Assessing biodiversity within green infrastructure developments; a monitoring strategy for policy makers, practitioners and developers

绿色基础设施（GI）是全球公认的宜居和可持续发展的重要组成部分。人们普遍认为地理标志提供了许多社会效益，包括保护、健康和福祉以及经济增长。尽管如此，在“什么是好的地理标志”以及如何将其纳入新的开发中，多个利益相关者之间仍然存在相当大的不确定性。直到最近，地理标志还没有一个总体标准，但是“建筑与自然”认证的创建已经创造了一个全国性的基准。自然基准建筑是格洛斯特郡野生动物信托基金会和西英格兰大学之间知识转移合作伙伴关系的一部分（由Innovate UK和NERC资助；授予号9887）。开发商对“建筑与自然”基准的兴趣和吸收迅速导致从康沃尔到苏格兰中部的全国新开发项目中整合了地理标志倡议。尽管《与自然共存的建筑》强调了建设后监测的必要性，以评估地理标志干预措施对生物多样性的有效性，但指南中关于如何实现这一目标的信息相对较少。也没有捕获监测数据的机制，因此不可能使用元分析方法系统地结合数据，以确定利用地理标志增强生物多样性的最有效方法。因此，NERC创新项目将为经“自然建筑”认证的开发项目制定施工后监测策略。这将产生有用的定量数据，以便评估地理标志干预措施的效果，使地方当局和法定自然保护机构能够更好地确定它们是否履行了法定义务，向开发商证明监测的目的和费用是合理的，并确保最有效的地理标志纳入未来的发展。要解决的问题都是由格洛斯特郡野生动物信托基金会和参与“自然建筑”认证过程的利益相关者提出的。制定监测战略将提供：i)一个证据基础，以确保监测能够经济有效地实现，而不仅仅是一项“打勾”的工作；Ii)在合理的时间范围内进行调查，以确保准确量化生物多样性水平；iii)清楚了解何时需要进行修复工作以改善地理标志的效能；iv)一个强大的系统来获取和分析监测数据，以评估各种GI干预措施的相对成功。产出将包括一份关于监测地理标志发展的最有效方法的证据文件，该文件将得到参与该进程的所有主要利益攸关方（包括规划人员、决策者和开发人员）的认可。“与自然共处的建筑”基准的标准化测量方法，将作为生态实践者量化房屋发展内生物多样性水平的指南，以及旨在安全存储和分析监测记录的数据储存库和统计代码。从长期来看，监测战略可以纳入所有发展项目的《地方发展计划》，而不仅仅是纳入地理标志的项目，这将增强监测后调查的可靠性和实用性。直接受益者将是开发商（如住房开发商）、专业生态顾问（服务提供商）、地方政府生态学家和规划委员会（决策者）以及法定自然保护机构（决策者）。

Green infrastructure (GI) is recognised globally as an essential component of liveable and sustainable places. It is widely acknowledged that GI provides numerous societal benefits including conservation, health and well-being and economic growth. Despite this there is still considerable uncertainty amongst the multiple stakeholders of 'what good GI is' and how this can be incorporated into new developments. Until recently there was no overarching standard for GI, however the creation of 'Building with Nature' accreditation has created a national benchmark. The Building with Nature benchmark was developed as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and the University of the West of England (funded by Innovate UK and NERC; Grant number 9887). The interest and uptake of the Building with Nature benchmark by developers has been rapid leading to the integration of GI initiatives within new developments nationwide from Cornwall to Central Scotland. Although Building with Nature highlights the necessity of post-construction monitoring to assess the efficacy of GI interventions for biodiversity, there is relatively little information contained within the guidance as to how this can be achieved. There is also no mechanism for capturing monitoring data which makes it impossible to combine data systematically using a meta-analytical approach to determine the most effective methods of enhancing biodiversity using GI. This NERC Innovation placement will therefore lead to the development of a post-construction monitoring strategy for Building with Nature accredited developments. This will generate useful quantitative data to enable the efficacy of GI interventions to be assessed, will allow local authorities and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies to better determine if they are achieving their statutory obligations, justify the purpose and expense of monitoring to developers, and ensure that the most effective GI is integrated into future developments. The issues to be addressed have all been proposed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and stakeholders involved in the Building with Nature accreditation process. The development of a monitoring strategy will provide: i) an evidence base to ensure that monitoring can be achieved cost effectively and is more than a 'box-ticking' exercise; ii) that surveying occurs over a sensible timeframe to ensure that biodiversity levels are accurately quantified; iii) a clear understanding of when remediation work is required to improve the efficacy of GI; and iv) a robust system to capture and analyse monitoring data to assess the relative success of a variety of GI interventions. The outputs will include an evidence document on the most effective methods to monitor GI developments, endorsed by all the major stakeholders involved in the process including planners, policymakers and developers. A standardised surveying methodology for the Building with Nature benchmark which will act as a guide for ecological practitioners to quantify levels of biodiversity within housing developments and a data repository and statistical code designed to securely store and analyse monitoring records. In the longer term, the monitoring strategy could be integrated into Local Development Plans for all developments, not just those integrating GI, which would enhance the robustness and usefulness of post-monitoring surveys. The direct beneficiaries will be developers (e.g. housing developers), professional ecological consultants (service providers), local government ecologists and planning committees (decision makers), and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (policy makers).