© Jon Hawkins
Natural partners
Nature-based solutions for business
Nature-based solutions address societal challenges by restoring and managing ecosystems to benefit both people and the environment. For businesses, adopting nature-based solutions into their value chain is urgent for tackling climate change, nature loss, and water management and security, and for staying ahead in an evolving policy landscape. These solutions are not only sustainable but also cost-effective, offering long-term financial benefits by reducing risks and enhancing resilience.
Compliance markets like Biodiversity Net Gain and frameworks such as the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) are driving unprecedented investment in these solutions. The Wildlife Trusts work with businesses to meet nature-first objectives and ESG requirements, ensuring maximum impact for nature, climate, and communities.
Nature-based solutions in action
How The Wildlife Trusts deliver nature-based solutions
The Wildlife Trusts steward a remarkable variety of habitats, from wetlands and woodlands to grasslands and coastal areas, all vital for successful nature-based solutions. We focus on restoring, protecting and enhancing these areas to provide essential ecosystem services such as preventing soil erosion, offering recreational spaces, boosting climate resilience, and supporting biodiversity.
We collaborate with businesses nationally and locally to make a meaningful impact on nature, climate, and communities, while our consultancies, which reinvest their profits into local conservation, provide expert guidance on deploying nature-based solutions effectively.
Wildlife Trusts across the UK have been instrumental in the development of various “nature markets”, including carbon, biodiversity credits, nutrient neutrality and natural flood management, delivering multiple benefits for society and the environment and new income streams for rural communities. The aim of Nature Market Principles is to encourage responsible private investment in nature recovery.
Berks, Buck & Oxon Wildlife Trust
Case study: Duxford Old River
This 45-hectare site purchased by Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) in 2017, is being transformed from commercial pasture to a thriving habitat bank, offering a diverse array of nature-based solutions. This project aims to restore the river, floodplain, and wetland habitats, driving biodiversity recovery and supporting local wildlife.
Funded by sales from the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regulated market, over the next 30 years, conservation at Duxford Old River efforts will create a mosaic of floodplain habitats, including wetland areas, neutral grasslands, woodlands, and scrub, offering diverse niches for wildlife to flourish.
Beyond biodiversity, the site will deliver essential ecosystem services such as flood regulation, erosion protection, carbon storage, and enhanced natural interaction. BBOWT will regularly publish monitoring results, tracking habitat improvements, species populations, hydrology, nutrient levels, and carbon storage, showcasing Duxford's growing ecological value.
