Article On Compensation Issues Regarding Woodland Conservation.

Found this article about how the government is well aware of the fact that dew to development issues we are losing key sections of our ancient woodland to make way for new homes to be built. What can be the end result from this is something I think I've talked about before in that woodlands become fragmented meaning wildlife finds it hard to travel between say food or water sources in as much safety as they would have if the woodland remains intact. I did ready somewhere how on of the aims of the National Forest scheme was to reconnect woodland that this had already happened to over the last 50 years so as to repair some of the damage done when we weren't so aware of the damage we were doing.

Wildlife compensation measures highlight precarious state of our irreplaceable habitats

 

 

The Government’s green paper on biodiversity offsetting, published today, outlines a potential route for proper compensation for damage to wildlife habitats to be ensured. However it also serves to highlight the vulnerable position our most precious and irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland find themselves in today, with development recognised as one of the key causes of biodiversity loss in England.

Woodland Trust Chief Executive Sue Holden said:

“We welcome that this green paper recognises the irreplaceable nature of ancient woodland and that loss cannot be realistically compensated for. However, we need to see a more robust use of planning law to support this, ensuring that irreplaceable habitats are treated as such.

“Offsetting should only ever be a last resort when all other avenues have been explored to avoid loss or damage. It is critical that any habitats created to compensate for loss are placed within the local area that suffered the original impact. Unfortunately, this still appears open to debate.”

The Trust’s Space for People¹ report highlights that just 15% of the population lives within 500m of a wood at least two hectares in size, a figure which could be further decreased by any proposals which suggest compensatory measures which fail to take into consideration the importance of local value.

The Trust will be keeping track of developments in the upcoming consultation period. The Government must make offsetting work for the environment, not just developers.