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Columnist and Environment

Why biodiversity offsetting is a contentious issue in conservation

As a new law is introduced in England, requiring developers to create 10 per cent more wildlife habitat than they destroy when developing a site, does it really work to destroy nature in one place, but preserve it elsewhere, asks Graham Lawton

By Graham Lawton

13 March 2024

Sand Martin Wood in Faugh near Carlisle, Cumbria, UK, was acquired by the carbon offset company co2balance in September 2006 It has been planted with a broad mix of native trees over 6 hectares and is managed for wildlife as well as the companies offset clients Though seen as controversial by some carbon offsetting is one way of a company or individual to reduce their emissions, as the trees absorb and sequestrate carbon as they grow. (Photo by Ashley Cooper/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)

Sand Martin Wood in Faugh near Carlisle in Cumbria, UK, was acquired by the carbon offset company co2balance in September 2006

Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty​ Images

I LIVE close to Holloway Prison in north London, a former women’s jail. It closed in 2016 and is currently a demolition site being readied for flats. Over the fence, I can see huge piles of rubble – and a single magnificent plane tree in the middle of what will become a park. I am glad the developers didn’t raze it to the ground along with all the others.

The work…

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