England’s Nature Recovery Network gathers pace

13 Jul 2022 09:16 AM

Hundreds of diverse organisations and businesses set to meet at the Nature Recovery Network (NRN) Delivery Partnership conference

Some of the biggest organisations and businesses in the country are set to gather today (13th July) for the first time to map out how they can work together to reverse nature’s decline at a vital summit organised by Natural England.

The Nature Recovery Network (NRN) Delivery Partnership, led by Natural England, brings together representatives from over 600 organisations to drive forward the restoration of our protected sites and landscapes and help provide at least 500,000 hectares of additional new wildlife-rich habitat across England. The Network will link together our very best nature rich places, restore landscapes in towns and the countryside and create new habitats for everybody to enjoy.

The partnership represent a diverse range of interest including government, conservationists, businesses, farmers and landowners with members including KPMG, Church of England, NFU, and the Council for Sustainable Business. They will meet discuss how to co-ordinate efforts and pool knowledge and resources to deliver the national Nature Recovery Network.

The Nature Recovery Network aims to:

• Restore 75% of protected sites to favourable condition so nature can thrive.
• Create or restore at least 500,000 additional hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected sites.
• Recover our threatened and iconic animal and plant species by providing more habitat and wildlife corridors to help species move in response to climate change.
• Support the establishing 180,000 ha of new native woodlands.
• Deliver a range of wider benefits, including carbon capture, flood management, clean water, pollination and recreation.
• Bring nature much closer to people, where they live, work, and play, boosting health and wellbeing.

Since launching in 2020, the Nature Recovery Network Delivery Partnership has worked together to deliver hundreds of projects for nature including:

• The launch of 5 landscape-scale Nature Recovery Projects totalling 99,200 hectares, which will trail the use of biodiversity net gain credits and finance to delivery landscape scale nature recovery
• The 21,000 ha G7 legacy nature recovery project in Cornwall
• Promoting innovation through the delivery of ‘seedcorn projects’ that kick started 220 nature recovery projects across England in 2020/21, with a further 100 planned in 2022
• Supporting the development of 27 projects that will generate repayable investment from a range of ecosystem services and provide valuable learning opportunities as we seek to channel more private investment into nature through the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.
• Delivering a vast new ‘super nature reserve’, spanning 6,140 ha of Somerset and encompassing some of the country’s most precious habitats
• Supporting the delivery of 160 Green Recovery Challenge Fund Projects

Natural England Chair Tony Juniper said:

When it comes to the state of Nature, we have reached a critical juncture. No longer is it sufficient to protect the remnants that we have left, but must now step up to the huge task of securing Nature’s recovery. This summit is a vital part of the plan to do that.

Nature restoration can no longer be the preserve of environmental charities, passionate specialists or a government body like Natural England. It must be a shared endeavour across society, and that is why we have brought together the Nature Recovery Network Delivery Partnership.

It is most heartening to see that the need to take decisive large-scale action is now more widely recognised, underlined by the hundreds of organisations coming together today to drive forward England’s Nature Recovery Network. Through working together we can transform the state of Nature from decline to recovery.

Timothy Crawshaw President Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and Chair of Tees Valley Nature Partnership said:

We are proud to be the host area for this national conference. Nature is needed everywhere for everyone no less so than in Tees Valley.

The Local Nature Partnership for Tees Valley has over 40 member organisations from the big names in nature like the National Trust, RSPB and the Wildlife Trust to our local groups with an estimated 6000 members involved in nature.

We are all thrilled to have this national support and recognition that will see the start of an exciting new phase planning and delivering our Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

The conference will explore collaborative action needed to help drive delivery of the Nature Recovery Network, and will see England moving beyond the conservation of protected sites to active restoration of the natural world.

The conference will engage land managers, land owners, business and communities alike to put lost features like hedgerows and trees back into our landscapes. These restored habitats will help address climate change through capturing carbon, while improving the quality of our air, water, and soil, and provide natural flood protection. They will also provide us all with places to enjoy and connect with nature and helping to improve our health and wellbeing.