Cornwall Habitat Bank

Explore Cornwall Council – Investing in Nature Contact

In line with the rest of the UK, nature is in decline in Cornwall; over the last 30 years, nearly half of terrestrial mammals and three-fifths of butterflies are found in fewer places, with almost half of breeding birds having declined. Similarly, Cornwall is affected by the climate emergency; with a long and significant coastline, we are particularly aware of rising sea levels and coast change.

In order to act against these issues, investment into nature recovery projects is essential. Cornwall Habitat Bank will collate a variety of revenue streams such as income from Biodiversity Net Gain offsetting (Cornwall Council is an early adopter of Biodiversity Net Gain in planning), woodland carbon credits and private investments and funnel them into nature recovery projects.

The current goals of the project are to identify whether the creation of a ‘Habitat Bank’ in Cornwall is feasible within the current market and set up a preferred model after an options analysis. This model will include financial, legal and monitoring considerations as well as a habitat register. We intend for it to be scalable and replicable for other areas of the UK.

Further information or knowledge input that will help the project will be scoped out by Cornwall Council alongside an external consultancy. It includes market feasibility, costs of running Cornwall Habitat Bank, the wider financial model and legal considerations.

We are also working on a concurrent marine pilot project that will investigate the legal position of owning and charging for carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services from the seagrass within Falmouth Harbour, how these ecosystem services can be accredited, and the practicality of selling them within the current market.

Critical success milestones for the project:

Research into the feasibility of forming a strategic brokerage system, or ‘one stop shop’ that might channel revenue from a number of statutory and voluntary routes into nature recovery projects.

The funding model will be explored fully by an external consultancy, including the potential blending and stacking of different revenue streams. The below diagram illustrates potential investment flows into the project.

Future investments will lead to tangible environmental outcomes (within the 25YEP) associated with habitat creation and other nature recovery projects. This includes:
Thriving plants and wildlife: investment in the CHB will act as a catalyst to accelerate private investment into nature – based solutions and restoring and creating habitat.
Protection from and mitigation of environmental hazards: improvements to nature will increase the potential for ecosystem services to help protect and mitigate against environmental hazards through; peatland restoration, flood resilience, tree planting and managing climate change risks.
Clean and plentiful water: the Cornwall Habitat Bank will support the farming community in incorporating nature based solutions such as habitat creation and increased water storage as part of their wider business model. This will not only lead to improvements in water quality but will also provide resilience during drought conditions, helping landowners mitigate and adapt to climate change.