Natural Environment White Paper

The Government has published ‘Natural Choices’, the first Government White Paper on the Natural Environment in 30 years. The White Paper sets out the Government’s vision for policy on the natural environment and is the first time the Government has taken an ecosystems approach to recognise the value of the UK’s natural asset base. An over arching theme of the Paper is the inclusion of the value of natural assets in national accounts, and consideration of the environment and its value in government and business decision making. Key new initiatives introduced in the White Paper include voluntary biodiversity offsetting in pilot areas, New Local Nature Partnerships and a Natural Capital Committee; which is to be an independent body that will report to the Government’s economic affairs committee and work to put nature at the centre of Government’s economic thinking. Chapter three of the paper specifically looks at ‘Growing a green economy’ with focus on business opportunities that ‘pay back’ to nature, and provide government and business working partnerships. The paper also commits the Government to publishing new guidance by 2012 on how businesses should measure and report their corporate environmental impacts and also to develop by December 2012 an agreed approach to water footprinting. Speaking about the publication of the Natural Envrionment White Paper, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt. Hon Caroline Spelman said, “the true value of nature should be built into the decisions we make – as individuals, organisations, businesses and governments – so that we become the first generation to leave the environment in a better condition than we found it. This is what ‘The Natural Choice’ will help us all achieve.”