Complying with the biodiversity duty
As a public authority, understand what the biodiversity duty is and how to comply with it.
Applies to England
Public authorities who operate in England must consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity in England. This is the strengthened ‘biodiversity duty’ that the Environment Act 2021 introduced.
This means that, as a public authority, you must:
- Consider what you can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity.
- Agree policies and specific objectives based on your consideration.
- Act to deliver your policies and achieve your objectives.
Who must comply with the biodiversity duty
You must meet the biodiversity duty if you are a public authority, such as a:
- government department or public body
- local authority or local planning authority
- statutory undertaker – a business that has public authority duties for their land and delivers something of public importance
When to meet your biodiversity duty
You must have completed your first consideration of what action to take for biodiversity by 1 January 2024. You must agree your policies and objectives as soon as possible after this.
You must reconsider the actions you can take at least every 5 years. You could reconsider your actions more regularly where possible, such as:
- quarterly
- annually
- in an ongoing way – for example, when you update existing policies, frameworks and processes, you could think about ways to change them to better conserve and enhance biodiversity
Completing your consideration
To complete your consideration, you could take the following steps:
- Look at each of your functions.
- Consider what actions you can take to conserve and enhance biodiversity in each area.
- Identify the areas where you can best conserve and enhance biodiversity. You can then focus on these areas when agreeing policies and objectives.
The policies and objectives you set, and the action you take to achieve them, will depend on your functions as a public authority.
You could consider:
- updating your internal policies, frameworks and processes to better conserve and enhance biodiversity
- actions for managing your land to conserve and enhance biodiversity
- actions for educating, advising and raising awareness of biodiversity
You could also get help from experts to complete your consideration.
You do not need to publish your consideration. However, you could keep a record of how you have made your consideration and the actions you plan to take. This can help you show that you’ve complied with the duty. You could record this in any suitable existing environmental strategy or create a new document.
Check relevant strategies
You must check if these strategies will affect how your organisation complies with the biodiversity duty:
- local nature recovery strategies
- species conservation strategies
- protected site strategies
You must:
- understand how and if they are relevant to your organisation
- be aware of how these strategies affect land that you own or manage, or actions you could take to conserve and enhance biodiversity
- consider how you could contribute to the strategy, where appropriate
Local nature recovery strategies
Local nature recovery strategies are locally led strategies for nature and environmental improvement established by the Environment Act 2021.
Each local nature recovery strategy will:
- agree priorities for nature’s recovery
- map the most valuable existing areas for nature
- map specific proposals for creating or improving habitat for nature and wider environmental goals
The 48 responsible authorities have begun to publish their local nature recovery strategies. All 48 should be published by the end of 2025. Together, the strategies will cover the whole of England.
The strategies relevant to you will be the ones for the areas of England you’re active in. If you have functions across England, any of the strategies could be relevant. Check the local nature recovery strategy areas and responsible authorities.
You can get involved in preparing the strategies now and help to deliver them once published. For example, you could suggest or act on proposals to create or improve habitat on land you manage, or help someone else to do so. This will make it easier to show how you have fulfilled your biodiversity duty and improve the quality of the strategy.
Local planning authorities should read the planning practice guidance to understand how the biodiversity duty requires them to consider local nature recovery strategies in their planning functions.
Species conservation strategies
Established by the Environment Act 2021, species conservation strategies aim to safeguard the future of the species that are at greatest risk. The strategies will find better ways to comply with existing legal obligations to protect species at risk and to improve their conservation status.
These strategies are in development and not published.
Protected site strategies
Established by the Environment Act 2021, protected site strategies will take a new approach to protecting and restoring species and habitats in protected sites. Protected site strategies will provide ways to overcome offsite pressures such as nutrient pollution in the wider catchment.
Natural England is looking to produce protected site strategies. There are no strategies currently published.
Update internal policies, frameworks and processes
All public authorities have policies and processes that set out how they deliver their functions and could affect biodiversity. Often these are set out in strategy and framework documents.
