Natural capital refers to natural assets including forests, rivers, land, minerals and oceans.

Law360: Total global insured losses caused by natural catastrophes reached US$62bn in the first half of 2024, Munich Re has reported, a figure that significantly surpasses the ten-year average of US$37bn for half-year data.

Refers to the basic fundamental principles of fair treatment.

Construction analysis: The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) refused to grant summary judgment enforcing an adjudicator’s award of more than £1.65 million because the defendant had a real prospect of establishing that the adjudicator reached the central findings in breach of natural justice. The adjudicator concluded that a compensation event had arisen under a contractual provision that neither party had relied upon and did so by treating a revised programme as an accepted programme despite both parties having proceeded on the basis that it was not. The judgment provides a clear reminder that, although the courts strongly support adjudication enforcement, enforcement may be refused where an adjudicator decides a dispute on a material factual or legal basis that has not been fairly canvassed with the parties.

Construction analysis: The Technology and Construction Court (TCC) enforced a true value adjudication (TVA) award, reaffirming that approximate, experience-based valuations drawn from material that was fairly aired do not amount to a breach of natural justice. Only serious, material unfairness will defeat enforcement. The judgment follows an earlier decision in the same dispute, where the TCC enforced payment of a notified sum before a TVA could proceed. The court emphasised that a true value assessment of an interim application is inherently provisional, with any inaccuracies capable of correction in later applications or at the final account stage. VMA’s objections, whether viewed separately or cumulatively, did not strike at the heart of the dispute. The adjudicator was required to reach a workable interim figure on imperfect evidence, within a reasonable range of outcomes, and his approach remained within the bounds of natural justice.

Private Client analysis: In Fairweather v AG, the Court of Protection refused to dispense with service of a statutory Will application on an estranged father who would otherwise benefit on intestacy. District Judge Ellington held that the guidance in Re D remains applicable in statutory Will cases and that decisions on service are procedural, informed by natural justice and Convention rights rather than P’s best interests. The court found insufficient evidence of the current risk of harm to justify overriding the father’s Article 6 rights. The decision confirms the exceptional nature of dispensing with service in statutory will proceedings and highlights the evidential burden facing applicants seeking to exclude potentially prejudiced beneficiaries. Produced in partnership with Justin Holmes of Radcliffe Chambers.

Form AN: guidance, which provides guidance for applicants on making applications for naturalisation as a British citizen, has been amended for the coming into force of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA 2023), and for other matters. Details, including of the new citizenship ban, are below.

All applications for naturalisation as a British citizen require an applicant to demonstrate knowledge of the English language, unless an applicant is 65 years old or over or an exemption applies due to a physical or mental condition, or you are applying under the Windrush Scheme. The below table sets out the alternative ways this requirement may be met and lists the supporting documents required for each alternative. If you previously demonstrated in a successful indefinite leave to remain (ILR) application that you possess a relevant English-language qualification or that you passed an English-language test at or above, Level B1 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), you are not required to submit evidence of meeting this requirement as part of your naturalisation application. This will include routes where you met the requirement at the indefinite leave stage due to having met it in an earlier application. Note, however, that if the Home Office has reasonable grounds to suspect that deception has been used in relation

Those who apply for naturalisation under section 6(1) or 6(2) of the British Nationality Act 1981 (BNA 1981) are required to have both sufficient knowledge of the English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic language and sufficient knowledge of life in the UK. However, applicants under the Windrush Scheme are exempt from both requirements. For further information on who can apply under the scheme, see Practice Note: The Windrush Scheme. It may also be possible to request that the requirement is waived where the applicant entered the UK as the wife of a Commonwealth citizen who was settled in the UK before 1 January 1973. This is because section 1(5) of the Immigration Act 1971 as enacted covered the wives as well as the children of these Commonwealth citizens. The British Nationality (General) Regulations 2003, SI 2003/548 make provision for how the requirements in respect of a sufficient knowledge of language and of life in the UK are to be satisfied. The regulations underwent significant

Natural England has published an updated version of its enforcement action register, which details civil sanctions, enforcement undertakings and prosecutions it has taken to protect wildlife and the natural environment.

Natural England has published an updated version of its enforcement action register, which details civil sanctions, enforcement undertakings and prosecutions it has taken to protect wildlife and the natural environment.

Nature Action 100 has announced a set of six benchmark indicators, ‘The Nature Action 100 Company Benchmark’, that will be used to assess the nature-related ambition and action of the initiative’s 100 companies. The six indicators cover ambition, assessment, targets, implementation, governance and engagement. The first company assessments will be published later in 2024, and annually thereafter. The intention of the annual assessments is to track corporate progress and provide insight to aid in reversing nature and biodiversity loss by 2030.