Are you au fait with the latest Natural England Action Plan?
This ambitious plan was set out in June of 2021 and aligns with a five-year strategy to establish a “vision of thriving Nature for people and planet”.
Public policy is finally placing prevalence on nature; bourne out of the personal benefits to physical and mental health (appreciated as never before by many people during the past few years) as well as the growing evidence base of the benefits that a fully functional ecosystem for plants, animals, flood protection, carbon and water quality provides.
However, there are inequalities in our society in terms of access to high-quality environment. Addressing this will be a major driver of Natural England’s work in the coming year, hand in hand with their work to restore Nature, everywhere.
With additional spending granted by Defra, the next twelve months sees Natural England committed to the following shifts:
ECOLOGICAL: Driving the Nature Recovery Network, restoring sites, species and landscape quality through rebuilding ecosystems across land and sea and in our towns and cities through Local Nature Recovery Strategies.
ECONOMIC: Developing plans for places where planning and licensing work supports robust strategic plans that accelerate Nature recovery on the ground and working with local partners to create Nature-rich, accessible and characterful places to live and work.
SOCIETAL: Tackling barriers to Nature by connecting with society to better understand and tackle the barriers to enjoying, engaging and connecting with the natural environment. This includes gaining better health, education and well-being for everybody within a better environment and ensuring that Natural England is a more diverse organisation, representative of the full breadth of society.
SHIFT-MAKING: To be evidence and evaluation-led, designing changes that are scientifically coherent, legally sound and credible to the people who need them.
To read more about Natural England’s Action Plan and its strategy for change, access the Corporate Report here.