This methodology was produced to enable baseline assessments on six Local Partnership Projects (LPP) sites across England for the Nature Returns Programme before changes in land-use or habitat creation took place. The methodology covers measurement of carbon stock, sequestration rate and biodiversity of habitats through a varied range of methods including soil coring, vegetation surveys, gas flux measurements, woodland surveys and 3D scanning of scrub and hedgerow.
Combining these data alongside other monitoring efforts enables a detailed individual understanding of each site. Repeated measurements and surveys at sites allow assessment of the net carbon losses or gains as well as changes in biodiversity over time as sites undergo land-use change and habitat creation.
The methodology is in use in existing habitats of different ages, on LPP sites and elsewhere, to assess the build-up of carbon and changing gas fluxes in retrospect.