2b 4 colin reid

Washed away with the floods Colin T. Reid, School of Law • The Privatisation of Biodiversity?

• Payment for ecosystem services • Conservation covenants • Biodiversity offsetting

Engagement Law Commission - Covenants • Commissioner at conference • Informal meetings • Stakeholder workshops • Consultation responses • Dundee conference

DEFRA – Biodiversity Offsets • Discussed at conferences • Informal meetings • Green Paper and pilot schemes • Environmental Audit Committee • Written responses • Dundee conference

Enthusiasm, Concern and Progress • Great enthusiasm from Environment Minister, Owen Paterson – offsets seen as way to enable development

• Some concerns – arguments within government – cost of providing offsets seen as a “tax on development” – Environmental Audit Committee concerned at pace and details

• Policy due by end of 2013 and legislation in 2014

And then ‌.

Lessons • Look for and cultivate contacts – people crop up in unexpected places

• Direct impact can be hard to show when lots of stakeholders and contributors • Impact affected by wholly unrelated factors • Bound to be some dead ends • Project still valuable, but just not as topical – very likely to return to agenda in future