Recommendation 3

At present it is not clear which sites are intended to count towards 30 by 30, or how the Government plans to achieve the target. We welcome Defra’s plan to publish a map of what will count towards 30 by 30 before the end of 2023. However, with only 6.5 per cent of land in England currently covered by Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), National Nature Reserve (NNR), Ramsar, Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or Special Protection Area (SPA) site designations and a lack of clarity about the level of nature conservation protections for some of these sites, an urgent step change is needed to ensure that the 30 by 30 target will be met.