̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - planning

No evidence that England’s new ‘biodiversity boost’ planning policy will help birds or butterflies

jg533 — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 04:01:30 +0000

From 2024, the UK’s Environment Act requires planning applications to demonstrate an overall biodiversity net gain of at least 10% as calculated using a new statutory biodiversity metric.

̽��ֱ��researchers trialled the metric by using it to calculate the biodiversity value of 24 sites across England. These sites have all been monitored over the long-term, allowing the team to compare biodiversity species data with results from the metric.

Plant biodiversity at the sites matched values produced using the metric, but bird and butterfly biodiversity did not.

This means there’s no evidence that a 10% net biodiversity gain calculated using the statutory biodiversity metric will translate into real-life gains for birds and butterflies, without additional conservation management.

This is the first comprehensive study of the performance of Defra’s statutory biodiversity metric across England. ̽��ֱ��results were published on 28 June in the Journal of Applied Ecology.

Plants, birds and butterflies have been comprehensively surveyed in England over many years, and are used as indicators for the national state of nature.

̽��ֱ��researchers say the metric must be improved to better capture the intricacies of the different species within an ecosystem.

“ ̽��ֱ��statutory biodiversity metric is a really important opportunity, and has potential to direct a lot of money into biodiversity conservation from developers. It’s the responsibility of conservationists and policy makers to ensure that it provides a reliable indication of nature’s diversity,” said Dr Cicely Marshall in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, first author of the paper.

She added: “At the moment the metric does capture plant diversity quite well, but it doesn’t reflect the intricacies of ecosystems – species like birds and butterflies use habitats in very different ways.”

̽��ֱ��metric, created by the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was introduced as part of the Environment Act with its legally binding agenda to deliver “the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth.” It scores the condition and distinctiveness of a piece of land to calculate its biodiversity value in standardised ‘biodiversity units.’

This allows developers to project biodiversity losses and gains across a site, so they can ensure the development achieves an overall minimum 10% biodiversity gain. Landowners can use the tool to calculate the biodiversity value of their land.

Marshall, who is also a Research Fellow at King’s College, Cambridge, said: “Many property developments have been very detrimental to nature in the past, and it’s exciting that England now has a requirement for developers to leave nature in a better state than they found it.

“We hope our study will contribute to improving the way nature’s value is calculated, to make the most of this valuable opportunity for nature recovery.”

̽��ֱ��results of the study have been used to make recommendations to Defra and Natural England to help improve the metric.

̽��ֱ��metric uses habitat as a proxy for biodiversity, scoring habitats’ intrinsic distinctiveness and current condition. Plans for biodiversity gain can involve replacing lost habitat with similar habitat - the researchers say that nature recovery could be improved if the particular species and habitats impacted by a development were also taken into account in this process.

There can be huge differences in biodiversity across habitats like croplands, for example, and these aren’t captured by the metric which assigns all cropland the same condition score. Conventional farms that regularly use artificial pesticides and herbicides have much lower biodiversity than organic farms that do not.

“There are great differences in the ecological value of cropland depending on how it’s managed, but the metric gives all cropland a low biodiversity score. It would be nice to see these differences reflected,” said Marshall.

̽��ֱ��UK is committed to building 300,000 homes a year by mid-2020, so the net biodiversity gain requirement is expected to generate a market for biodiversity credits worth an estimated £135m-£274m annually – substantially increasing funding for nature conservation in England.

̽��ֱ��research was funded by the Ecological Continuity Trust.

Reference: Marshall, C. 'England’s statutory biodiversity metric enhances plant, but not bird nor butterfly biodiversity'. Journal of Applied Ecology, June 2024. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14697

A new legal requirement for developers to demonstrate a biodiversity boost in planning applications could make a more meaningful impact on nature recovery if improvements are made to the way nature’s value is calculated, say researchers at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

We hope our study will contribute to improving the way nature’s value is calculated, to make the most of this valuable opportunity for nature recovery.

