Costs of environmental enhancement and mitigation
In the case of the protection of environmental assets, costs include:
- Increased time for negotiation in the planning and design stages
- Increased land-take for the project
- Increased construction costs due to on-site mitigation measures during the operational stage
- Management after construction
- Monitoring and management adjustments
In the case of the replacement of environmental assets, costs should cover:
- Land acquisition
- Initial site survey/feasibility study
- Background research including species and population studies
- Removal and maintenance of plant species (ex-site conservation)
- Seed bank creation from sources at site to be lost or damaged
- Reintroduction
- Habitat creation including physical factors (e.g. Hydrological and sediment regimes)
- Habitat management/site wardening
- Control of competitors
- Monitoring: short, medium and long-term
- Site safeguards
- On-going advice to land managers
- Publicity and public relations
With the creation of substitute sites as a replacement for what is being lost, the main costs should cover:
- Land acquisition
- Set-up costs
- On-going management during the establishment stage
- On-going monitoring
- Subsequent adjustment of management regimes over several years, depending on habitat type


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