Farmers will be given funding to restore habitats and re-wild Britain with two new Government schemes to be launched this week.
Environment Secretary George Eustice will unveil the new Local Nature Recovery scheme as part of the Government’s drive to increase biodiversity in the UK. Funding will be provided to plant trees, build new habitats, restore peat and wetland areas.
There is also a Landscape Recovery scheme which is aimed at helping return the British countryside to the wild.
Farmers and landowners with 500 to 5,000 hectares will be eligible for the schemes in a bid to reduce the decline of biodiversity.
The new incentives are set to replace subsidies from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy following the UK’s exit from the EU.
The Government hopes to stop the decline in British species by 2030, and restore up to 300,000 hectares of habitat by the 2040s.
However, others in the farming industry have criticised the plans saying they focus too much on freeing up the land for re-wilding instead of supporting British food production.
National Farming Union vice president Tom Bradshaw said: “We have always cautiously welcomed the policy of public money for public goods but it shouldn’t focus on environmental delivery alone and must underpin truly sustainable food production.
“My biggest fear would be that if this policy results in reduced food production in the UK and we simply import from countries with lower standards, then we may end up living in a green oasis here but we have simply off-shored our production and any environmental impacts that go with it – this is morally incomprehensible.”
LSL News.