Cicely Marshall

Researchers assess woodland condition at Alice Holt Forest

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Road planning 'trade off' could boost food production while helping protect tropical forests

fpjl2 — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 19:04:57 +0000

Conservation scientists have used layers of data on biodiversity, climate, transport and crop yields to construct a colour-coded mapping system that shows where new road-building projects should go to be most beneficial for food production, at the same time as being least destructive to the environment.

̽��ֱ��hope is that this "trade-off" strategy might guide governments, investors and developers to focus on road expansions that make the most difference for current agricultural areas, rather than projects that threaten to open up significant natural habitats for conversion to farmland.

As a proof of concept, scientists applied their technique to a specific sub-region: the Greater Mekong in Southeast Asia - one of the most biologically important parts of the planet, and a place that has lost almost a third of its tropical forest since the 1970s.

They found a number of current road proposals in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have potential for massive habitat conversion with little benefit for populations and food security. They also found areas where new roads could increase food production and connectivity with limited environmental cost.

Researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, UK, the Kunming Institute of Botany and the World Agroforestry Centre in China say their study, published today in PLOS Biology, is an attempt to explore a more "conciliatory approach" in the hope of starting greater dialogue between developers and conservation experts.

They call on organisations such as the newly established Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as well as Asian Development Bank to use such analyses when considering investment in future road expansion projects in the Mekong region - an area undergoing rapid development.

"It is estimated that by 2050 we will build 25 million km of new road lanes, the majority of which will be in the developing world," says Andrew Balmford, Professor of Conservation Science at Cambridge.

"Conservationists can to appear to oppose nearly all new infrastructure, while developers and their financial backers are often fairly mute on the environmental impact of their proposals. This can lead to a breakdown in communication."

" ̽��ֱ��Mekong region is home to some of the world's most valuable tropical forests. It's also a region in which a lot of roads are going to be built, and blanket opposition by the conservation community is unlikely to stop this," says Prof Jianchu Xu from the Kunming Institute of Botany in China.

"Studies like ours help pinpoint the projects we should oppose most loudly, while transparently showing the reasons why and providing alternatives where environmental costs are lower and development benefits are greater.

"Conservationists need to be active voices in infrastructure development, and I think these approaches have the potential to change the tone of the conversation."

̽��ֱ��Greater Mekong encompasses Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and the Yunnan Province of China. It is home to around 20,000 plant species, 2000 types of land vertebrates and 850 species of freshwater fish. Much of this biodiversity is found nowhere else on the planet.

̽��ֱ��saola, for example, is a mammal resembling a small antelope that was only discovered in 1992, and is so rare it is known as the "Asian unicorn". ̽��ֱ��region's vast forests also act as critical carbon 'sinks', absorbing greenhouse gases.

̽��ֱ��Greater Mekong is also home to over 320 million people, and habitat loss has been accelerating. Between 1973 and 2009, an estimated 31% of the region's natural forest disappeared. Alongside this there is widespread poverty; food insecurity and malnutrition remain major challenges.

̽��ֱ��researchers created the new framework for road planning in the Mekong by analysing various data sources: including crop yield gaps across the region, travel times between population hubs, range maps for birds and mammals, and biomass carbon stocks in soil and vegetation.

By combining this data into composite layers, the team were able to map them over the region and reduce the results to a simple green-to-purple colour scale comparing food production benefits to environmental costs.

In areas such as Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Delta, new roads could substantially boost food production through improved transport links for getting produce to market, lowering waste and increasing access to new technologies. This would come at a relatively limited environmental cost, as much of the area has been converted to agriculture, yet crop yields remain low.

However, researchers warn that planned projects in other areas with extensive forests, such as in northern Laos and western Yunnan in China, could devastate vital ecosystems with little gain for food production.

"If new roads are deployed strategically, and deliberately target already-cleared areas with poor transport connectivity, this could attract agricultural growth that might otherwise spread elsewhere," says Prof Xu.

For Balmford, this is perhaps the crux of the argument, and something he has long been vocal about: "By increasing the crop yield of current agricultural networks, there is hope that food needs can be met while containing the expansion of farming and so sparing natural habitats from destruction. ̽��ֱ��location of infrastructure, and roads in particular, will play a major role in this."

