Licence to Trash

There is a short article in the recent BRE "Building4Change" (still hate the title) by Prof Robert Tregay with a very important message. Essentially Tregay is warning that simplistic biodiversity offsetting systems risk becoming "licences to trash" - a particular instance being replacement of ancient woodland by modern planting. Tregay points out that the value of ancient woodlands lies as much in their history as in a simplistic tree count; and their complex ecological systems, including hardly visible soil organisms cannot be easily replicated or replaced. It's worth a read.