Introduction
The Campaign
Our mission is to inspire and showcase the best practices across the industry, highlighting how we can safeguard ecosystems and habitats in urban and semi-urban environments.
The impact of urbanisation on nature and its ecological infrastructure in the UK has been profound, resulting in habitat fragmentation, degradation, and loss.
Through meticulous planning, innovative design, responsible construction, and effective management of the urban built environment, we can create and nurture diverse habitats. This not only mitigates the decline of species but actively safeguards, enhances, and establishes interconnected ecological networks. It also fosters a profound connection between humanity and nature, contributing to our collective prosperity.
Habitat Matters serves as a catalyst, connecting and empowering individuals to elevate the quality of our built environment. Using the free interactive mapping system as an open-source knowledge hub, we share valuable insights, educational resources, and foster collaboration. Together, we can forge a brighter future through informed action and collective effort.
FAQs
Our Vision: Demonstrating Best Practice in Urban Habitat Conservation
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Establish a free at the point of use interactive mapping platform as an open-source knowledge hub to host, collect, rate, and analyse data related to biodiversity and habitat in urban and semi-urban areas.
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Foster a strong connection between the built environment, Biodiversity Net Gain monitoring, and national biological record-keeping.
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Engage the public by creating awareness and fostering a deeper connection with urban habitats and nature, leading to healthier and prosperous communities.
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Share educational content on biodiversity protection and enhancement through engaging webinars, podcasts, and continuous professional development opportunities.
Whether you are a developer, engineer, architect, or a concerned member of the public interested in protecting the natural world, you have the power to make a difference by documenting site habitats and biodiversity.
By adding your site, you;
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Showcase industry best practices and set a standard for others to learn from.
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Connect the public to information about urban habitats, wildlife conservation resources, and foster a stronger bond with nature.
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Enhance legibility, ensuring compliance with Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) amenity and Biodiversity Net Gain criteria while promoting environmental education.
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Demonstrate good social governance and a commitment to increasing the social value of schemes through education and community engagement.
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Contribute to long-term monitoring for Biodiversity Net Gain and National Biological record-keeping, which will shape future policies.
Search Records
Learn more about the effectiveness of urban and semi urban habitats and biodiversity across the UK by browsing through leading best practice projects, habitat records from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and biodiversity information from the Biological Records Centre.
Create a Site
Help drive best practice by adding your own site with options to draw the site using the existing website tools or importing GIS data.
Add Habitat or features
Collect submit habitat & ecological data pertaining to the sites management and mitigation solutions for your scheme or project.
Generate a QR code
For each site, habitat or feature you can generate a unique QR code that connect the digital map to the physical habitat to view built environment information, provide feedback or identify, collect and submit biological species data.
Add Biodiversity records
Add valuable biodiversity observational data to sites, helping to contribute to national biological record keeping in the UK.
Submit Habitat feedback
Help towards the future management of the asset and feeding back critical information that could help designers, planners and approval bodies. Identifying best practice.
The Habitat Matters mapping system has been built by dedicated biological mapping specialists Biodiverse IT.
The map is a collaborative approach with data from;
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Habitat records from the UK centre for Ecology & Hydrology
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Biodiversity records and species identification from The biological records Centre
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Mapping categories from Natural England’s Biodiversity Matrix 3.0 and small sites matrix
Collaborating for change
ACO, working with continually increasing number of industry partners, coordinated Habitat Matters, inspiring the creation and long term resilience of nature sensitive solutions for UK construction programmes.
Businesses, affiliated organisations and NGOs are collaborating together to show how collectively we can help address nature & biodiversity decline and tackle the challenges faced when safeguarding urban habitats.