However, the researchers caution that the channeling of roads into less damaging, more rewarding areas will have to go hand-in-hand with strengthening protection for globally significant habitats such as the remaining forests of the Mekong.

Scientists hope a new approach to planning road infrastructure that could increase crop yield in the Greater Mekong region while limiting environmental destruction will open dialogues between developers and the conservation community.

Conservationists can to appear to oppose nearly all new infrastructure, while developers and their financial backers are often fairly mute on the environmental impact of their proposals. This can lead to a breakdown in communication

Andrew Balmford

Jianchu Xu & Biaoyun Huai

A highway cuts across the Yunnan Province of Southwest China, part of the Greater Mekong.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Look familiar?

bjb42 — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:25:04 +0000

An online game which tests Londoners’ ability to recognise parts of the capital has been devised by researchers as the first step in a project to create a “memory map” of the city.

“Urbanopticon”, which can be found at https://www.urbanopticon.org/ is free to use and takes just minutes to play. Players are shown randomly-selected photographs of different London streets and asked to name the nearest tube station, or to identify the borough in which the photo was taken. They can also share their score with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

̽��ֱ��game is also part of a serious experiment, however. Building on long-standing studies which show that we each create our own mental map of a city, the researchers will use the results to map recognisability across London. Theorists have suggested that the recognisability of the urban environment is closely linked to people’s well-being. ̽��ֱ��project will also investigate how far it is linked to social deprivation.

In the long-term, the data from Urbanopticon could be used to help town planners focus on where the urban environment needs most improvement, so that people feel more at home.

Daniele Quercia, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory and one of four researchers who designed the project, said: “When we build communities, we try to give ourselves pointers and signs that enable us to recognise where we are. This improves our ability to find our way around and, as a result, it improves our lives.”

“ ̽��ֱ��question is, where has this been done to best effect, and why? What we are trying to create through the game is a memory map using information provided by Londoners themselves. That map will then become a tool which helps us to determine where London needs to be improved for the sake of its residents.”

̽��ֱ��images used in the game are selected at random from Google Street View. At the end, players are also asked to complete a survey which asks where they are from, where they work, and how well they know different parts of the city.

Using this information, the site essentially extracts Londoners’ mental images of the city, testing which places are remarkable and unmistakable, and which are forgettable and anonymous.

̽��ֱ��reasoning for the project comes from the work of the eminent 20^th century sociologist, Kevin Lynch, whose ground-breaking research made a significant contribution to city planning and design. Lynch showed that everyone living in an urban environment creates their own personal “mental map” of the city, based on features such as routes they use, buildings and familiar locations, and the boundaries which define the areas they frequent.

As a result, Lynch argued that the more recognisable the features of a city are, the more navigable it is. This is closely linked to well-being, as well as other crucial determinants of a city’s success, such as crime levels and economics. According to the theory, cities with more character and recognisability tend to be used more by their population, creating a stronger sense of community.

“Imagine two extremes,” Quercia explained. “In one case, you have a very navigable city, where people can find their way around easily. In the other, you have a city in which it is much harder to navigate and people get lost all the time. In the second case, people stick to what they know, movement is more restricted to certain thoroughfares and more parts of the environment feel unfamiliar and threatening. ̽��ֱ��layout of the urban space plugs directly into our sense of well-being.”

In the long term, the researchers hope to link the data they gather from Urbanopticon to indeces of deprivation based on levels of unemployment and health services. ̽��ֱ��aim of this will be to see if recognisability is linked not just to community well-being, but deprivation as well.

They also hope to track visibility over time, to see if new buildings change the recognisability of an area and, in the process, whether indices of deprivation change as well.

“ ̽��ֱ��study of community well-being is really only just beginning, and very little research has been done to investigate how much of a sense of belonging people have in different neighbourhoods and why,” Quercia added. “In the long-term, if this research in London is successful, we hope to be able to apply similar techniques to build memory maps for cities all over the world."

Introducing the online game for Londoners which researchers hope will one day influence the shape of the nation’s capital.

̽��ֱ��layout of the urban space plugs directly into our sense of well-being.

Daniele Quercia

Carlos RM from Flickr

London street photo.

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