The publications are:
- Nature Recovery Green Paper: A consultation outlining changes to protections for sites and species, and details on the Government’s proposed plans for delivering 30% protection of land and seas in England by 2030
- Proposed Environment Act targets: This consultation is on the proposed long-term legally binding targets for nature, water, waste and air quality - a requirement under the Environment Act
Nature Recovery Green Paper
The Government’s Nature Recovery Green Paper consults on proposed changes to protected sites for nature, including those protected through the Habitats Regulations. The protected site network helps to ensure many of England’s most important sites for nature have long-term protection and good management.
Strengthening protections for the UK’s most valuable sites is crucial if the Government wants to meet its legally binding target to halt the decline in nature. Nationally important protected sites for nature are still at risk from inappropriate developments. To meet its commitments on nature’s recovery, the Government must ensure that sites have stronger protections to prevent this.
The Green Paper also proposes giving the Secretary of State sole power over which sites should be designated for nature. This risks opening the door to those pushing for existing protections to be weakened - and draws uncertainty over whether sites would have been designated in the first place. Giving Ministers the power to designate sites should instead sit alongside the ability for experts such as Natural England to continue their role in doing so - speeding up the protection of more sites.
It is welcome to see a proposal for a new Nature Recovery designation in the Green Paper. To ensure this helps contribute to the Government’s mission to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, this designation must deliver robust protections to create more space for nature.
On the Nature Recovery Green Paper, Mike Pratt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Chief Executive said:
“If it’s sincere in its ambition to reverse wildlife decline and restore nature, the Government must focus on improving the protections for our most important wild places for nature and set a target to restore them to good condition. It’s vital that it resists calls to lift the rules that protect our most important wild places.
“Currently, nationally important protected sites for nature are still threated with inappropriate developments which increase flood risk, put wildlife at risk and set us back in the fight against climate change.
“The Nature Green Paper must ensure that such special places have stronger protections and that decisions to designate them are led by the science. Sites of Special Scientific Interest should not become Sites of Political Convenience.”