UK Government unveils five year delivery plan to ‘halt and reverse’ the decline in nature

A five-year delivery plan has been unveiled by the UK Government to restore nature and improve the environmental quality of the air, our waters and our land.

The UK Government's new Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 provides a comprehensive delivery plan for the government’s approach to halting and then reversing the decline in nature.

It covers how the government will:

• Create and restore at least 500,000 hectares of new wildlife habitats, starting with 70 new wildlife projects including 25 new or expanded National Nature Reserves and 19 further Nature Recovery Projects
• Deliver a clean and plentiful supply of water for people and nature into the future, by tackling leaks, publishing a roadmap to boost household water efficiency, and enabling greater sources of supply
• Challenge councils to improve air quality more quickly and tackle key hotspots.
• Transform the management of 70% of our countryside by incentivising farmers to adopt nature-friendly practices.
• Boost green growth and create new jobs – from foresters and farmers to roles in green finance and research and development.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "Protecting our natural environment is fundamental to the health, economy and prosperity of our country."

"This plan provides the blueprint for how we will deliver our commitment to leave our environment in a better state than we found it, making sure we drive forward progress with renewed ambition and achieve our target of not just halting, but reversing the decline of nature.

Other new commitments set out today include a multi-million pound Species Survival Fund to protect our rarest species and restoring 400 miles of river through the first round of Landscape Recovery projects.

To tackle waste and make it easier for people to do the right thing, the plan also involves including a new set of interim targets for 2028 to reduce different types of waste, including plastic, glass, metal, paper, and food.

Environment Secretary, Thérèse Coffey, said: "We have already started the journey and we have seen improvements. We are transforming financial support for farmers and landowners to prioritise improving the environment, we are stepping up on tree planting, we have cleaner air, we have put a spotlight on water quality and rivers and are forcing industry to clean up its act."

Find out more here.