Dr. Martha O'Hagan-Luff:

On whether credits would be traded, it is in its infancy and has not been done at scale in any country, to the best of my knowledge. As I said, it has only been done for those targeted. Credits have not been traded but only sold and the private sector has funded the protection of the natural resources.

I am involved in trying to conduct a pilot trading scheme, with Trinity being involved. We want any scheme to be research led and for the university to provide stewardship. In order that we have a well managed biodiversity credit, one first needs a pilot scheme and then to develop that. I think that there will be strong demand and there is plenty supply.

On whether the credits become tradeable, we would wait and see how that works. Initially, regarding the sale of the credits, there is a demand and the timing is excellent. Previously that might not have been the case but the regulatory environment really strengthens the case. In the future it is possible that credits could be traded but there is no liquid market in trading them as yet. It does not exist.