Local nature recovery strategies
6 Sep 2021 11:45 AM
The UK Government is introducing Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) from April 2022 to map where local habitat improvement and restoration could address national-scale environmental objectives. This POSTnote summarises the LNRS approach, including mapping ecological networks, the opportunities for LNRSs to deliver wider benefits to nature and people, and the likely challenges associated with the strategies and their delivery.
Documents to download
Local nature recovery strategies (448 KB , PDF)
Download full reportDownload ‘Local nature recovery strategies’ report (448 KB , PDF)
Across the globe, biodiversity (the variety of life on earth) is changing, driven by human impacts on the environment. In the UK, species’ population and range sizes are declining by on average, which could diminish the wide range of benefits these species provide to people. Much of this decline is due to the intensification of human land use, and the degradation of natural habitats, alongside climate change.
LNRS are being proposed by the UK Government in the Environment Bill as one way of trying to reverse the loss of habitat and the decline of species in England, by mapping where important habitats can be conserved, restored and connected. The strategies will take both data and stakeholder-driven approaches to understand where improvement and restoration of habitats will support the ‘Bigger, Better, More and Joined-up’ principles of the 2010 Lawton Report, and aim to achieve multiple environmental benefits that nature can bring to people. LNRSs are due to launch across England in April 2022.
Five LNRS pilots took place in Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, and Northumberland from September 2020 – May 2021. The outcomes of the pilots are currently guiding Defra’s development of LNRS policy, guidance, and regulations. While biodiversity and land management strategies are devolved policy areas in the UK, similar policies are being planned in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Key Points
- The LNRS process will deliver two main outputs: a list of priority opportunities for habitat improvement and restoration in the strategy area, and a local habitat map which contains existing nature sites and habitats, and locations of the priorities for future habitat improvement and restoration.
- LNRS will have the potential to drive delivery of a range of policies in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, the Environment Bill and Agriculture Act, such as contributing to the national Nature Recovery Network.
- Several challenges are present for LNRSs. These include the need to ensure consistency across strategy areas whilst aiming for a bottom-up approach to planning; trade-offs between habitat restoration and other human land uses; the need for adaptive management; and shortfalls in the required skills and capacity in local authorities.
- Extensive funding will be needed by Defra to fill capacity gaps, and to carry out LNRSs. Defra expect a range of public schemes such as the future farming schemes, as well as private funding, will enable the delivery of LNRS outcomes.
Acknowledgements
POSTnotes are based on literature reviews and interviews with a range of stakeholders and are externally peer reviewed. POST would like to thank interviewees and peer reviewers for kindly giving up their time during the preparation of this briefing, including:
Members of the POST board*
Alice Lord, Natural England
Anna Collins, Natural England
Richard Barnes, Defra*
Michelle Kelly, Defra
Andrew Holden, Defra*
Joanna Averley, MHCLG
David Roberts, MHCLG
Dr Sebastian Dunnett, Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Alisha Anstee, National Farmers Union*
Susan Twining, Country Land and Business Association
Harry Greenfield, Country Land and Business Association*
Dr Nick Isaac, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Professor James Bullock, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology*
Dr Lisa Norton, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology*
Professor Andrew Pullin, Centre for Evidence Based Conservation and Bangor University
Dr Jenny Hodgson, University of Liverpool*
Professor Liz Fisher, University of Oxford
Dr Colm Bowe, Nature North and Liverpool John Moores University*
Dr John Martin, University of Plymouth*
Dr Jim Rouquette, Natural Capital Solutions
Prof Mark Reed, Scotland’s Rural College
Tom Curtis, 3Keel
Bruce Winney, Wildlife and Countryside Link*
David Johnson, The Rivers Trust and Catchment Based Approach*
Joanna Caldwell, National Trust
Patrick Begg, National Trust
Ben McCarthy, National Trust*
Katie Ramsey, National trust*
Prue Addison, Berkshire Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust*
Michael Oxford, Association of Local Government Ecologists*
Tom Hunt, Association of Local Environmental Records Centres*
* denotes people and organisations who acted as external reviewers of the briefing
Documents to download
Local nature recovery strategies (448 KB , PDF)
Download full reportDownload ‘Local nature recovery strategies’ report (448 KB , PDF)