UK biodiversity law: evolution, frameworks and key concepts—EU directives to Environment Act 2021; environmental principles, favourable conservation status, mitigation hierarchy, nature recovery and natural capital

Published by a LexisNexis Environment expert

Practice notes

Biodiversity legal and policy frameworks comprise a fast‑evolving and often intricate branch of law. In the wake of marked post‑war declines in biodiversity, a corpus of legal measures emerged to confront the issue. Results have been uneven; nevertheless, biodiversity law and policy now form a core element of government policy and the jurisprudence of domestic and international legal systems. This direction is set to persist, particularly as the ties between restoring biodiversity and adapting to climate change are drawn more closely. This Practice Note equips practitioners with the context and principal concepts underpinning biodiversity law. It explores:

the background to the legislative and policy frameworks that support biodiversity, and
the key concepts in biodiversity law

It also sits within a suite of biodiversity content comprising the following Practice Notes:

Biodiversity—UK policy and legislative framework
Biodiversity—international law
Biodiversity—litigation

The evolution of domestic biodiversity protection

Although environmental law is comparatively young, concern for wildlife and the safeguarding of the countryside is long‑established, particularly in the UK...

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Richard Broadbent

Freeths

Richard was a solicitor at Natural England since 2010 and was the Head of Legal Services since 2017. Richard then joined Freeths LLP in January 2022.Richard led on many of Natural England’s high-profile litigation and enforcement cases and provided advice to Natural England’s teams, for example, on the emergence of the Environment Act 2021 and Nature Recovery Green Paper.Richard is a highly distinguished environmental lawyer and has worked on a number of high-profile nationally significant infrastructure, planning, and species licencing cases. Richard trained at Collyer Bristow LLP in London and holds an LLM in Environmental Law from UCL....

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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