Why I believe wise land use is key to nature’s recovery

The Land Use Framework could be the missing link between our environmental and economic ambitions – but that will all depend on delivery.   

Thriving nature and a stable climate are not a nice-to-have. Evidence shows they are at the very core of our national security, food security, long-term economic prosperity and international responsibilities. The science is clear: to tackle the nature and climate crisis, we urgently need to take a truly nationwide, bird’s eye view of how we use and manage land. The Land Use Framework (LUF) for England, set out by the UK Government last week, represents a real opportunity to do just that.  

From the coastlines to the mountain tops, land is a finite resource, and yet we are asking more of our land than ever before. Amongst many aims, we expect it to produce food, make sure everyone has access to housing, host an expanding renewable energy system and restore a natural world that is now severely depleted, often in the same places. Every decision about how we use and manage it matters, and we must make robust choices that best fit our needs whilst protecting and restoring nature.  

With growing environmental pressures related to how land in England is used, there is a clear need for greater coherence right through from strategic policies to local decision making. The LUF could help us move beyond costly delays and siloed thinking; it could be a blueprint to responsibly guide how we manage land across England. If it is implemented in the right way, it could become an important bridge between our environmental and economic ambitions and help to coordinate and resolve competing demands for land.  

RSPB land use modelling shows that with the right planning, policies and strategic framework in place, it is possible for our land to deliver on multiple aims, safeguarding food security, accelerating progress on nature and climate goals, and strengthening resilience across the economy. This is all possible when decisions are made with the whole system in mind.   

70% of land in England is farmed, but how this land is managed is not just critical to food production, it underpins our ability to meet nature and climate targets. To safeguard future food security, recover nature and tackle and adapt to climate change we must farm in a nature friendly way. The LUF recognises that to achieve this, farmers need to be rewarded to provide vital wildlife resources on farms, rebuilding soil health and integrating trees, but we need to ensure these actions are all delivered in the right places, with funding carefully targeted. Targeting will ensure that we make better use of the available funds and deliver greater environmental benefits.   

We also need a joined-up approach in the deployment of renewable energy. The UK needs rapid expansion of low carbon energy, but this must be done in the right places. A wind farm that is built on deep peatland (one of our most effective carbon stores), or bioenergy crops planted on productive farmland or precious wildlife habitat, addresses one problem while worsening another.  

Conversely, we know that appropriately located renewables not only have the potential to avoid harm, but to also deliver real benefits for wildlife. Alongside the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan and statutory land-use plans at sub-regional scale, the LUF provides the right tools to deliver clean and secure energy that supports, rather than undermines, both our nature and climate goals. 

Nature recovery must be at the heart of resilient economic growth and development, and the LUF could also help to provide the clarity needed to inform housing and infrastructure delivery, as well as enabling society to become more resilient to climate change and flooding. It could help steer development away from the most important places for nature early, and toward less damaging locations. Indeed, when nature protection, energy, food production and housing are planned together from the start, the result is faster and more effective decision-making, lower costs and all-round better outcomes. 

A future focus can also help us prepare for challenges that lie ahead. Nature can help us adapt to the worst impacts of climate change, if we build it into our thinking about land early. The welcome commitment in the LUF to deliver at pace nature-based solutions that store carbon, reduce flood and prevent wildfire  – such as restoring peatlands, coastal habitats and wetlands, and native woodland creation – must now be matched by increased investment and swift action. 

It’s not just what land is used for but also how that land is managed that matters. The LUF recognises that the way in which land is manged for recreational gamebird shooting can have trade-offs with environmental outcomes. There’s an ambition to explore measures such as licensing in England. This is a real step in the right direction which the RSPB has been calling for.  

The case for licensing is based on the environmental impacts of some management practices associated with gamebird shoots. Chief amongst these is the illegal persecution of birds of prey but other impacts include avian flu risks to wild birds associated with large-scale gamebirds releases, and the burning of heather over peatland for intensive grouse shoot management. 
 
Licensing could make a shoot's license to operate conditional on complying with the law and other relevant conditions and codes of good practice.  It would ensure that gamebird shoots are properly regulated as is already the case across the much of Europe.  

Ultimately though, for the LUF to succeed, it needs genuine, cross-government ownership. It must be seen as the opportunity it is by all, rather than as a single department’s plan – that means the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Treasury all playing their part. And they must also assume the responsibility for translating it from high level ambition into meaningful delivery through policy-making with real impact.  

If we can do that, we can provide the certainty and clarity that developers, investors and landowners need to make the right decisions about how land is used for the benefit of all.  And then we have a chance to make real progress towards protecting 30% of UK land for nature, securing long-term nature-friendly farming schemes, and building nature positive homes and businesses in great places to live.   

Of course, the LUF won’t solve everything overnight. But it can create the conditions for progress across England: clarity, coherence, data sharing and long-term direction. It can help government departments deliver their policies; guide public and private investment to where it delivers most; and provide the ‘glue’ between initiatives that currently operate in siloes, bringing synergies and delivering more together than would be possible individually.  

It’s time to treat land as the precious, finite national asset it is. Together, we can plan for a future where people, nature, and the economy can all thrive. We must seize this opportunity for systemic change and make it count. 

Beccy became the RSPB’s Chief Executive in August 2019. She joined the RSPB having been CEO at the Woodland Trust since 2014. She leads RSPB work with members, supporters, businesses and government, ensuring the charity continues to play an active role in nature recovery, sustainability, climate change, food and farming, planning and infrastructure, and much more.