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24 Env't L. Rev. 3 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/envirlr24 and id is 1 raw text is: Law Review Opinion Environmental Law Review 2022, Vol. 24(1) 3-9 Biodiversity - gaining ground? © The Author(s) 2022 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/14614529221085937 journals.sagepub.com/home/elj Yarema Ronish *SAGE Director, RM Architects, London, UK; Co-founder, Biodiversity Capital, London, UK; Trustee, Greenoak Housing Association, Woking, UK Heather Hilburn Chief Executive, Thames Estuary Partnership, London, UK; Co-founder, Biodiversity Capital, London, UK; Commissioner, Essex Climate Action Commission, Essex, UK Abstract England's new biodiversity net gain legislation represents a historic milestone, and a vital step towards reversing the long-term depletion of the natural environment by human activity. Adopted in November 2021, the new legislation will require new building and infrastructure projects to provide a 10% net gain in biodiversity. First proposed over a decade ago, biodiversity net gain policies were initially envisaged as a means to create large scale ecological networks, by offsetting habitat lost to development with stra- tegically located habitat creation. In their current form however, the net gain policies primarily focus on mitigating localised effects of development. We argue that off-site habitat gains should be encouraged, to support the creation of large-scale ecological networks. There are considerable resourcing bottlenecks and knowledge gaps which could hamper the successful delivery of the net gain legislation. To roll out these policies across all of England and at all scales of development will require a much bigger cohort of ecol- ogists, specialist training for developers and their professional teams, and new collaborative working practices linking the private, public and charitable sectors. Keywords Biodiversity, net gain, ecological network, habitat creation, habitat bank, planning, development, land-use, developers, planners, ecologists, partnership working Introduction On 9 November 2021, England became the world's first jurisdiction to adopt legislation requiring biodiver- sity net gain to be provided as part of the planning approval process for buildings and major infrastructure projects. The emerging policies and tools supporting the new biodiversity net gain legislation are the result of a decade of pilot testing, consultation and refinement, involving central and local government, environ- mental NGOs, researchers, professional bodies and the private sector. Corresponding author: Yarema Ronish, Director, RM Architects, London, UK; Co-founder, Biodiversity Capital, London, UK; Trustee, Greenoak Housing Association, Woking, UK. Email: yarema@biodiversity.capital