Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the capacity of natural systems in (a) the UK and (b) globally to deliver the objectives of the Paris Agreement through permanently absorbing CO2 emissions while (i) enhancing biodiversity and (ii) respecting land rights.

Land use is a devolved matter and the information on nature, land and biodiversity policy relates to England only. Trade and overseas aid are not devolved.

The UK Government’s environmental strategy is defined in a set of goals within the 25 Year Environment Plan (YEP). Mitigating and adapting to climate change are one of the ten goals in the 25 YEP, and are embedded into other goals, such as thriving plants and wildlife. The Government also committed to climate change mitigation and adaptation through its 2050 Net Zero Target, Clean Growth strategy, and the National Adaptation Programme within the UK Climate Change Act.

The Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP26 provide excellent opportunities to drive ambition on taking an integrated approach to tackling the interlinked crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. This will be hugely important if we are to deliver the step-change needed to tackle these global issues. By making ‘nature’ a key focus of COP26 in Glasgow, we hope to demonstrate that Nature Based Solutions (NBS) can deliver multiple benefits for climate, biodiversity, and people, and can therefore play a critical role in tackling these interrelated crises in an integrated way.

The UK is also a member of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

Domestic NBS

NBS can also play a role domestically in achieving our carbon reduction targets and in helping us adapt to climate change. Our assessment is that on land: restoring degraded peatlands; appropriately implementing multi-purpose woodlands and protecting them; and restoring or recreating wetland and coastal habitats will offer the greatest benefits for tackling climate change, whilst also benefitting biodiversity and livelihoods. More information can be found in the report titled ‘Implementation of an Emissions Inventory for UK Peatlands’ (2017) and in the package of measures to protect England's landscapes and nature-based solutions the Government will be setting out this year.

The Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) projections for the UK and England (UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory) provide estimates of LULUCF greenhouse gas (GHG) removals to 2050 from existing policy and alternative, stretching scenarios. The assumptions underlying the scenarios were developed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) with input from the Forestry Commission, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Devolved Administrations (DAs) and LULUCF experts. The scenarios are designed to explore the magnitude of the changes in net emissions that could potentially be produced by LULUCF activities in the future, taking into account current land use policies and/or aspirations.

In December, the Government issued a call for evidence to strengthen the evidence base on the role of greenhouse gas removal (GGR) methods, including NBS, in meeting net zero. This call for evidence closes on 26 February 2021.

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NBS globally

NBS offer a mechanism by which biodiversity loss, climate change and poverty can be addressed in a sustainable way and are therefore central to the delivery of the global Sustainable Development Goals.

The UK recognises the crucial role of NBS for climate mitigation and adaptation. They have the potential to cost-effectively deliver up to one third of global climate mitigation required by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals, while also providing adaptation benefits and delivering wins for biodiversity and sustainable development.

The UK is already contributing to NBS internationally through its Official Development Assistance, including through its International Climate Finance. The Prime Minister committed in 2019 to double the UK’s public ICF to at least £11.6 billion between 2021 and 2025 to help developing countries tackle climate change.

The UK committed to spending at least £3bn of our International Climate Finance on climate change solutions that protect and restore nature and biodiversity over the next five years.

The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Regulation establishes a licensing scheme to improve the supply of legal timber. The regulation is underpinned by Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), which are bilateral trade agreements between the UK and a timber-exporting country. The benefits of a VPA can include reduced corruption, strengthened forest sector governance, support for forest-dependent people’s livelihoods, avoided deforestation and associated greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, and avoided loss of Government revenues through illegal activity. Whilst VPAs are voluntary for timber-exporting countries, a VPA is legally binding on both sides once it has entered into force.

Permanence

Due to the reversibility of carbon stored within growing and harvested biomass, Defra notes that NBS for climate mitigation purposes are not a replacement for reducing carbon emissions at source and that both carbon emissions reductions and nature-based solutions for climate change should be pursued. This is because carbon in natural systems can be released either purposefully or through unplanned disturbances such as fire, flooding and disease. As such, Defra is particularly interested in developing policies which look to protect existing carbon stocks and prevent reversal of stored carbon.