In a world increasingly challenged by climate change and environmental degradation, the concept of biodiversity net gain (BNG) emerges as a promising approach to conservation. Recently, a LinkedIn webinar put on by Esri shed light on new strategies for protecting and enhancing natural ecosystems. The webinar featured the following speakers:
Katherine Hayhoe, chief scientist, The Nature Conservancy (moderator)
Tash Senior, GIS consultant, Esri UK
Lara Salam, GIS and data visualization expert, Oxygen Conservation
The discussion took place against the backdrop of COP16, the biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia, with its powerful theme of "peace with nature." This framing is critical, as it repositions environmental conservation not as a battle, but rather as a collaborative effort to understand and support the intricate systems that sustain life on our planet.
Beyond Traditional Conservation
Biodiversity net gain represents a significant shift from traditional conservation models. Unlike previous approaches that often focused on minimal environmental impact, BNG requires developers and organizations to not just protect existing habitats, but actively improve them. The core principle is simple yet revolutionary: any development project must leave the natural environment in a better state than it was found.
In the United Kingdom, this approach has been formalized through legislation that mandates a minimum 10 percent biodiversity improvement for new developments. However, the webinar participants emphasized that this shouldn't be seen as a mere regulatory checkbox, but as an opportunity for genuine ecological restoration.
The Power of Geographic Information Systems
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) emerged as a crucial tool in this new conservation paradigm. As Senior explained, GIS allows for sophisticated layering of environmental data, enabling more nuanced and efficient decision-making. These technologies transform abstract environmental concepts into tangible, measurable insights.
“Esri stands for ‘Environmental Systems Research Institute,’ so creating a sustainable future is really what we do,” Senior said. “Geography and GIS are mechanisms for this.”
For instance, GIS can help organizations capture baseline habitat conditions, track changes over time, and visualize the potential impacts of development projects, something particularly useful given the aforementioned regulations in the UK which require a lot of rich data to be tracked.
“Using something like GIS allows us to really simplify this,” Senior said. “We can start to visualize this with field applications.”
Landscape-Level Transformation
I'm shared insights into her organization’s approach of large-scale ecological restoration. By managing 30,000 acres of land, they're demonstrating how biodiversity net gain can work in practice. Their strategy involves creating more diverse habitats, reducing farming pressure, and allowing natural processes to regenerate.
“At Oxygen Conservation, our mission is to scale conservation in the UK,” she said. “We’re focusing on large landscape-level transformation, which will deliver biodiversity impacts over long time scales.”
One particularly fascinating technique discussed was "re-wiggling" rivers - transforming straight, engineered waterways into more natural, meandering paths. This approach does more than just support biodiversity; it provides critical flood mitigation and creates more resilient landscapes capable of withstanding extreme weather events.
“We have a problem with flooding in the UK, and it’s forecast to get increasingly worse, and people are very much noticing it at the moment,” Salam said. “On a lot of our estates, we’re planning river restoration works, turning them from straight lines where the water flows very rapidly through and can potentially go and flood downstream, to having curves and trees which can soak up some water. All of those things are amazing for nature, and also amazing for us.”
Beyond Regulatory Compliance
While current regulations in the UK provide a framework, the webinar participants stressed that biodiversity net gain should be viewed as more than a legal requirement. They advocated for a proactive approach where companies voluntarily set biodiversity targets alongside their carbon reduction goals.
The vision is ambitious: imagine a corporate world where every organization not only aims for net-zero carbon but also commits to net-positive biodiversity. This would represent a fundamental reimagining of humanity's relationship with the natural world.
Technological Innovation Meets Ecological Understanding
The marriage of advanced geographic technologies with deep ecological knowledge represents a powerful approach to environmental conservation. GIS doesn't just map landscapes; it helps us understand the complex relationships within ecosystems, track changes, and model potential interventions.
As climate change continues to pose unprecedented challenges, tools and strategies like biodiversity net gain offer hope. They demonstrate that with thoughtful, technology-enabled approaches, we can work towards regenerative rather than merely sustainable models of development.
The webinar concluded with a sense of cautious optimism. While the challenges are significant, the combination of innovative legislation, advanced technologies, and a growing global consciousness about environmental protection provides a roadmap for meaningful change.
