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 

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)