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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support farmers with rewilding projects; and if he will make an assessment of the impact of potential changes in proposed Environmental Land Management schemes on the environment.

This Government has a world-leading agenda for nature recovery backed up by plans for a legally binding target to halt nature’s decline by 2030. Our 25-Year Environment Plan sets out our ambition for a growing and resilient network of land, water and sea that is richer in plants and wildlife. We will restore 75% of our one million hectares of protected sites to favourable condition, securing their wildlife value for the long term. Internationally we have also committed to protect 30% of the UK’s land and ocean by 2030 through the Leaders Pledge for Nature, committing to put nature and biodiversity globally on a road to recovery by 2030.

In order to support this ambitious work, we published a Nature Recovery Green Paper earlier this year setting out proposals to reform our system of protections, including the Habitats Regulations. The Nature Recovery Green Paper consultation closed in May and we are now in the process of analysing responses with our response to be published in due course. We have awarded 22 Landscape Recovery project development contracts, almost all of which involve both food production and environmental improvements. This demonstrates our consistent position: a strong, healthy environment and a strong, healthy economy are not mutually exclusive.

We remain committed to our environmental land management schemes. In light of the pressures farmers are facing as a result of the current global economic situation, including spikes in input costs, it’s only right that we look at how best to deliver the schemes to see where and how improvements can be made. We will continue to work closely with the sector in developing the schemes.