Natural England’s Action Plan 2021-22 and the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Pilot
Natural England published its Action Plan 2021-22 on 17th June 2021. The key points to note are:
- The main focus is the Nature Recovery Network which is a commitment under the 25 year Environment Plan
- Acknowledgement of the need to “build partnerships” and “work with and through a wide range of people”
- A proposal to “strengthen investment in protected sites to deliver better outcomes” – more work on SSSIs, SPAs and SACs, including more focus on achieving favourable condition
- Noting that nature-based solutions will be important in climate change mitigation work
- Stressing importance of the evidence base – all this will be science-led.
Under the heading ‘Specialist Science and Evidence’, Natural England sets out its intention to play a key role in the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment pilot (NCEA) being run by Defra. It notes that the NCEA should fill some of the significant gaps in data which are holding back work in some areas. The NCEA is intended to provide a high-quality time-series of data on biodiversity, ecosystems and natural capital.
As one example, the England Peat Map proposed as part of the England Peat Action Plan sits within the NCEA and is funded by the Nature for Climate fund. It is intended to deliver new improved mapping of England's peat resource through a combination of field survey, earth observation and modelling to better describe the extent, depth and condition of peat across the country. The information is to be used to support a range of purposes including estimating carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions from peat, targeting peat restoration activities and wider nature recovery. For more on the England Peat Action Plan, see our blogpost of 2nd June 2021.
It is to be hoped that the NCEA will deliver better baseline evidence across a range of habitats in England as this information is crucial to establishing a detailed natural capital assessment which can then underpin decision-making as landowners and farmers consider their future strategy.