25th March is Lady Day, one of the traditional Quarter Days when agricultural rents were due and new tenancies began on livestock farms, so it seems an appropriate date to look forward with a sense of hope and consider what is coming up in the world of natural capital.

Will 2024 be the year when we start to make biodiversity count?

Why is BNG like an onion…?

Almost two years ago I wrote a blogpost with the heading “Lost in the Maze” and sometimes it feels as though we’re still trying to find our way out of the labyrinth of environmental and agricultural policy, confounded from time to time by a Government which dithers over its commitment. However we are making progress and here’s how:

The planned start date for statutory Biodiversity Net Gain is now only 3 months away and last week saw a flurry of announcements and updates.

As I drove north towards Cumbria on the M6 recently I saw the proliferation of tree planting on the hills as the motorway followed the Lune Valley through the Howgills and up towards Shap summit.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies are to be an integral part of the Government’s commitment to environmental enhancement and improvement.

Government announcements on environmental restoration are coming thick and fast this spring and now, in the face of growing public pressure over the condition of our rivers, Defra has published a Plan for Water.

Natural England (NE) launched the first Nutrient Mitigation Scheme in the Tees catchment on 31st March 2023, offering nitrate credits to developers at a fixed price of £1,825 per unit.

We and many others have been calling on the Government to support the emerging natural capital markets by helping to set governance frameworks to bolster confidence for sellers, buyers and investors. Defra has now set out its position in Nature markets: A framework for scaling up private investment in nature recovery and sustainable farming, published on 30th March 2023.