Defra has announced plans for two new Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes aimed at restoring natural habitats on up to 300,000ha of land.
The Local Nature Recovery (LNR) scheme, is billed as a more ambitious successor to Countryside Stewardship and will pay landowners for locally targeted actions which make space for nature in the farmed landscape and countryside, such as creating wildlife habitat, planting trees or restoring peat and wetland areas.
The Landscape Recovery (LR) scheme, meanwhile, will support more radical changes to land-use change and habitat restoration such as establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains, or creating woodland and wetlands.
Full details of the criteria for both shemes and how they will be assessed with guidance will be published shortly. Projects will then have 16 weeks to prepare their applications before the application window closes. Defra will confirm the chosen first round pilot projects this summer.
To receive notification when the Landscape Recovery first round pilot applications launch, sign up to the Defra e-alert, or subscribe to its Future Farming blog.
