Voluntary Biodiversity Credits
A new ‘Nature Market’ allowing corporate buyers to formally invest in nature’s recovery
The aim of the SDNPA/Earthly Partnership is to develop, establish and operate a new Nature Market, aimed at corporate buyers, for Voluntary Biodiversity to accelerate nature’s recovery through new funding streams in pursuit of national targets for the environment.
The new Voluntary Biodiversity Nature Market must demonstrate the upmost environmental integrity whilst also ensuring compliance with methodologies, governance, design, principles and guidelines and best practices are upheld.
The purpose of the Partnership between Earthly and SDNPA is to work together to develop, and then subsequently deliver, the project (Definition of ‘The Project’ To introduce a new Nature Market for Voluntary Biodiversity to England) ensuring successful pursuit of our National Park purposes and duty, strive to unlock nature recovery through new private income streams for the landowner, boost the rural economy, build thriving resilient communities and create space that is good for nature and people.
This innovative and pioneering piece of work will be a UK first and will enable land-owners and land managers to secure land use change, from agriculture to ReNature, through a s106 between the landowner and the SDNPA as local planning authority that will result in the land being secured for ReNature and the ability for the landowner to sell BNG Credits and Voluntary Biodiversity Credits from the same scheme without additional workload or cost to the LPA or land-owner.
Once secured, Earthly will take on the crucial role of regulator. Thus, ensuring avoidance of green washing, double counting or duplications in sales. This will be achieved through the creation and application of a rigorous methodology for authorisation and registration of sales from each scheme.
Division of Roles and Responsibilities
Earthly will:
- Assume the role of ‘Authoriser’. This requires a desk-based assessment (per scheme) which authorises compliance with methodologies, governance and design best practices, principles and guidelines like the ICVCM Core Carbon Principles, IUCN Global Standard for NBS, ICROA Code for Best Practice, the Nature Markets Principles and CIEEM BNG good practice principles, besides using remote sensing to check land cover changes and some basic biodiversity indices.
- Lead on and deliver all Marketing & Publicity
- Adjudicator of the Claim for each off-taker.
- Implementation of the Registration Process including:
- Managing the Capacity Monitoring Reporting (required after each transaction to guarantee avoidance of double counting or selling the same VB Shares twice.
- Holder of the National Register for Voluntary Biodiversity Credits (similar to NE Register) – publicly facing.
SDNPA will:
- Bear the legal and professional costs incurred to produce a pioneering s106 legal agreement MASTER TEMPLATE which looks to secure nature restoration and land use change culminating in the generating of BNG for development compliance sales and Voluntary Biodiversity Credits for corporate voluntary sales
- Lead on all landowner engagement
- Work on landscape led nature restoration designs to inform, shape and approve HMMP’s
- Procure and fund Ecology Baseline BNG (UK Hab) Surveys on site on all future prospective landowner providers/partners
- Give permission for use of National Park branding in association with Voluntary Biodiversity Units
- Monitoring & Enforcement all Schemes using local planning authority powers through the s106 obligations with each landowner
Moving towards Operational Phase
Through our existing working relationship with Ben Taylor and the Iford Estate we have an agreement in place for Iford Estate to be the first landowner in SDNP to secure 9.1 ha of arable farmland to new woodland habitat for BNG and for Voluntary Biodiversity Credits.
Work is underway on the Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP) and the creation of a new Master Template s106.
Get in touch
Mark Alden, South Downs National Park Authority Consultancy Team
Email: ReNatureCredits@southdowns.gov.uk
Tel: 07850 570297