CLIMATE EMERGENCY | NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS BIODIVERSITY: ENGINEERING NATURES BLUEPRINT With developments soon having to create a 10% biodiversity net gain, Ashley Bateson, Chin Chen and Robert Winch discuss why nature-based solutions are vital in reducing climate risk W e are in a climate and biodiversity emergency, two interlinked crises with local and global impacts being felt today. Increasingly, reducing dependence on fossil fuels has become a key priority for businesses, governments and people across the world. A catalyst for this was the 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted by more than 90 countries, which set a clear and shared goal of pursuing efforts to limit global warming to 1.5K. Many consultants in the built environment including engineers, architects, project managers and landscape architects have signed up to the international declaration of the climate and biodiversity emergency.1 In the UK alone, more than 120 companies have joined the Building Services Engineers Climate and Biodiversity Emergency Declaration.2 This is a commitment to collaborate, share knowledge and advocate increased resource efficiency on projects and more regenerative design principles. 24 July 2023 www.cibsejournal.com The importance of biodiversity has not come under the same spotlight as decarbonisation, but we are on the cusp of change. At the World Economic Forum in 2020, a new global ambition was born: nature positive by 2030. This is viewed as the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris Climate agreement. A driving force behind this shift in focus is natures unprecedented freefall; since 1970, the relative abundance of monitored wildlife populations has declined by 69%. This figure was 60% five years ago.3 The need for designers to be more aware of the role of protecting and incorporating nature in building development was also recognised at a recent annual conference of the UK Building Services Engineers Climate and Biodiversity Emergency .4 The need to protect and restore biodiversity At the most basic level of reasoning, nature must be protected and restored because it is fundamental to our survival. Our natural world provides the clean air, food and water we need to thrive; it enhances our wellbeing and reduces threats of zoonotic diseases. Natures services to us otherwise known as ecosystem services are near infinite, and include everything from climate regulation, pollution reduction, medicinal plants, construction materials, and eco-tourism. In the UK built environment, a radical transformation is under way to revalue nature. This is, in part, spurred by national regulations that, from November 2023, will require all developments under the Town and Country Planning Act to create a 10% biodiversity net gain something that many local authorities already require to be exceeded. (Small sites will have to meet the target in April 2024). This legal mandate is encouraging developers and asset owners to seek out the multifunctional benefits associated with nature. Beyond planning requirements, organisations have, since May 2023, been able to set science-based targets for nature, similar to their carbon equivalent (see panel, Science-based targets for nature). This approach gives companies a clear structure to protect and restore nature in line with science.