain in planning applications starting in 2024.
The study involved analyzing 24 sites across England using the biodiversity metric. While plant biodiversity aligned with the metric’s values, bird and butterfly biodiversity did not, indicating that the metric may not lead to real-life gains for these species without additional conservation efforts.
This research sheds light on the need for improvements in how nature’s value is calculated to ensure that the new planning policy truly benefits biodiversity. The findings have been published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
Source from phys.org on 2024-06-28 01:15:03