Plan to restore nature in England by 2030 criticised as ‘completely insufficient’

A hawthorn tree on a hillside in the Peak District. Countries have committed to restoring 30% of nature by 2030. Photograph: Andrew Kearton/Alamy View image in fullscreen A hawthorn tree on a hillside in the Peak District. Countries have committed to restoring 30% of nature by 2030. Photograph: Andrew Kearton/Alamy Plan to restore nature in England by 2030 criticised as ‘completely insufficient’ Critics accuse ministers of failing to take control of nature crisis and leaving it to private landowners to act voluntarily The government’s plan to protect and restore nature in England by 2030 has been condemned as “pathetic” and “completely insufficient” in the face of the spiralling environmental crisis. The long-awaited plan published on Monday calls for landowners to voluntarily opt to protect and enhance nature, rather than creating legal protections for nature across more of the country’s land, critics say. Ministers said the strategy would accelerate action to meet an international commitment to restore 30% of nature by 2030 made by more than 100 countries during Cop15 negotiations in Montreal in 2022. The target is considered the minimum restoration needed to halt and reverse the global decline in nature . But with four years to go, the government is a long way off the target. Its own analysis shows that just 7% of land in England meets the “30by30” criteria. The new plan identifies land covering about 32% of England that is either already likely to or has the potential to contribute to the 30by30 goal, but the plan acknowledges that reaching the target will require a step change in ambition, coordination and delivery. It comes as one of the country’s biggest landowners, the Church of England, prepares to vote on Tuesday on a motion to rewild 30% of its land by 2030. The environment minister Mary Creagh said the government’s plan was a call to action for land managers, farmers and communities to work together to secure the natural systems that underpin a healthy, resilient and prosperous country. But the nature writer Guy Shrubsole said it was more of the failed politics of the past 40 years, with ministers failing to take public control of the nature crisis and contracting it out to private landowners who would not deliver. “It’s pathetic,” he said. “In the dying days of [Keir] Starmer’s government, ministers have admitted they’re failing utterly to meet their own target to restore nature in England. So instead of an actual plan with fresh policies, they’ve issued this desperate plea asking landowners to voluntarily protect nature.” Shrubsole called for the new government under Andy Burnham’s leadership to scrap the plan and instead take radical action, legally protecting much more land for nature, giving national parks and the Forestry Commission a legal duty for nature recovery, and funding habitat restoration through many more landscape recovery projects. The RSPB said the strategy was “deeply disappointing and completely insufficient”. The