The Data Stack Bringing England’s Nature Back
- Luke Chittock
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
ESRI tell the story of our work with Wessex Water and Ordnance Survey in BNG.
England passed the world’s first law requiring new development to leave nature measurably better off. Within two years, a national mapping authority had built the ecological data layer to support it, a specialist tool builder had put it in ecologists’ hands, and a major water utility had used both to restore thousands of hectares—and see it all in one place. This is how a country turns a debt to nature into a plan to repay it.
Key Takeaways
A trio of authoritative data provider, tool builder for ecologists, and a water utility bring Britain’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legislation to life to improve habitat quality.
Mapping the value of nature may be the most important thing the UK has mapped, and it’s just getting started.
The value chain that BNG created—national data authority, specialist tool builder, operational landholder—is a model any government can replicate
