Biodiversity Offsets success

The Biosphere team has received news from Defra that, after submitting an expression of interest, we have been chosen to lead one of six national pilots for Biodiversity Offsetting. This is an important step that means that we can engage more in planning and development control issues and make sure that they contribute towards improving the wildife value of the Biosphere Reserve and some other parts of Devon included in the offsetting pilot. Map of offset pilot areas.

We will be meeting with representitives of Defra in December to discuss the proposal in more detail with a view to starting implementation in April 2012.

Our Biosphere Partnership provides a powerful mechanism for translating national policy into local practice and for trialling new ways of working that deliver local solutions for local problems in the true spirit of Biosphere Reserves as test-beds for sustainable development. Being a a pilot area for the approach in the UK is doing just that. Dr Mike Moser, Chair of the Biosphere Reserve Partnership

Biodiversity Offsetting- what is it?

Biodiversity offsets are conservation activities designed to deliver biodiversity benefits in compensation for losses, in a measurable way. We think it has the potential to deliver planning policy requirements for compensation for biodiversity loss in a more effective way. More