Rewilding with biodiversity credits: a case study from arable land in England monitoring invertebrates and fungi

Marshall, Cicely AM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7397-6472 (2025) Rewilding with biodiversity credits: a case study from arable land in England monitoring invertebrates and fungi. Conservation Biology. (In Press)

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Abstract

Emerging biodiversity credit markets are promoted globally as a solution to financing nature recovery at scale. In southern England, which has experienced particularly strong declines in biodiversity as a result of intensification of farming practices, the Knepp Estate has pioneered trophic rewilding of marginal arable land as a nature recovery solution. The scaling up of rewilding initiatives will require long-term funding, for example through biodiversity credits. Using DNA metabarcoding to identify taxa, we characterised aerial invertebrate, terrestrial invertebrate, soil invertebrate, and soil fungal populations recorded from the 20-year-old rewilded Knepp estate and a conventional arable farm proposed as a nature recovery project, Boothby. We estimated the economic value of the arable farm’s restoration on the global voluntary biodiversity credit market using the Wallacea Trust framework, and on England’s compliance offsite biodiversity net gain market. Compared with the farm, Knepp had higher conservation value (167% more species with a conservation designation, 56% rarer invertebrate species) and improved ecosystem functioning (33% more pollinator species, 25% more fungal symbiotrophs, 21% fewer plant pathotrophs). Knepp had higher taxon richness (40-52%) for all taxa except soil invertebrates (-35%) and soil fungi (-10%) and higher taxon biomass (6-123%). Using the Wallacea Trust framework, we predicted a median biodiversity uplift between 69% and 92% for the farm after 30 years, worth $1,534,134 to $2,034,619 at $30/credit, around 15 times less than project costs. On England’s offsite biodiversity net gain market, habitat restoration could raise up to £68,902,500 over 30 years, though unit supply currently outstrips demand. Whilst voluntary biodiversity credits are unlikely to fill the biodiversity funding gap alone, they can be combined with carbon credits to increase financial viability, have global reach, may represent an additional biodiversity contribution rather than offset previous damage, and be used to support projects unsuitable for regulatory biodiversity or carbon markets.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > Countryside and Community Research Institute
Depositing User:	Cicely Marshall
Date Deposited:	24 Oct 2025 15:31
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2025 18:00
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/15469

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