Plans to restore 300,000 hectares of habitat

The government has unveiled the next stages of its plan to halt the decline in species by 2030 and restore up to 300,000 hectares of wildlife habitat by 2042.

The Local Nature Recovery scheme will pay farmers for locally-targeted actions which make space for nature in the farmed landscape and countryside such as creating wildlife habitat, planting trees or restoring peat and wetland areas.

The Landscape Recovery scheme will support more radical changes to land-use change and habitat restoration such as establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains, or creating woodland and wetlands.

The reforms are the biggest changes to farming and land management in 50 years with more than 3,000 farmers already testing the new schemes.

Up to 15 projects will be selected in this first wave of the Landscape Recovery scheme, focusing on two themes – recovering England’s threatened native species and restoring England’s rivers and streams.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “We want to see profitable farming businesses producing nutritious food, underpinning a growing rural economy, where nature is recovering and people have better access to it. Through our new schemes, we are going to work with farmers and land managers to halt the decline in species, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, increase woodland, improve water and air quality and create more space for nature.

“We are building these schemes together, and we are already working with over 3,000 farmers across the sector to test and trial our future approach. Farmers will be able to choose which scheme or combination of schemes works best for their business, and we will support them to do so.”