New £12.5m Nature-based Solutions pilot programme
A new Defra-BEIS project supported by the Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund and led by Natural England, Environment Agency, RBG Kew and the Forestry Commission will tackle the challenges of stopping emissions from damaged habitats and starting carbon uptake by creating new habitats. These public bodies will work closely with local partners and stakeholders across a number of study areas to ensure the work is not only technically rigorous but firmly rooted in the practicalities of farming and land management. These pilot study areas will include some of the forthcoming Landscape Recovery pilot projects, and will also work with Kew’s ‘Wild Botanic Garden’ at Wakehurst in Sussex and two additional sites.
Natural England will manage the project, including identifying the pilot study areas, establishing relationships with local partners and learning how best to support them in delivering Nature-based Solutions and the factors that make it easier or harder for them to do this. Natural England will also carry out research and monitoring to compare carbon storage and uptake across different habitats of different ages and in different parts of the country. Natural England’s in depth review of carbon storage and sequestration by habitats Carbon Storage and Sequestration by Habitat 2021 revealed that although there are broad differences between habitats there are still big gaps in the evidence base.