Bold plan to expand nature reserves and woodlands
Government pledges to create thousands of hectares of new wildlife habitats and woodland cover - but where will the land come from?
4 minutes to read
In the release of its 2023 Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), the government aims to create 25 new or expanded National Nature Reserves and 19 Nature Recovery programs, mainly in England. The nature reserves will be part of 70 new wildlife projects contributing to an ambitious 500,000 hectares of new wildlife habitats.
There has been no announcement as to where these areas will be.
The EIP sets out a five-year roadmap for improving the UK's air, water and land environmental quality and builds on the 25 Year Environment Plan published in January 2018.
Another key announcement in the EIP that may affect landowners and managers is the promise to ensure everyone is only 15 minutes walk away from a green space or water – including woodlands, parks, wetlands and rivers. The plan cites that only 38% of the population currently can do this. The pledge to increase public access to green and blue spaces could be one to watch for landowners who border dense conurbations. There may be pressures but hopefully, incentives to provide public amenities or grant access to cross land to reach other open spaces.
There are also commitments to increasing the woodland share of UK land to 14.8% in 2030 and 17% by 2050 - currently, it is 13%.
Eyebrows will be raised though amongst landowners and farmers about where land will be found to meet the EIP ambitions.
According to The Royal Society landscapes policy report, if all the government targets around land use are to be achieved, it would require an additional area twice the size of Wales by 2050, about 4.4m hectares.
Due to the increasing environmental and food security pressures, there is a growing need for a comprehensive land use policy in the UK. With the departure from the EU, the UK nations must re-evaluate their existing policies and develop new strategies to manage their landscapes and the services they provide effectively.
The UK government has promised to publish a Land Use Framework within the rather broad deadline of 2023.
Based on the Royal Society analysis, it would not be a surprise if the government adjusts some of its targets around woodland cover, energy crops, nature reserves and new homes to arrive at a realistic framework that fits the UK land area. It will need to.
One approach around land use that government will use to incentivise land managers is through the recently updated Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs). It is hoped that through these schemes, 65 to 80% of landowners and farmers will adopt nature-friendly farming practices on at least 10 to 15% of their land by 2030 - including creating or restoring 30,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2037 and 45,000 miles of hedgerows a year by 2050.
The key details of the updated ELM schemes can be found in our article: ELMS – more options, improved payments, speeded-up roll out.
Another approach is through green finance – using private money to fund nature's recovery. Again, the government have bold targets of raising £500m by 2027 and £1bn by 2030. This will provide opportunities for farmers and landowners to tap into, for example, companies looking to offset their carbon emissions or help increase biodiversity.
So where will the land come from to meet the competing demands of the environment, energy and food? With 72% of UK land under agricultural production, one answer given by The Royal Society is multifunctional land use – such as agroforestry – combining trees with arable or livestock production. But it will also require more innovation, such as being seen around agrivoltaics, a mix of solar panel installations and agricultural production on the same land. And, of course, there will be a continuing debate about the population's diet and how that could affect the type of land demands in the future.
For landowners and managers, whichever route is taken to reach the government's land use and environmental plan aims will require careful consideration, planning and external support where necessary. This will be no mean feat while waiting for a Land Use Framework to be published. Landowners will need to weigh up their own aims, the impact on their businesses and how to make the best use of the opportunity and options available through public schemes and or private funds.
If you are looking for advice on your business to help navigate the complexities around government policy, schemes and grants, consider what Knight Frank has to offer here.
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