When completing your consideration, you could review your policies and documents to look for opportunities to make changes to better conserve and enhance biodiversity. Policies and strategies you could review include:
- transport – support sustainable travel to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality
- waste – review waste management and recycling processes to reduce water pollution and air pollution from waste transport and landfill
- water – improve water efficiency to reduce the effect water abstraction can have on sensitive habitats and species
- procurement – buy sustainable materials and supplies to reduce the demand on natural resources
- light – make sure the design of artificial lighting minimises effects on nature
- human resources – promote and educate staff on biodiversity issues
- estate – improve the management of your land for biodiversity
- sustainability – make sure biodiversity forms a part of sustainability considerations
When reviewing policy, you could take a natural capital approach. This is an approach to policy and decision making that considers the value of the natural environment for people and the economy. Biodiversity is a core component of the approach.
Manage land to improve biodiversity
An action you could take to meet your biodiversity duty is to manage your land in a way that improves biodiversity. This includes spaces like:
- allotments
- cemeteries
- parks and sports fields
- amenity spaces and communal gardens
- roadside and railway verges
- field margins and hedgerows
- rights of way and access routes
- woodlands and nature reserves
- canals and rivers
- water-dependent habitats
- estuaries and coastal habitats
Small changes to how you manage these areas could create habitats for wildlife and ‘nature corridors’ that connect existing habitats. This allows species to move between habitats, maintain or increase populations and be more resilient to climate change.
There are other things you can do to improve habitats, including:
- using native and sustainably sourced trees when planting
- creating dedicated spaces for wildlife
- leaving dead wood safely in place in woodlands to provide additional habitat
- maintaining planted trees to give them the best chance of survival
- reducing the use of herbicides, pesticides, peat and water
- implementing measures to prevent the spread of invasive species and plant disease
These actions can save money while delivering benefits to biodiversity.
If you own or manage large areas of land, consider promoting and encouraging nature-based solutions, restoration of natural processes and landscape recovery.
Natural England has published the Green Infrastructure Framework - Principles and Standards for England. This includes planning, design and process guides.
Make space for wildlife
You could create dedicated spaces to attract wildlife and enhance biodiversity. This is possible even if your public authority owns a single office building. It is important that these measures are appropriate to the location.
You could:
- build and install nest boxes for birds, bats and other animals
- add green walls or roofs to existing or new buildings
- plant native trees and shrubs
- plant wildflowers for pollinators
You can do more if you own or manage specific types of land. For example, if you own or manage:
- school grounds – create gardens, ponds, meadows or woodlands to improve biodiversity and aid education
- farmland – be aware of soil health, water use and waste management, and encourage farmers to apply for agri-environment schemes and use pesticides appropriately
Check the list of priority habitats and species in the UK.
Enhance protected sites
Sites that public authorities own or manage can be protected by other legislation. For example:
- sites of special scientific interest
- special areas of conservation or special protection areas
- national nature reserves
- local nature reserves and local sites
- Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance)
You should already be helping to conserve and enhance biodiversity on this land. For example, public bodies already have a duty to take all reasonable steps to conserve and enhance sites of special scientific interest.
The government has committed to restore 75% of sites of special scientific interest to favourable condition by 2042.
Authorities should work actively with Natural England and others to identify and implement the actions needed to help sites reach favourable condition.
Actions in National Parks, The Broads or National Landscapes (Protected Landscapes)
Consider designated areas, such as Protected Landscapes, as part of your biodiversity duty.
