Natural Capital & Biodiversity

The geographic approach

Explore how GIS can protect your Natural Capital and increase biodiversity

DEFINITION

What are Natural Capital and Biodiversity?


Natural Capital is any natural assets you own, including forests, fisheries, rivers, land and minerals. Biodiversity is the variety of life hosted on your natural capital, including living organisms, ecosystems and ecological processes.

 

Manage your Natural Capital

Understand what Natural Capital you have by surveying the land that you own with easy-to-use mobile apps, enabling you to not only record what you have but also where it is and the biodiversity found on it. Understanding not just what but where means you can visualise everything in context and see how neighbouring environments interact and depend on one another.

Where is your Natural Capital?

Mobile apps enable the ability to capture the extent and location of each area of natural capital and provides an understanding of how different areas relate to one another.

What kinds of life are hosted there?

Apps allow recording the variety of life in each area – essentially what ecosystems and ecological processes are present.

How biodiverse are your holdings?

Once you have mapped out a view of your Natural Capital and the biodiversity it hosts, apps can calculate an overall metric for the biodiversity you are supporting. In England, DEFRA uses this technology to define standard calculations for this evaluation.

Increase your Biodiversity

Having understood what you have, you can now work out how to increase the biodiversity. Will it be through re-wilding, restoring peatland, adding ponds or other interventions? If you are developing the land then the options may be limited and you may need to find an offsite scheme to invest in so as to avoid losing biodiversity over all.

What options do you have?

Use apps to visualise potential interventions in context.

What would the impact be?

Apps can help you calculate the likely increase in biodiversity for each intervention. Make a plan based on maximising the impact.

How successful have you been?

Monitor progress with the projects and calculate the actual impact to demonstrate the increases achieved.

Engage with your Stakeholders

The public, your staff, local government, consultants and regulators can all be stakeholders for your project. Apps can enable you to share what you are doing with these groups and demonstrate your progress.

Looking to engage staff and consultants?

Apps provide easily created dashboards giving live information and analysis.

How can you work better with local government and regulators?

Combining maps, images, text and video in a story map allows you to tell your story and show what you are achieving in a uniquely engaging way.

How can you bring the public on your journey?

Create a hub site that shares your story and allows direct involvement and feedback from the public, reporting observations, asking questions and otherwise providing feedback.

CONSTRUCTION - BIODIVERSITY

Costain

Costain carries out environmental surveys for construction projects using Esri solutions, which enable collection, analysis and sharing of data from the locations of assets to biodiversity.

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT - BIODIVERSITY

Denbighshire County Council

In a highly successful conservation programme in Wales, Denbighshire County Council is using ArcGIS to improve the biodiversity of roadside verges and urban meadows.  It has configured three integrated mobile apps, which are helping biodiversity officers to find, propagate and plant some of the UK’s rarest native species of wildflowers and trees.

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NHS - NATURAL CAPITAL

NHS Fife

NHS Fife has mapped and classified all greenspaces across 45 separate hospital and healthcare sites using ArcGIS Online. It is now using its interactive Greenspaces Map to simplify its sustainability reporting, enrich biodiversity across its estate and introduce new wellbeing projects to benefit staff, patients and local communities.

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CONSTRUCTION – BIODIVERSITY NET GAIN

AtkinsRéalis

Infrastructure renewal and growth are vital to economic and societal growth and, thanks to new methodologies, biodiversity enhancement can sit parallel to these aims. The AtkinsRéalis SpatialCDE platform (or Spatial Common Data Environment) uses a technology stack including Esri to deliver huge qualitative and quantitative benefits while supporting Biodiversity Net Gain.

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Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

Biodiversity Net Gain is a revolutionary approach to development that aims to enhance the natural environment and protect habitats wherever possible. The UK government has taken a bold step by introducing regulations that require planning permission to be granted only if a development project will increase biodiversity by at least 10%. This is a significant move towards creating a sustainable future for our planet. By adopting Biodiversity Net Gain, we can create a world where development and nature can coexist in harmony. It is a game-changing opportunity to protect nature and enhance development, fostering a sustainable future. Let’s work together to create a better world for ourselves and future generations.

Exploring Natural Capital and Sustainable Futures

Explore our insightful ebooks on natural capital, biodiversity, and sustainability. Gain access to valuable insights on how natural resources impact our climate challenge and the strategies needed for a more sustainable and greener future.

Natural Capital

The global climate challenge highlights the intricate links between ecosystems and economies, with human activities altering over 75% of the Earth's land. With nature supporting over 50% of global GDP, the delicate balance crucial for life and livelihoods is at risk. Dive into this eBook to discover how location technology revolutionises information gathering from natural capital, benefiting various UK industries like the Environment Agency, Costain, Aviva, Anglian Water, Atkins Realis, and London Gatwick.

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natural-capital-ebook-cover

Tomorrow’s earth, today's journey

Sustainability leaders are tackling unprecedented challenges in a complex, interconnected world, prompting a shift in business strategies. Read the TechPros Market View Report eBook for inspiring insights, key findings, and actionable strategies from top sustainability professionals to navigate future challenges effectively. Gain valuable knowledge to transform your sustainability approach and navigate the evolving landscape with confidence.

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sustainablility-ebook-cover

Take a look at our other Sustainability resources

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