The Business Case for Biodiversity Management

Five Valleys Ecology provide a Biodiversity Management for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) service which can add real value to your business through integration with the environmental component of your CSR Strategy or other environmental performance management frameworks.

Biodiversity management for CSR can significantly improve the competitiveness and profitability of your business in the following key areas:

• Employee Engagement and Retention;
• Community and Supplier Engagement;
• Investor Engagement; and
• Biodiversity and Environmental Reporting.

The list above is by no means exhaustive. You can find further details on these benefits outlined below followed by a description of what you can typically expect from our Corporate Biodiversity Management for CSR service.

Alternatively, call Tim Smith on 01453 759306 (M:07732 397984) or email us to arrange a free no-obligation consultation to discuss your site and requirements in more detail.

Employee Engagement and Retention

It is widely recognised that recruiting and retaining staff whilst maintaining high levels of commitment and productivity are critical to business success. A commitment to biodiversity initiatives as part of your environmental performance management can very noticeably enhance the cultural perception of your company. This is largely due to the fact that biodiversity is generally regarded as important and is readily understood on some level, in addition to being much more tangible than other measures of environmental performance management.

There is also scope for employees to practically engage with biodiversity than other aspects of the management of the environmental performance of your company such as through habitat management or through simply providing access to a more natural environment in some form. Biodiversity management can therefore provide a valuable contribution of an overall benefit package to recruit and retain the high quality staff needed for the success of your business.

Community and Supplier Engagement

Biodiversity management is a powerful way in which your business can engage positively and build trust with local communities. Positive community engagement can help during planning and consenting for existing or new business operations. It can also reduce the likelihood of negative publicity and third party litigation in the event of an environmental incident, and enhance mitigation strategies for potential interruptions to your business. Biodiversity management can also benefit communities directly through opportunities for practical involvement, improved amenity and education.

Investor Engagement

Biodiversity management can significantly enhance company environmental performance strategies and thereby facilitate more positive investor relations. Whilst direct links have not yet been established, research has shown that companies with environmental performance management strategies had a beneficial effect on the risk perceived by investors.

A number of initiatives and financial indices have highlighted the importance of environmental performance management and placed increased responsibility on companies to make environmental management a key part of the systems by which they are controlled and directed.

Biodiversity and Environmental Reporting

Biodiversity management information can be used for corporate environmental performance reporting within the environmental sections of CSR, sustainability and annual reports. Customers are more likely to buy from companies that they know have a commitment to environmental objectives of which biodiversity forms a key component.

Publication of biodiversity management information can clearly set you apart from your competitors whose environmental performance management strategies do not include a biodiversity component and demonstrates to your customers a clear commitment to environmental objectives as opposed to just ‘greenwash’.

What Five Valleys Ecology Can Do

Our corporate services fall into two main areas; Biodiversity Management Plans which are described below, and Site Biodiversity Action Plans (site BAPs) which you can find out about by clicking here.

Biodiversity Management Plans

Our biodiversity management corporate service typically consists of a number of key stages:

• Consultation to establish your requirements and devise a suitable scope of work;
• Field survey work to establish the baseline ecological conditions at your site. We can use a high-tech Geographic Information System (GIS) survey and mapping workflow which enables more accurate identification of ecological features on your site;
• Production of an Ecological Management Plan (EcMP) using information from the field survey work. This document identifies the key ecological features and describes the biodiversity enhancements proposed for your site. The EcMP will ensure appropriate management of key ecological features and provide an achievable management regime to be implemented that will maintain and enhance their value; and
• Monitoring to ensure the efficacy of the EcMP by undertaking biological recording of habitats and species. In the event that the findings of the on-going monitoring programme deviate from the objectives of the EcMP then the plan will be reviewed, and will be adapted as appropriate.

A number of further stages can be included if appropriate such as:

• Facilitating communication regarding the benefits of Corporate Biodiversity Management Plans at both board level and other levels internally within your organisation to gain necessary support and ensure successful implementation;
• A desk study where existing data would be obtained from the Local Biological Records Centre (BRC) as an initial survey of the site represents only a ‘snapshot’ of the ecological resources and may miss some issues that may be present at other times;
• Briefing your grounds maintenance team on the implementation of management prescriptions;
• Provide details and liaising with experienced suppliers who could undertake conservation management of your site;
• Supervision of community and staff engagement activities

The above information is not exhaustive as this is a bespoke service and would be tailored to your exact requirements following consultation.

Call Tim Smith on 01453 759306 (M:07732 397984) or email us to arrange a free no-obligation consultation to discuss your site and requirements in more detail.