Harnessing Nature’s Ingenuity: A Discussion

Globally, we joined Business for Nature’s “Call to Action”, encouraging governments to adopt ambitious policies that reverse biodiversity loss before 2030. WSP is also a participant in the United Nations’ Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a major initiative aimed at protecting and reviving damaged ecosystems which in turn could provide one third of the answer to the climate crisis.

More recently we joined the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum. As a member of this global multi-disciplinary consultative group of institutions, WSP is supporting the development of a risk management and disclosure framework for organizations. This will enable organizations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks. We are also leading an effort to draft an ISO standard for assessing biodiversity net gain.

In the UK, WSP has been championing the Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) principle for many years, which seeks to account for and compensate the impacts from development to biodiversity with equivalent and additional gains. WSP has advised the British government in making BNG mandatory in all developments in England as part of its 25-year environment plan. We have also co-authored a British Standard for the implementation of BNG in development projects, published by the British Standards Institution (BSI).

In addition, WSP co-founded the UK Business & Biodiversity Forum (UKBBF) in 2021, a new business-to-business hub which aims to mainstream biodiversity throughout the private sector, by supporting companies in understanding the value of biodiversity and integrating nature into their decision-making.

The impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss are already keenly felt by communities around the world. WSP is leading projects that are challenging traditional approaches and demonstrating how nature-based solutions can bring vital benefits both in terms of climate resilience and biodiversity. Many of these innovative projects are helping to bridge the innovation chasm by scaling up pilot projects into the mainstream. To achieve a fundamental shift to work with nature rather than in opposition to nature will require more than boldness and creativity. It will require a conscientious break from standard practices to evolve innovative solutions into the new standard.

For example, WSP is designing a living shoreline for a 20-km segment of Highway Franklin 98 that traverses Apalachicola Bay on the Florida panhandle. The project, which contrasts markedly with the concrete used in the majority of global coastal infrastructure, will involve establishing an intertidal marsh through the introduction of oyster reefs to attenuate wave energy. The project will not only serve to enhance ecological functions of coastal habitats and help restore the hard-hit oyster fishery, but also help mitigate chronic erosion of the adjacent Highway 98, which serves as a hurricane evacuation route.

In New Zealand, we have been involved in the Te Awa River Ride, linking Ngāruawāhia to Lake Karāpiro. In addition to offering accessible and scenic walking and cycle trails along the Waikato River for recreational purposes, the new 65-km cycle way provides a viable commuter link for people moving between the towns of Ngaruawahia, Hamilton and Cambridge. As part of the construction, the team have been replacing exotic pest species with native trees to boost biodiversity along the route.

In addition, we are designing tools to help clients immediately assess any project that affects land-use or management. Developers in England will soon be legally required to quantify and mitigate the biodiversity impact of their projects. WSP in the UK has been integral to the development and uptake of Natural England’s biodiversity metric to measure net gain, in readiness for this requirement. Building on this we have worked with the Ecosystems Knowledge Network and Northumbria University to develop the NATURE Tool that assesses the impact a project will have on the goods, services and benefits we get from nature.

As a global community, none of the challenges ahead, nor the solutions we devise, can be considered in insolation. We live in a highly complex and interrelated world, and an understanding of our natural capital in the broadest sense will be crucial across all sectors, public and private. This is where WSP’s multi-disciplinary make-up and the fact that we have put sustainability at the forefront of our strategy truly come to play. We have made nature a core component of project delivery, and the depth and breadth of our expertise across the built and natural environment enables us to look at the challenges from all perspectives.

That comprehensive oversight is underpinned by WSP’s Future Ready® program which drives a holistic and flexible approach to climate, ecological and social resilience that will be paramount in the years ahead. Our multi-faceted advice helps clients turn business risk into business opportunity – the opportunity to meet their climate and biodiversity commitments, together with broader responsibilities to their employees, communities and investors and other stakeholders. These are the concepts that inspire our people every day, and enable us to rethink and deliver designs that address both climate change and nature loss, and secure social benefits at the same time.