Monitoring Sustainability of Tree Planting and Biodiversity Net Gain Compliance as Key Drivers to Net Zero Targets - A human and planet-centred design approach to developing new digital tools

To achieve our ambitious but very necessary Net Zero targets, there are two matters that are paramount (and we think they're often overlooked): we must a) protect, increase and sustain biodiversity and b) ensure that our trees (mature and newly planted) actually survive.

From November 2023, every planning permission application submitted to local authorities in England will be required to demonstrate that the project will create a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) of at least 10%. They will also have to submit a plan to ensure that that BNG increase will be sustained for at least 30 years.

Do the necessary tools exist to evidence that? How will local authorities and developers appraise proposals? How will they propose to monitor the success of the plans? How will local authorities cope with the extra burden of processing applications? Are they equipped to do so? Are there ways for the public to hold stakeholders accountable? There is an urgent need for people-centered, easy-to-use digital tools that help us measure and monitor biodiversity -- and _particularly_ the contribution of our trees and hedgerows to BNG.

Also, quite apart from the needs arising from pending BNG mandates, like never before, we _need_ public-accessible digital tools to be able to monitor the survival of trees that are planted in our public spaces across the UK. Every year, an astonishing number of newly planted trees simply do not survive. Not only do they suffer from incorrect planting approaches and lack of after-planting care, there is also very little public transparency on survival rates.

Our project also sets out to understand exactly what tools might bring clarity and accountability to tree preservation and planting -- in the worthy pursuit of tree survival, Biodiversity Net Gain and ultimately towards achieving our ambitious Net Zero targets.

We'll balance people and planet-centred design approaches and engage an advisory team of experts in the fields of ecology, biodiversity and planning procedures. We'll seek to understand how biodiversity directly affects Net Zero targets. We'll learn about local authority workflows and pain points. We'll listen to developers, conservation officers and landowners to learn what tools they need and how they should work. Then, using design thinking principles, we'll prototype digital solutions that help us overcome these as-yet poorly understood obstacles. We'll provide tools to stakeholders to help in the race towards Net Zero. And we'll champion the most vulnerable stakeholders of all: our trees.