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Over the last few years, the issues of climate change and air pollution have been getting an increasing amount of attention. These dual threats have had an immense impact on all aspects of human and animal life. In response to these challenges, lawmakers in the UK and around the world have been introducing new environmental regulations and laws. These laws have been put into place to tackle the carbon footprint of every business. The laws aim to help slow down climate change and clean up air pollution. So, how do organisations prepare for these laws and protect their business? The solution is to tap into the expertise of ecological consultants.
Besides services regarding legislation, these ecology consultants can also develop ecological impact assessments for your business and advise you on habitat management and restoration. Trained ecologists and arboriculturalists can conduct tree and biodiversity surveys, bat surveys and more. Let’s take a closer look at the various benefits of hiring an ecological consultancy, and the services they can offer.
Benefits of Hiring an Ecological Consultant
There are a number of benefits ecology consultants can offer.
Surveys and Planning
Do you need a bat survey to avoid disturbing bat roosting sites on your land? Maybe you need planning consent for your property but have no idea where to even begin. An ecological consultant is trained to address these and other environment and habitat questions. You can speak to an ecology consultancy such as Arbtech, the UK’s leading ecological services agency that fulfils the needs of over 3000 customers every year. They’ve supported over 20,000 planning applications since 2005.
Compliance with Laws
Climate change has resulted in threats to human life such as warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, increased drought, displacement and food scarcity. Due to heavy industrialisation and a shrinking green cover, air pollution has been on the rise as well. Lawmakers are therefore creating regulations firms need to comply with, to help reduce the environmental impact of doing business.
The coming decades will only see an increase in such legislation as effects of environmental threats get closer and clearer. Ecology consultants specialise in keeping abreast of such new regulation. They are uniquely placed to not only interpret the new laws for you, but to also help put solutions in place to comply with these regulations and protect your business.
Some businesses make the mistake of trying to keep up with new legislation and chalk out solutions on their own. But this can get overwhelming pretty soon because regulations keep getting passed or updated. Then, there is the large amount of paperwork and research that can be involved. For this reason, delegate this critical work to the experts so your business does not suffer.
Habitat Checks
Ecology consultants can help developers check if a potential development can affect the animal and plant species found there. They can also examine and identify the various kinds of habitats on the land and look for invasive species. In addition, they can perform research and help with nature conservation.
Multi-Disciplinary Team
Many agencies offer a wide range of services and expertise. They are often able to deploy a multidisciplinary approach via a well-rounded team of specialists including ecologists, estate management and forestry experts, arboriculturists, and landscape designers. This makes it convenient for clients as they can get all their ecology-related needs met under one roof.
Services Offered by Ecological Consultants
Ecological consultants are trained to offer a number of services, such as the ones given below.
Risk and Impact Assessment
Ecologists can examine your site and find out if there are any ecological risks — such as protected habitats or species — tied to the site. They can also support you in ecological management and planning. They can collect data for both Environmental and Ecological Impact Assessments to identify any possible harmful effects of the development. These reports are frequently associated with the planning process. Such work can include industrial developments and transport projects. It can be deployed by stakeholders such as planning departments and conservation organisations.
Mitigation and Translocation
Mitigation projects entail collecting and relocating animals on the site. It can also involve building new, equally suitable habitats for the displaced animals.
Research
These consultancies can sometimes work with other government or non-profit agencies on research and analysis projects. This kind of work may be delegated from agencies such as local authorities and wildlife organisations. The work may involve analysing the reasons for the success or failure of government and other initiatives, listing the important species present at a site, etc.
Legislation and Compliance
Ecological consultants have the training necessary to offer you advice that can help update your business approach and policies such that your organisation complies with every new bit of environmental legislation.
Surveys and Data Collection
These agencies are frequently called upon for routine field surveys to list the plant and animal species on the site. They also help to analyse this and other data from the surveys, and map and monitor potential development sites.
Landscaping and Arboriculture
These agencies can offer landscaping advice and services to home-owners, developers, and businesses such that the projects comply with the law. In addition, consultancies can also help the above parties specifically with improving their green cover by analysing how best they can go about facilitating the ecological enhancement at their site. They can also offer arboricultural or tree surveys.
Freshwater Ecology
Freshwater ecological services can include aquatic habitat assessments and surveys. A number of these habitats are fragile and need to be saved. Thus, freshwater ecological services also include river, lake or pond restoration. Services can also involve freshwater species identification and advice for conservation. Additionally, these services can also involve water quality testing and management.
Consult an experienced ecologist to fulfill the habitat and ecological needs on your property or of your business. Trained consultants can find legal and workable solutions to these challenges faster and more efficiently. With the help of the expertise of the ecological consultant, you can perform your surveys and comply with the law with complete peace of mind.