This is important if you have functions in or close to an area designated as a Protected Landscape. Improving nature in Protected Landscapes is an action that can enhance and conserve biodiversity. If appropriate to your public body, you could comply with your biodiversity duty by:
- helping to develop and implement a Protected Landscape’s management plan
- helping Protected Landscape bodies to implement the Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework
- making improvements to nature in these areas
Improve how you manage buildings
Review how you manage buildings and the land around them. This could include considering:
- whether you should remove vegetation around your buildings and if you do, when to do it
- what chemicals you use on the premises
- when you carry out maintenance work, to minimise disturbance to wildlife
- whether you can reduce the use of energy and water to help reduce pollution and address the pressure it puts on wildlife
Educate, advise and raise awareness
An action you could take to meet your biodiversity duty is to help the public understand biodiversity and why it’s important to conserve and enhance it. This can encourage land managers, businesses and the general public to take action to benefit biodiversity too.
For your policies, objectives and actions, you could:
- include the public in projects to improve biodiversity
- feature biodiversity in public or internal communications
- use libraries and museums to raise awareness of biodiversity
- put information boards in green spaces or offer guided walks
- include biodiversity considerations in advice for internal and external clients and service users
- educate your staff on your biodiversity actions and why they’re important
- raise public awareness of how their gardens can support biodiversity, for example, by avoiding artificial grass
Get help with your actions
You can get help from experts when considering what actions you can take. For example, you could:
- commission a survey or audit to help assess your property and its potential to improve biodiversity
- consult your local nature recovery strategy to find out what actions would benefit your area (when published)
- check existing data about wildlife and habitats in the area
- speak to Natural England, the Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, local wildlife trusts or consultant ecologists
You can get existing local data from Local Environmental Record Centres. If you commission research, you can share that data with them. To help you understand habitats and species in your area, you can use the national Magic Map.
Getting expert advice can help you understand how you can make a difference for biodiversity and avoid unintended outcomes.
You may need to get expert environmental advice on planning before preparing plans or considering development proposals.
Environmental assessment regulations require monitoring of the effects of development plans and projects. You could use the results of this monitoring as a source of environmental data.
Reporting your biodiversity policies and actions
Local authorities (excluding parish councils) and local planning authorities must publish a biodiversity report. Other public authorities must fulfil their biodiversity duty, but do not need to publish a report.
The end date of your first reporting period should be no later than 1 January 2026. After this, the end date of each reporting period must be within 5 years of the end date of the previous reporting period.
The report is a chance to communicate how your organisation is helping to improve the environment. It also helps local authorities to share best practice.
Defra intends to include references to your biodiversity reports in future reviews of the Environmental Improvement Plan.
Your biodiversity reports will:
- help everyone understand how we are collectively meeting shared goals to conserve and enhance biodiversity
- allow you to showcase the action you’re taking to improve biodiversity
- show other authorities and the general public what they can do for nature recovery and share good practice
Making development plans and decisions
Assessments
If your public authority is involved with development plans and decisions, consider your biodiversity duty when you’re complying with requirements for:
Biodiversity net gain (BNG)
If you’re a local planning authority, you will need to make sure developments meet biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements.
BNG requirements make sure development has a measurably positive impact on biodiversity. Development (apart from exempt development) must achieve a 10% net gain for biodiversity.
Actions you take under BNG can help you meet your biodiversity duty.
You will also need to include information on your BNG actions in your biodiversity duty report.
Read about what local planning authorities should do under biodiversity net gain.
How your biodiversity duty helps achieve biodiversity goals and targets
The action you take for biodiversity will contribute to the achievement of national goals and targets on biodiversity. By 2030, the government has committed to:
- halt the decline in species abundance
- protect 30% of UK land
By 2042, the government has committed to:
- increase species abundance by at least 10% from 2030, surpassing 2022 levels
- restore or create at least 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife rich habitats
- reduce the risk of species extinction
- restore 75% of sites of special scientific interest to favourable condition
Updates to this page
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We’ve updated the guidance to make it easier to follow. Updates include adding advice to say that actions under the duty can be taken on an ongoing basis, with suggestions for how to do this. A new section called 'Completing your consideration' has been added to help public authorities consider what actions they can take to meet the duty. We’ve also updated information on relevant policies to reflect recent changes, including local nature recovery strategies, biodiversity net gain, and protected landscapes.
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First published.