Recommendation 23

HM Government Acknowledged

(23a) The challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss require a global response, to which all countries need to contribute. This means that there needs to be a mix of measures that address a wide range of issues and geographical variations. We believe that nature-based solutions (NbS) are a critical part of the global response as they: • Facilitate a greater range of interventions and choices in approach. • Tackle climate, environmental and societal challenges in a synergistic way, delivering multiple outcomes simultaneously. • Operate at a scale required to meet the level of our collective ambitions. • Have been shown to be cost effective in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change. We recognise that having a universally recognised NbS definition could be beneficial in helping to avoid the risk of unintended consequences or trade-offs in approaches and to deliver on the scale of our ambitions, both domestically and internationally. There are a range of definitions and standards on NbS, including inter alia IUCN’s, which the Government is currently assessing. We are also clear that processes to agree a definition should not hold back positive action. The UK is continuing to invest in NbSs to tackle biodiversity loss and climate change and to benefit people through access to nature and securing green jobs. Internationally, by making ‘nature’ a key focus of COP26 in Glasgow, we hope to demonstrate that 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. (23b) It is the Government’s view that we need to both protect and maintain existing ecosystems as well as create new ecosystems. We want not only to stem the tide of this loss, but to turn it around and leave the environment in a better state than we found it. The Environment Bill now requires a new, historic legally binding target to be set to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. To recover species, we will need to work on habitats both within protected sites and in the wider countryside, meaning a single target for 2030 will drive wide-ranging improvements to the state of nature. 75% of the area into favourable condition. Natural England is working with landowners and managers and others to improve the condition of our protected sites. However, we agree that we cannot rely solely on our designated sites to achieve nature recovery on the scale we need to meet our biodiversity and net zero goals. We also need to invest in nature recovery more widely as we establish a Nature Recovery Network and protect 30% of our land and sea by 2030. For example, on peat, we are committed to protecting and restoring vulnerable peatlands in England. We published the England Peat Action Plan in May 2021, which sets out the government’s long-term vision for the management, protection, and restoration of our peatlands, including ramping up current levels of peatland restoration through the Nature for Climate Fund, which will provide funding for the restoration of at least 35,000 hectares of peatland by 2025. (23c) England. While there has been some progress, our voluntary target to phase out the use of peat in horticulture by 2020, set in 2011, has not succeeded. In the England Peat Action Plan, we have therefore committed to publishing a full consultation in 2021 on banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in the amateur sector by the end of this Parliament. As outlined in the Action Plan, we are committed to working with the industry to understand the implications of our proposals, identify blockages and to working with the private sector to develop and enact solutions. (23d) Within our England Tree and Peat action plans we recognise woodlands and peatlands are two of our largest natural climate regulating ecosystem types; our climate change and biodiversity obligations require us to manage them both sustainably. Plans to expand woodland cover and to restore peatland need to work hand in hand, which is why we have announced in the England Tree Action Plan that we will publish guidance for England that will help determine when afforested peat should be restored to bog, and to minimise impacts on peaty soils from tree planting. There are 242,262km of watercourses in England, forming a natural network linking up the country. This is enough space for habitat corridors that encompass a range of ecosystems, including floodplain meadows and multifunctional woodland buffers, sometimes sitting within re-naturalised floodplains. Funding of up to £500 per hectare is available for floodplain grassland creation through our Countryside Stewardship scheme, and floodplain grassland is a priority in many of our Stewardship targeting statements recognising high rates of historic loss of these grasslands and the need to recover the rare and declining species or plants and animals associated with these. The UK Forestry Standard and E