Mar. 25 2024
Source Page: New guidance to improve biodiversity across government estateFound: However , as more of the countryside comes under pressures, for example, from intensive farming and development
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including a grant scheme for saltmarshes in the Nature for Climate Fund.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK recognises the important role that saltmarsh can play in climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience. Saltmarsh habitats are also richly biodiverse, benefit fish stocks and provide a crucial buffer from coastal flooding.
Building on this recognition, the UK Government is supporting blue carbon restoration efforts through various initiatives, for example by providing £640,000 funding for domestic blue carbon habitat restoration.
This includes funds to support the development of a Saltmarsh Code to help drive investment flows from the private sector towards nature. This funding has also increased the capacity of the Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef initiative (ReMeMaRe), helping to create a pipeline of restoration projects in saltmarsh and other key estuarine and coastal habitats.
Defra has set up the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership in partnership with the Devolved Administrations to address evidence gaps that currently prevent the inclusion of saltmarsh habitats in the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI). Inclusion of saltmarsh in the GHGI and the development of a Saltmarsh Code will allow blue carbon to be marketed and traded as a carbon offset, leveraging private investment into these vital natural carbon stores.
In addition, funding has been made available for saltmarsh restoration through the Landscape Recovery and Countryside Stewardship Environmental Land Management schemes. In the ELMS Countryside Stewardship scheme approximately 5,000 hectares of saltmarsh is being maintained or restored to a good condition.
The £750m of Nature for Climate funding is due to end in March 2025 and the Programme will be delivering against its agreed Business Case in that time. The Fund’s impact is being evaluated and any future funding for Trees, Peat and Saltmarshes will be a matter for the next Spending Review. We are continuing to explore further means of supporting saltmarsh restoration.
Special Report Mar. 21 2024
Committee: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Department: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)Found: Under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme, farmers can currently get paid to assess soil,
Mentions:
1: Robert Goodwill (Con - Scarborough and Whitby) Perhaps the Minister would consider including these crops as stewardship options and eligible for support - Speech Link
2: Greg Clark (Con - Tunbridge Wells) , as it is doing in its important and celebrated garden at Wisley.Finally, much has been said about stewardship - Speech Link
3: Jo Gideon (Con - Stoke-on-Trent Central) system to ensure that everyone has access to nutritious and affordable food; how we can safeguard our countryside - Speech Link
Oral Evidence Mar. 20 2024
Inquiry: The role of natural capital in the green economyFound: Does this set of metrics cover the duration of a scheme?
Oral Evidence Mar. 20 2024
Inquiry: The role of natural capital in the green economyFound: Does this set of metrics cover the duration of a scheme?
Mar. 19 2024
Source Page: New measures to help protect poultry industry from bird fluFound: Countryside Stewardship is an environmental land management scheme under the RDP for England.
Mar. 19 2024
Source Page: New measures to help protect poultry industry from bird fluFound: Countryside Stewardship is an environmental land management scheme under the RDP for England.
Mar. 15 2024
Source Page: I. Accounting Officer System Statement. Incl. annexes. 35p. II. Letter dated 12/03/2024 from Lord Douglas-Miller to the Deposited Papers Clerk regarding a document for deposit in the House libraries. 1p.Found: authority to commit resources within predefined limits, together with the responsibility for proper stewardship
Mar. 14 2024
Source Page: Rural Payments Agency opens claim windows for farm payments for 2024Found: The claim window for existing Countryside Stewardship (CS) revenue and Environmental Stewardship (ES