Resilient by Nature: integrating climate resilience with Biodiversity Net Gain

This webinar marks the launch of “Resilient by Nature” - a new guide published by CIEEM.

This guide contains a 4-step process to integrate climate resilience with BNG, as well as examples of how climate change might affect BNG habitats and various types of resilience measures that can be included within BNG designs and long-term management plans.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is when development leaves biodiversity in a measurably better state than before. BNG is achieved by following the mitigation hierarchy and creating more wildlife-rich habitats. These habitats must be secured for at least 30 years. However, over this time, there will be changes in climatic conditions and more extreme weather events that threaten the viability of BNG habitats.

About the presenters:

Dylan Pritchard is a Climate Resilience specialist with experience of carrying out physical Climate Change Risk Assessments at the corporate, asset class, and project scale within the water sector. Dylan led delivery on several Strategic Resource Options (SROs) for water utilities, embedding climate adaptation into design of new assets as well as considering how climate projection data may influence natural assets including Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) and landscape planning for new vegetation. Dylan has significant experience engaging with BNG specialists, utilising publicly available climate projection data to inform design decisions in consideration of future changes to rainfall and temperature.

Julia Baker is the Global Submarket Lead for Biodiversity and Nature at Mott MacDonald. She supports private and public sector clients to integrate Biodiversity within corporate strategies and across the project lifecycle, and has led Biodiversity Net Gain projects across transport, energy and water sector projects. Julia is the lead author of the UK’s Good Practice Principles on BNG and developed CIEEM’s original Biodiversity Metric training course. Julia was on the ENDS Power List of the most influential Environmental Professionals in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and was CIEEM’s Member of the Year in 2023. Julia is Chair of the ICE Biodiversity and Nature Taskforce and a Director of the UK Business and Biodiversity Forum.

This webinar would primary interest those working in England because this webinar focuses on BNG although the topic of climate resilience and nature recovery might be of interest elsewhere in the UK.