Restoring 30% of England’s land and sea by 2030: House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee report

Approximate read time: 10 minutes

The House of Lords is due to debate the report ‘An extraordinary challenge: Restoring 30% of our land and sea by 2030’ on 11 September 2024.

1. 30 by 30 target

In September 2020, the Conservative government committed to protecting 30% of UK land by 2030 in order to halt nature decline and protect and improve biodiversity.^[1] At the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biodiversity (COP15) meeting in Montreal in 2022, ministers agreed that the UK would contribute towards the target of protecting at least 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030.^[2] This was one of a series of international goals for biodiversity called the ‘Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework’ (GBF).^[3] The Conservative government restated its commitment to the 30 by 30 target in its environmental improvement plan, last updated in 2023.^[4]

2. House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee report

In July 2023, the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee published a report on the measures taken by the Conservative government to implement the 30 by 30 target. The report, entitled ‘An extraordinary challenge: Restoring 30% of our land and sea by 2030’, particularly focused on progress towards the target in England.^[5] The committee’s key findings are explored below.

2.1 Proportion of land and sea protected

The committee concluded the Conservative government was not on course to achieve its 30 by 30 target in England. For example, it noted that only 6.5% of the land in England was covered by a protected area designation at the time of their report.^[6] This figure was taken from written evidence submitted to the committee by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the UK government’s advisory body on nature conservation.^[7] At the time of writing, this remains the most recent figure published by the JNCC for the proportion of land in England covered by a protected area designation.^[8]

The committee welcomed the commitment by the government to publish a map of areas that would count towards the 30 by 30 target in England. However, it recommended that ministers should also published a “delivery action plan” to accompany it.^[9] It said this plan should address issues including the condition, monitoring and management of protected areas.

2.2 Monitoring

The committee also concluded the quality of protected land needed to be improved if sites in England were to meet the standards required under the GBF for the 30 by 30 target.^[10] It found that existing protected sites were “often in a poor condition and in many cases inadequately monitored”.^[11] The committee argued the government needed to improve the monitoring of protected sites, including making a “significant expansion” in the monitoring of marine sites.^[12]

The committee also considered the monitoring of various types of existing designations for protected areas in England.^[13] For example, the committee recommended the government should improve the monitoring of sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) by securing sufficient funding to ensure each site is monitored every six years.^[14] The committee found only 22% of SSSI sites had been monitored in the previous six years prior to its report. It also recommended the government should introduce a statutory duty for Natural England to monitor SSSIs.^[15]

In addition, the committee made recommendations concerning the conservation of other types of designations, schemes and areas for protected land and sea. For example, it recommended national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs) should be given an additional statutory duty to protect nature.^[16]

2.3 Land use framework

The Conservative government committed to publish a land use framework in 2023.^[17] It said this framework would set out guidance to landowners on how their land could contribute towards improving biodiversity and achieving the UK’s net zero carbon emissions targets. The committee said this framework would be “vital” in identifying and prioritizing land for the 30 by 30 target.^[18] Further information on the proposed land use framework is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing, ‘Making the most out of England’s land: Land Use in England Committee report’ (13 July 2023).

2.4 Other notable recommendations

The committee made several other recommendations, including that the then government should:

• Commit to retaining the existing areas designated for nature conservation in England, ensuring these contribute towards the 30 by 30 target.^[19]
• Require SSSIs, special protection areas, special areas of conservation on land and at sea and marine protected areas to have a management plan updated every six years.^[20]
• Seek to make use of voluntary contributions towards data collection and monitoring, such as through “citizen science” programmes involving members of the public.^[21]
• Produce an action plan for achieving the 30 by 30 target at sea.^[22]

3. Conservative government’s response to the committee

The Conservative government published its response to the committee’s report in November 2023.^[23] This restated its commitment to achieving the 30 by 30 target on land and sea in England. The government said it was committed to ensuring 75% of protected sites were in a “favourable condition” by 2042.^[24]

Responding to the committee’s recommendation on the monitoring of SSSIs, the government said it had committed in its environmental improvement plan to ensuring all SSSIs had an up-to-date conditional assessment by 31 January 2028.^[25] It added that Natural England was developing a plan to improve the monitoring of protected sites by using new ways to collect data, including through “citizen science projects” where appropriate.^[26]

The Conservative government said it did not consider it necessary to introduce new statutory duties for Natural England to monitor SSSIs.^[27] Neither did it commit to establishing a new statutory duty for national parks and AONBs to protect nature.^[28]

In addition to this response, in December 2023 the Conservative government published a policy paper setting out its approach to delivering the 30 by 30 target on land in England.^[29] This document included what the then government described as an “indicative” map setting out “broad areas with potential to contribute towards 30 by 30 in the future”.^[30]

The Conservative government did not publish the land use framework by the end of 2023, despite its commitments to do so. Responding to an oral question tabled by Baroness Young of Old Scone (Labour) on 12 March 2024, then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Lord Douglas-Miller acknowledged there had been “a long wait” for the framework.^[31] He said the government intended to publish it before the 2024 “summer recess”.^[32] However, the report was not published prior to the dissolution of parliament for the 2024 general election.

4. Labour government’s position

In its manifesto for the 2024 general election, the Labour Party made a commitment to “improve access to nature, promote biodiversity, and protect our landscapes and wildlife”.^[33] Specifically, it said it would take “action to meet [the] Environment Act targets”.^[34] The current legally binding Environment Act 2021 targets include halting the decline in species populations in the UK by 2030.^[35]

Speaking during an adjournment debate in the House of Commons on the UK’s international commitments on improving biodiversity, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mary Creagh said the government was committed to maintaining the 30 by 30 target. She stated:

This Labour government are laser focused on restoring and protecting nature. In England, we will deliver a plan to hit the Environment Act targets, halting the decline of species by 2030. We will honour our international agreements to protect 30% of our land and seas by the same date, and we will ensure that England’s environmental improvement plan is fit for purpose.^[36]

On 30 July 2024, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed announced the government was conducting a “rapid review” of the previous government’s environmental improvement plan.^[37] He said this review would be complete before the end of 2024. He also said the government would introduce a new, statutory plan to “protect and restore our natural environment”.^[38] He said this plan would set out “ambitious targets” including:

[…] on water, circular economy and air quality as well as delivering against the target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.^[39]

5. Read more

• House of Lords Library, ‘King’s Speech 2024: Energy security, net zero, environment and agriculture’, 11 July 2024
• Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, ‘Environmental improvement plan: Annual progress report 2023 to 2024’, 30 July 2024

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