DEFRA says it has received 15,000 responses to its plans for a natural environment white paper and has published supporting proposals for "biodiversity offsetting" under which developers would pay to create sites of equivalent biodiversity value when they destroy greenfield sites etc..
The Government is hoping to publish the white paper in the spring but meanwhile has published discussion material on the offsetting proposal.
It says it is one tool that could be used to protect the natural environment.
"Finding innovative ways to protect and enhance our wildlife habitats is vital if we are to achieve the new targets to conserve the natural environment which were set in Nagoya last month," said environment secretary Caroline Spelman.
"Offsetting could deliver a range of benefits such as helping to create bigger and better areas that allow our wildlife to thrive. We would be interested in views on how we might make greater use of this approach"
The idea is for developers to pay to restore an area of habitat with the potential to become at least the same quality as the habitat that would be lost.
DEFRA says it would only be used where it did not weaken existing levels of protection or make it easier to build on designated sites.
A set of principles for such schemes was set out in Sir John Lawton's review of England's wildlife sites and ecological network and DEFRA also wants views on these.
Views are required by 31 January.
