Reward and recognition

The government wants to halt biodiversity loss by 2020.

The biggest contributor to biodiversity loss is change of land use. The most drastic change of land use is building development. And it is businesses that are the developers - building houses, offices, shops, and infrastructure.

So how do you incentivise businesses to be more considerate with the natural environment?

Awards are great but they are normally one-off events and allow businesses to create 'token gestures' rather than actually change their culture and way of working. We've all seen this before with the 'eco-shop' or the 'eco-house'. These are great if you are going to do the same with all your developments but they are just a PR stunt if you're not.

BREEAM seem to have struck a chord with energy. More and more developers are registering their schemes for BREEAM accreditation. Of course, there are different levels and not everyone aspires to achieve the highest but at least businesses are taking part and by taking part they are changing the way they approach their work.

Can we do the same for biodiversity?

The scheme needs to be nationwide, realistic, affordable and have scales of achievement - bronze, silver, gold, platinum - that sort of thing.

A developer isn't going to create a nature reserve but they might be more inclined to leave more green space, introduce habitat, install boxes, source responsibly and help spread the biodiversity message, if it meant getting a credible award to sit alongside their other environmental achievements.

I'm willing to help shape it, so who is going to do it?