How the South Downs National Park and Earthly are driving biodiversity recovery through VBCs

Voluntary biodiversity credit schemes began to take shape in the UK in 2024, when the

South Downs National Park Authority (SDNPA) partnered with Earthly

to launch the country’s first formal Voluntary Biodiversity Credits (VBCs). This milestone followed a growing interest in voluntary nature markets and aligned with broader efforts to mobilise private sector funding for nature recovery, including the

UK-France Global Biodiversity Credits Roadmap

.

To explore how these efforts are taking shape, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead, we spoke with the team at South Downs National Park. We have compiled their insights into a Q&A covering the state of UK biodiversity, the role of private landowners in nature recovery and the impact of innovative funding models like VBCs.

Voluntary Biodiversity Credits (VBCs)

are a new way for businesses and individuals to directly fund nature recovery projects. Each credit represents a tangible, measurable commitment to restoring or protecting a specific area of land, such as creating new woodland, rewilding grassland, or restoring wetlands, to increase biodiversity and ecosystem health.

Unlike regulatory biodiversity credits, which are used to meet legally required Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) obligations, VBCs are entirely voluntary. They allow companies to go beyond compliance, taking proactive steps to invest in nature as part of their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategies.

Here’s how they work in practice at Earthly:

For businesses, VBCs are an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in biodiversity conservation, engage stakeholders, and support the creation of thriving landscapes. For landowners and conservation organisations, they provide a new, sustainable revenue stream to fund restoration at scale.

The South Downs National Park is helping in restoring and protecting wildlife across the UK, through its ReNature campaign, which aims to create and connect thousands of hectares of habitat by 2030. By working closely with landowners like Iford Estate, the SDNPA is building a blueprint for nature recovery that other regions can follow.

Over the past year, this initiative has begun to show what’s possible. Projects like the

Iford Biodiversity Project

, within the park, have started to transform degraded farmland into growing habitats, while providing a new pathway for businesses to directly invest in biodiversity enhancement. Early progress has been encouraging, but the work is far from complete. The UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. Since 1970, species populations have

declined in this region by 19%

on average, signalling that reversing nature loss must remain a national priority.

We sat down with the South Downs team and took a deep-dive into:

The latest State of Nature report, based on analysis from 60 organisations, shows that

one in six species

is at risk of being lost in Great Britain. The figure from a decade ago was one in 10.

The bad news across the national picture is that our key species are still declining by an average of 19% since 1970.  There are fewer of them, and they are found in fewer places. This tells us that nature as a whole is really struggling.

Our biggest challenge is creating bigger, better and more joined-up habitats for nature to flourish. It means creating those spaces where wildlife can thrive and building in structural diversity across the landscape – so more trees, more ponds, more hedgerows, more wetlands, more chalk grasslands, more heathlands – all in the right place. This is not an overnight result and requires long-term collaboration with landowners, farmers, local communities, local businesses etc

The challenges facing biodiversity are multifold – continuing habitat loss, river pollution, economic and political uncertainty, climate change.

Projects in the South Downs, like the Iford Biodiversity Project, contribute by restoring and creating habitats (e.g., woodland, species-rich grassland), which supports biodiversity and can connect isolated pockets of good quality habitat. This helps increase the resilience of species to factors like climate change.

The ReNature campaign was launched four years ago in response to the national biodiversity crisis with the goal of transforming 13,000 hectares – or over 20,000 football pitches – into habitat for wildlife by 2030.

The campaign is now well over halfway to reaching its target. A total of 6,766 hectares – an area bigger than Portsmouth – has been created or improved to help nature thrive.

The work has included planting over 70,000 trees, adding over 160 football pitches of wildflowers, planting 35km of hedges, restoring ponds, and creating new wildlife havens on the edges of farms and urban development. Around a dozen new sites across the National Park are due to receive support to help create more wildflower meadows.

Figures show that the National Park’s planning role is also having a big impact, with Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) coming out at three times the target for last year. This means that many developments are improving habitats for wildlife compared to what they were previously.

The English National Park Authorities, including the South Downs, have a collective aim to deliver 20% of the government's nature recovery target on 10% of the land.

The strategic vision is for National Parks to be at the heart of the nation's nature recovery network. The goal is to have places where wildlife flourishes, habitats are maintained, restored and expanded, and everyone can experience nature.

This involves working with farmers, land managers and communities to deliver one-third of land dedicated to nature, protecting, managing, connecting and enlarging core wildlife sites and priority habitats. They also aim to encourage two-thirds of land to be "nature-friendly."

This directly contributes to the broader UK nature recovery network by creating significant areas of enhanced habitat and aiming to connect these areas.

The Iford Estate has always farmed with the environment at its heart. They recognised that large-scale arable and livestock farming can confine wildlife to small pockets of land. The project operates on degraded farmland within the South Downs National Park that had become unproductive and provided few ecosystem services.

