Land degradation and habitat destruction are among the biggest threats to our planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Still, we continue to degrade nature - in the name of development. Wetlands are converted into farmland, forests are cleared for industrial spaces, and intact natural habitats are disrupted to make way for urban expansion. We do need roads, buildings, and infrastructure for renewable energy. But if we keep up at this pace, soon there will be no more nature left to develop.

This is not merely a statement from biologists and conservationists, but a fact that has been confirmed by the World Economic Forum and researchers from IPCC and IPBES.

The biodiversity crisis is a global issue, yet the challenges and the solutions are found locally. Can we reverse this trend, reduce impacts on nature in construction projects and restore areas that are already degraded?

“We have reached a point when protecting nature is no longer sufficient. We need to upscale ecosystem restoration and integrate restoration and mitigation in all types of activities and land-use management.”
Dagmar Hagen, NINA

Working with ecologists
Construction projects involve a number of professions, such as architects and engineers to construction workers and project managers. All of them crucial for the project to succeed. Today we see that also ecologist have a clear role in development projects, to identify nature values and contribute to protect them.

Research show that bringing basic knowledge in restoration ecology into all stages of construction- and restoration projects, will contribute to avoid and minimizes environmental impact and reduce carbon emissions.

Green training is a systematic approach to integrating ecological considerations into construction projects to reduce environmental impacts. The concept is a three-step model for communication and dialogue in developing quality on-site solutions for restoration. An ecologist participates in all steps.

Green training bridges the gap between scientific and practical knowledge.

Step 1 – Planning
This part mainly involves project owner and the planning of economy, time, quality. Setting ambitions for restoration and mitigation is essential here.
Developing tenders that include nature and restoration will prepare the entrepreneurs for future work.
Step 2 – Training
This part involves the entrepreneurs and machine drivers at the very start-up of the construction work.
Two activities are the core of this step: First, a lecture to describe the project and the ambitions in ecological terms, and to prepare for the machine drivers to be active partners in developing final solutions – to give ownership. Second, the project owner, the contractor and the ecologist together make a field visit to verify the lecture and relate to the on-site work.
Step 3 – Follow-up and dialogue
This part depends on the size and the complexity of the project.
During the work there is an on-site dialogue between ecologists, machine drivers and maybe also project owner to develop optimal solutions down to details.
This contact can be organized step-by-step as the project develops and as new situations occur.

Develop and preserve - can we have both?
Developing human society also means protecting the very foundation of our existence. Avoiding further nature degradation should always be priority. However, but if there is no way around nature loss, the Green training can encourage smart solutions and avoid unnecessary loss of species and carbon storage.

The concept is the same in both large scale and smaller, local projects. It is all about minimizing impact, limiting, and restoring natural habitats.

“With clear guidelines, collaborative efforts, and ecological knowledge, it's possible to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of construction projects, benefiting both nature and society.”
Astrid Skrindo, NINA