To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to (a) promote collaboration between land managers with stakeholders from the (i) private sector and (ii) Government and (b) incentivise better land management which balances the trade-off between sustainability and food provision.
Answered on
26 October 2021
We are working closely with stakeholders to investigate a range of mechanisms that can promote and support collaboration between land managers, government, and the private sector.
For example, our Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund is developing a pipeline of scalable and replicable nature projects the that private sector can invest in. We are also funding tests and trials on how to enable blending of public and private finance in our new environmental land management schemes and ensure that public money does not "crowd out" private investment. We are co-designing services alongside the community including stakeholders and farmers.
Our new environmental land management schemes will pay for sustainable farming practices, improving animal health and welfare, reducing carbon emissions, creating and preserving habitat, and making landscape-scale environmental changes. This is an important step towards achieving our 25 Year Environment Plan ambitions and our carbon net zero goals.
For example, we are currently proposing to open applications for our first Landscape Recovery pilot projects to sites between 500 to 5,000 hectares, which could be provided by collaborative groups of farmers and land managers, individuals, or organisations such as non-government organisations. This will build on the success of the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund, which we announced a new round of funding for in September.