Complying with the biodiversity duty
Document Status
Current
Supplement
Sustainability, Environment, Development & Planning
Abstract
Explains the biodiversity duty and how public authorities can comply with it. Covers: who must comply with the biodiversity duty; when to meet the biodiversity duty; consideration of relevant strategies; how biodiversity duty helps achieve biodiversity goals and targets; actions that could be taken; management of land to improve biodiversity; education, advice and raising awareness; reviewing internal policies and processes; preparation for biodiversity net gain; reporting of biodiversity policies and actions.
History
Last updated: 17 September 2025 - Added advice saying 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. Also updated information on relevant policies to reflect recent changes, including local nature recovery strategies, biodiversity net gain, and protected landscapes. Sourced from: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complying-with-the-biodiversity-duty and converted to pdf. Whilst we endeavour to capture all updates it is subject to receiving alerts from the publisher and there may be formatting or punctuation changes applied to the html version that do not affect the text. Document type: guidance. First published: 17 May 2023.
Subjects
- Planning and development
- Nature conservation
- Environmental planning/land
- Natural environment
Publisher History
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is a UK Government department. They are committed to tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and work to secure a healthy, resilient, productive and diverse natural environment. This work has formerly been carried out by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment.
Information
NBS
NBS has produced specification systems and information products for construction industry professionals for more than 40 years. The National Building Specification is the recognised UK national standard and is used by over 5,000 organisations. NBS is part of RIBA Enterprises Ltd.
Accuris
We connect trusted knowledge to customers' workflows – mitigating risk, increasing efficiency and accelerating innovation For more than 60 years, leading R&D and engineering-intensive organizations have relied on us to achieve on-time, on-budget delivery of complex projects and new products. We deliver an unparalleled combination of technical content and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to surface answers from the vast universe of technical knowledge, both inside and outside the organization. In a single interface, we connect the dots between information scattered across many different sources, allowing technical professionals to make better, more informed decisions faster.