Dam good for biodiversity – Polly Montoneri speaks to The Times on beaver reintroduction
Two pairs of Eurasian beavers were reintroduced into the wild at the Purbeck Heaths National Nature Reserve in Dorset this month, more than 400 years after they were eradicated by hunting in the area.
This is a significant move for the species in the UK, holding a protected status in England since 2022, and bodes well for biodiversity, water quality, and waterways. Some members of the agricultural community have raised concerns about the types of landscape changes beavers can bring, and what this means for farmers and landowners, but it is hoped that the positive outcomes can outweigh the bad.
Speaking to The Times, Polly Montoneri, Partner in our Rural Land and Business team, emphasises the importance of stakeholder engagement through these biodiversity efforts, but also looks forward to the potential for such projects to help accelerate the well needed drive to mobilise private investment into the rural economy and natural capital. In the light of the Governments recent and sudden closure of SFI applications, this mobilisation of private investment is ever more crucial to the rural economy.
Whilst projects enabling the reintroduction of beavers will be localised and site specific, the possibility can pave the way for the creation and delivery of projects and, crucially, the development of knowledge, collection of data and the evolution of metrics to enable accurate measurement of nature improvements that are so crucial to the development of robust nature finance markets.
Read the full article in The Times here.
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