Why are the ethics of nature conservation often ignored by industry?

When I describe to clients why they should be undertaking ecological surveys and implementing appropriate mitigation, compensation and enhancement I always rely upon the three big hitters: Legislation, Policy, BREEAM. Top of this list should surely be ethics however. I don’t need financial incentive or threats of litigation to prevent me from committing crimes or acting…

What would I challenge the construction industry to change?

I was recently asked to produce a 2 minute video response to the question ‘what would I challenge the construction industry to change?’, in relation to sustainable development. This seemed like a simple question but actually turned out to be quite hard to succinctly answer in just 2 minutes. I’ve produced an approximation of my…

Natural capital in concept works. They know it, we know it, but how come it rarely translates at the coal-face of sustainable development?

My last blog focused on the threat of reduced protection for our most valued wildlife conservation sites. Thankfully initial comments from Brussels were reassuring, and the headlines satiated my smugness by stating more or less what I had written; Directives work, nature is valuable, enforcement is broken etc etc. That’s fantastic, so far the consensus…