Don't forget to subscribe to this blog to receive an email notification every time we publish a new post.
My name is Rob, and I work in the Environmental Strategy division at Defra. It’s a treat to be writing the first ‘proper’ post on our new blog.
Part of my role involves tracking our activity against the environmental commitments we’ve made.
Since the publication of the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 12 months ago today, government has made lots of progress on its commitments.
In fact, we’ve delivered over 50 of them since January 2023.
But this isn’t a solo endeavour. We’ve achieved these through working in partnership with stakeholder organisations, local authorities, businesses and more. We’ll continue to do this as we work towards meeting our environmental targets.
Below is a list of our top achievements, grouped according to the most relevant goal in the EIP. Of course, some of them fit under multiple areas – and all will ultimately contribute to its apex goal, thriving plants and wildlife.
Goal 1: Thriving plants and wildlife
We have:
- accelerated the rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) by bringing forward more actions to support nature-friendly farming
- supported the planting of approximately 4.7 million trees, launched 2 new community forests and published a plan to recover England’s temperate rainforests
- launched the £25 million Species Survival Fund to create nature-rich landscapes, selected 34 more Landscape Recovery projects and created two ‘super’ National Nature Reserves (Mendip Hills and the Lincolnshire Coronation Coast)
- awarded 63 projects a share of £14.5 million to help recover 150 species, including some of England’s most rare and threatened species
- designated the first 3 Highly Protected Marine Areas
- encouraged farmers to protect their hedgerows, with 2,300 SFI agreements now containing hedgerow actions
- appointed and funded 48 responsible authorities to prepare Local Nature Recovery Strategies, allowing local communities to identify and target nature recovery where it’s needed most
- published a map of what counts towards 30by30 on land in England, alongside our criteria for areas contributing to the target
- awarded £40 million to over 80 conservation projects across the globe that boost biodiversity and support communities, from snow leopards to pangolins
- published the Green Finance Strategy and Nature Markets Framework, setting out how we will support the growth of high-integrity nature markets
Goal 2: Clean air
We have:
- set out our expectations of local councils to improve air quality in the Air Quality Strategy, while continuing grant funding for their action
- continued working closely with Local Authorities to support the implementation of their Clean Air Plans, including launching Clean Air Zones in Tyneside and Sheffield
Goal 3: Clean and plentiful water
We have:
- published our Plan for Water to drive more investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement
- brought forward over £2.2 billion of new investment into infrastructure, with £1.7 billion to tackle storm overflows
- met our target to have all storm overflows monitored by the end of 2023, and brought coastal and estuary waters into the plans to reduce storm overflow discharges
- scrapped civil penalties cap for polluters and significantly broadened their scope, to target many more offences
- placed a statutory duty on water companies to upgrade water treatment works in designated catchments, to help habitats most affected by nutrient pollution
Goal 4: Managing exposure to chemicals and pesticides
We have:
- accepted recommendations to protect people and the environment from the potential impacts of PFAS chemicals
- supported farmers to increase their use of integrated pest management, with new SFI actions, the Defra-funded online IPM planning tool and research to help them access the best tools
Goal 5: Maximise our resources, minimise our waste
We have:
- confirmed our ban on single-use plastics, such as plates, trays, bowls and cutlery, from October
- significantly raised the upper limit on fly-tipping penalties, published penalty enforcement league tables to increase scrutiny of their use, and laid regulations to ringfence the money raised from penalties for enforcement and clean-up
- scrapped charges for disposing of DIY waste at recycling centres
Goal 6: Using resources from nature sustainably
We have:
- announced we are introducing a world-class system of fisheries management to ensure our fish stocks are healthy and sustainable
- set out how new laws will help ensure the products we buy do not harm the world’s forests
Goal 7: Mitigating and adapting to climate change
We have:
- announced 12 new projects to restore over 6,000 hectares of peatlands across England with £16 million funding
- published the Third National Adaptation Programme, to boost resilience and protect against climate risks such as flooding and droughts
- set out our ambition to reduce Defra sector emissions in The Net Zero Growth Plan
Goal 8: Reduced risk of harm from environmental hazards
- We have announced a £25 million investment in projects that use nature to protect communities from flooding
Goal 9: Enhancing biosecurity
We have:
- published the Plant Biosecurity Strategy for Great Britain
- updated our Invasive Non-Native Species Strategy to tackle the existing and growing threat posed to species and the wider economy
Goal 10: Enhancing beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment
We have:
- opened a further 245 miles of the King Charles III England Coast Path, creating over 850 miles in total
- launched The National Nature Education Park and Climate Action Awards, to support young people in getting outdoors and learning about nature
- launched the process for a new National Park, and committed to improving woodland access
Over the coming years, we will do more to meet its environmental targets. For example, we’ll continue to roll out and scale up our environment land management schemes, bring forward actions to achieve our Plan for Water ambitions, and complete the English Coastal Path to give everyone full access to our amazing coastline.
Please subscribe to this blog to receive an email notification whenever we publish a new post.
2 comments
Comment by Tom posted on
Great there's progress on the EIP following the roll out of BNG. A question relating to nature markets framework in your blog. I was considering using the Environmental Benefits Tool as a potential option for biodiversity duty reporting and perhaps also as a first step to assess ENG in respect to a BNG habitat bank and SANG.
Do you know:
-if the EB tool will be updated from metric 3 to the statutory biodiversity metric and if the trial indicated that it might be applicable to ENG.
Comment by pollywight posted on
Thanks for your comment Tom, and apologies for the late response on this - we wanted to make sure we were providing you with an accurate response!
The EBNT tool is currently being updated to work with the Statutory Biodiversity Metric. An updated version of the tool is due be released in the summer of 2024.
In the meantime, the current version of the EBNT will accept inputs from the Statutory Biodiversity Metric but will flag errors where habitat names have changed/habitats added (since Biodiversity Metric 3). In such cases, users should be able to manually re-enter affected habitats, by using the closest available option from the existing drop-down lists.
The latest information on the Environmental Net Gain can be found here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/natural-environment, and this includes reference to the Environmental Benefits from Nature Tool.
For any further information, please contact the EBNT mailbox at EBN@naturalengland.org.uk.
I hope this helps answer your question.
Polly Wight
Blog Team