Costs and Benefits of England's Biodiversity Ambitions

As the current biodiversity strategy for England (Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England's wildlife and ecosystem services ) comes to an end, the Government is drawing up a new strategy setting out England's approach to protecting biodiversity over the next decade. This will take into account new global commitments agreed under the post-2020 Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) framework, of which the UK is a signatory. It will also set out how we will progress domestic commitments on nature that were introduced in the 25 Year Environment Plan . Our commitment to our ambitious biodiversity strategy will be cemented by legally binding biodiversity target(s) set under the Environment Bill framework, with secondary legislation due to be laid in parliament by October 2022 .

In order to ensure that the nature strategy, the biodiversity commitments and targets and the policies that help us to meet them are adequate to meet the challenge of protecting and preserving biodiversity, it is essential that we have robust evidence to inform our approach. This project will explore and improve the evidence base around the costs and benefits of improving terrestrial biodiversity in England. This will help ensure interventions on biodiversity are evidence based, in line with Green Book guidance . It will also help us to ensure biodiversity is better taken into account in economic appraisals more broadly.