PubMed · 2026-03-01
A 20-year-old rewilded estate in England harbors dramatically more biodiversity than conventional farmland, and researchers calculated what that nature recovery could be worth on emerging biodiversity credit markets — finding current credit prices cover only a fraction of project costs.
The rewilded Knepp Estate had 167% more species with a conservation designation and 56% more rare invertebrate species than the conventional arable farm.
Rewilding produced 33% more pollinator species and 25% more beneficial fungal partners for plants, while reducing plant-damaging fungi by 21%.
Voluntary biodiversity credits at £23/credit would generate only £1.2–1.6 million over 30 years — roughly 15 times less than project costs — though England's regulatory habitat market could yield up to £68.9 million over the same period.