Rewilding: WildEast project welcomes government scheme

Lord Somerleyton says a "societal shift is needed"

A project aiming to return 20% of a region's land to nature has welcomed a government rewilding scheme.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced two new environmental land management schemes.

One scheme will support changes to land use and habitat restoration.

Lord Somerleyton, founder and trustee of WildEast, said the scheme "speaks to WildEast's vision of a wetter, woodier and wilder East".

WildEast has a 50-year vision to return 250,000 hectares (617,763 acres) of land across the East of England to nature.

Companies, groups and individuals can pledge areas of land, including farmland, school premises and even gardens to the scheme.

Defra said its two environmental land management schemes would play an "essential role in halting the decline in species by 2030".

It said the schemes would bring up to 60% of England's agricultural soil under sustainable management by 2030, and restore up to 300,000 hectares (741,316 acres) of wildlife habitat by 2042.

The Local Nature Recovery scheme would pay farmers for locally-targeted actions that make space for nature in the farmed landscape and countryside such as creating wildlife habitat, planting trees or restoring peat and wetland areas.

It said the Landscape Recovery scheme would support establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains, or creating woodland and wetlands.

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Lord Somerleyton, of the Somerleyton Estate, near Lowestoft, urged everyone to help make changes.

"A societal shift is needed. It's not just about farmers but also consumers, backyard, churchyard, schoolyard, everyone, in order to do our bit to restore biodiversity and help avert climate catastrophe," he said.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said farming in England was "moving away from the arbitrary land-based subsidies"

The National Farmers' Union has warned taking too much land out of production could lead to more food imports from countries with lower production standards.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said farming in England was "moving away from the arbitrary land-based subsidies and top-down bureaucracy".

He said it was instead moving towards "schemes that recognise the work that farmers do as stewards of the natural environment".

Defra was working in partnership with farmers to design the new schemes, he added.