A key inspiration was to replicate the woodland cover found at the local Ashcombe Bottom site (an SSSI), which is an important but isolated habitat for nightingales and other species, to increase connectivity and habitat for protected species.

Key goals of the project are:

So far, the Iford biodiversity project has made these milestones and progress:

Societal:

The woodland creation will increase the availability of clean air and water, retain more water to mitigate drought risks, reduce hydrogeological risks from heavy rains, have a temperature-regulating effect, and provide public access via a dedicated footpath for recreation and enjoyment.

Economic:

It transforms unproductive land. While direct financial benefits to the community aren't detailed, the provision of ecosystem services has inherent economic value. The project also offers BNG units for developers and voluntary biodiversity credits for businesses/individuals, contributing to a new market for nature recovery. Corporate away days are also offered.

Efficiency:

They offer "off-the-shelf solutions" with template legal documentation (including sale agreements). Because their habitat banks are registered with Natural England, they can offer exceptionally quick turnaround times (as little as 4 hours). Their experience with over 30 transactions also contributes to this efficiency.

Integrity and long-term success:

Additionality and Transparency:

Legal guarantees (30 years), unique mapping of parcels, and registration with Natural England provide transparency. For voluntary biodiversity credits, they are seeking accreditation with Plan Vivo and The Biodiversity Credits Company and working with the South Downs National Park to develop new agreements for ESG requirements.

Preventing Double-Counting:

Registration with Natural England for BNG units and seeking accreditation from recognised bodies for voluntary credits are mechanisms to help ensure units/credits are not double-counted. Building on this,

Earthly’s Biodiversity Credit Ledger

provides an added layer of transparency and accountability.

Every voluntary biodiversity credit sold through Earthly is securely recorded and uniquely mapped on the Ledger, creating a clear digital record that links each credit to a specific parcel of land. This system ensures that once a credit is purchased, it cannot be resold or misrepresented, giving buyers complete confidence that their investment directly funds measurable, on-the-ground biodiversity outcomes.

Estates and landowners are vital. The landscape only achieved its designation due to the commitment and best practices of landowners (farmers, conservation charities, businesses, etc.).

Most land in the South Downs is in private ownership, with over 1,000 landowners, so working with land managers is crucial for nature recovery. Collaboration and partnership are paramount for successful landscape management.

The SDNPA encourages "Whole Estate Plans" to promote collaboration between individual estates and the NPA and several of these are now in place at some major estates such as Wiston, West Dean and of course Iford.

The Iford Biodiversity Project aims to be an "exemplary landscape restoration project." While the Iford website doesn't have a direct message

to

other landowners, its approach highlights opportunities:

Challenges are not explicitly detailed but can be inferred: navigating regulations (like BNG), securing long-term funding and management, balancing conservation with other land uses (like food production), and the complexities of ecological restoration itself.

Purchasing a Voluntary Biodiversity Credit (like those offered via Earthly for the Iford project) means a company or individual financially supports the creation, restoration or protection of habitat.

At Iford, this investment translates to the on-the-ground creation of new woodland habitats on formerly degraded farmland. Each credit secures a 3x3 metre parcel of land dedicated to nature recovery, legally guaranteed for 30 years. This directly funds activities like planting trees, establishing grasslands and managing the land to increase biodiversity and sequester carbon.

The project primarily allows businesses to contribute positively to biodiversity enhancement and carbon sequestration. Businesses can invest to support these outcomes as part of their ESG (Environmental and Social Governance) commitments. It's framed more as a positive contribution/investment in nature rather than a direct "offset" for specific negative environmental impacts.

Earthly provides a platform for projects like Iford Estate to offer Biodiversity Credits to a wider audience, including individuals and businesses. This makes it easier for the private sector to find and invest in high-integrity nature-based solutions. Earthly helps by curating projects and providing a mechanism for the transaction and communication of the project's impact.

Earthly’s focus has been on bridging the gap between nature-based projects and private sector funding. Over the past year, Earthly has supported the launch of the UK’s first voluntary biodiversity credit scheme, processed biodiversity credit purchases, and introduced its

Biodiversity Credit Ledger

, a digital platform designed to ensure complete transparency and traceability.

These achievements not only bring more funding to projects like Iford but also set a new benchmark for integrity in biodiversity markets. As demand for high-quality nature-based solutions grows, Earthly’s mission is to make

voluntary biodiversity credits

accessible to businesses of all sizes, helping to scale nature recovery efforts across the UK and beyond.

Each voluntary biodiversity credit purchased through

Earthly’s VBC projects

is backed by transparent systems that ensure every credit is unique, traceable, and verified. This gives businesses complete confidence that their investment is driving real, measurable outcomes for nature recovery.

As the market for biodiversity credits grows, these safeguards help maintain trust and integrity, making it easier for companies to take meaningful action for the planet while demonstrating clear impact to stakeholders.

Talk to us

and discover how your business can play a role in restoring biodiversity and supporting the natural world.