Spatial planning

To enable wildlife to adapt to climate change, the spatial land use planning system from the European to local level needs to provide opportunities for wildlife to move through our landscapes. Protected wildlife areas need to form part of a better connected landscape.

Current spatial planning policies do not generally facilitate wildlife response to climate change. BRANCH argues that biodiversity policy must be integrated into other land use policies. Planning must use much longer timescales. Guidance must change to be more flexible. Planners themselves need policies and new tools and BRANCH has provided the foundation for these.

The issues surrounding climate change and wildlife’s ability to adapt to its impacts are a matter of transnational concern that need to be address at all spatial levels from European Policy to the local level. BRANCH is working in partnership with spatial planners, wildlife experts and scientists from England, France and the Netherlands to address these issues in an innovative way, sharing knowledge and generating transferable results.