Providing a detailed account of the law of nature conservation, this book reviews and discusses the way in which the law promotes the conservation of species of animal, bird, and plant, and how it protects natural habitats for protected species.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book sets nature conservation in its economic and scientific context. It explains how the law reconciles the public interest in promoting biodiversity and the conservation of species and habitats, on the one hand, and the private property rights of landowners and other resource appropriators on the other. The book offers an illuminating new interpretation of this area of environmental regulation using a resource allocation model of property rights to explain how legal and economic instruments for promoting nature conservation work in practice. The analysis covers all recent legislation and case law - including the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 and the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework.

The book will serve as a critical guide to UK nature conservation law for those working in the system, and a valuable reference point on the UK's approach to the area for environmental lawyers and policy-makers overseas.