- Plan to protect and restore nature, tackle the climate and biodiversity crises and help deliver Net Zero by 2050.
- A new world leading target on species populations for 2030 aimed at halting species decline.
- Action plan to treble tree planting by the end of this Parliament will be backed by over £500 million of climate finance.
The Government has brought forward a post-Covid plan to boost biodiversity, protect our peatlands and create new woodlands in a bid to help to restore nature and safeguard our environment for future generations. Alongside an amendment to the Environment Bill which will seeks to add a legally binding target for the protection of species for 2030, plans are afoot to treble tree planting rates in England during this Parliament.
Funding is to come through £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund, while a major new multimillion-pound tree planting grant – the England Woodland Creation Offer - will provide greater financial incentives for landowners and farmers to plant and manage trees.
Responding to the Environment Secretary’s plans to restore nature and build back greener from the pandemic, Burnley and Padiham MP Antony Higginbotham said:
We all have a shared interest in tackling climate change and protecting our local environment. That’s why I’m delighted with the proposals announced by the Government.
The events of the last twelve months have led people right across the country to appreciate the difference that nature makes to our lives more than ever before.
And we must protect it, ensuring that we deliver our commitment to leave the environment in a better state for future generations – something which I committed to doing when the people of Burnley and Padiham put their trust in me in 2019.
To tackle the loss of native species in the UK a new Species Reintroduction Taskforce will also take forward work around the reintroduction of species which have been lost to England.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said:
This is a huge step forward, and a world leading measure in the year of COP15 and COP26 as we build back greener from the pandemic. We hope that this will be the Net Zero equivalent for nature, spurring action of the scale required to address the biodiversity crisis.
