Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 10
10
It is important that ELM supports the delivery of a full range of public goods.
Conclusion
It is important that ELM supports the delivery of a full range of public goods. Biodiversity and net zero are crucial objectives, but Defra should not lose sight of the invaluable role that farmers and land managers can also play in supporting public access to the countryside, and maintaining heritage assets for current and future generations. We look forward to more detail on how ELM will contribute to this. Defra should explain in its response to this Report how it will ensure that public access and heritage are recognised in the SMART objectives for ELM, and that the delivery of these public goods receives adequate funding. (Paragraph 62) The Sustainable Farming Incentive
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
In January 2022 we published more information on the expected outcomes from the environmental land management schemes. This document confirmed that, alongside food production, they will improve water quality, biodiversity, climate change adaptation and mitigation, air quality, natural flood management, coastal erosion risk mitigation and access and heritage. In all cases we will fund the actions that have the greatest possible impact, ideally across multiple outcomes. We will ensure local delivery mechanisms, like Local Nature Recovery Strategies, complement our national priorities and ambitions for the environment.