How the Local Nature Recovery Strategy will benefit Suffolk

UK wildlife has, on average, declined by 19% since 1970. Many of the country’s most important habitats are now in poor condition. The UK now has less than half of its biodiversity remaining.

The LNRS is needed to prevent further biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation.

Nature recovery is also essential to our daily lives in ways that we can’t easily see, including:

• supporting food production and local economies
• pollinating our crops
• connecting and expanding areas for nature so that wildlife can thrive and move across the county
• reducing the impacts of extreme weather events
• improving air, soil, and water quality
• providing recreational and educational opportunities
• boosting our mental and physical wellbeing
• helping us to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The LNRS provides a blueprint for how Suffolk’s local communities, landowners, local authorities, private companies, and government bodies can work together to; broaden protection, restore, and recover nature on the ground. This will include:

• Creating nature recovery networks: Land that connects isolated habitats, creating corridors that promote species migration, genetic exchange, and adaptation to climate change.
• Enhancing biodiversity: Creating or improving habitats for native species, addressing factors that threaten biodiversity, and reintroducing species that have disappeared locally.
• Green space access and connection: Improving access to and the quality of green spaces and natural areas for local residents.
• Using land sustainably: Examples include sustainable agriculture and forestry practices, to nature-based solutions in urban planning and development.
• Engaging with communities and partners: Involving local communities, businesses, and landowners in the nature recovery process.
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation: Using natural solutions such as; increasing tree cover to remove carbon from the atmosphere, restoring wetlands and peatlands, and changing the way farmland is managed.
• Opportunities for education: To increase community awareness and understanding of biodiversity issues and the importance of healthy ecosystems.

We have designed the LNRS to:

• guide public authorities in meeting their legal duty to protect and enhance biodiversity.
• boost the benefits of nature for community health and wellbeing.
• highlight priority areas for nature recovery and encourage local involvement.
• identify sites for habitat creation and improvement.
• support local planning and align it with wider nature recovery goals.
• help secure funding for nature projects.
• encourage community nature groups.
• map key locations where habitat work will have the greatest impact.

LNRSs are not designed to be prescriptive. They are tools to drive forward action to recover nature. They will not be used to:

• require land managers or owners to make specific proposed land use changes. This will remain their choice
• place new restrictions on developing land or act as a specific blocker for proposals
• assign new legal protections that create restrictions on how land is used or managed
• propose new nature reserves or any other kind of legal designation
• prevent nature conservation in areas that are not prioritised by the LNRS
• determine regulatory decisions, such as the result of Environmental Impact Assessments.

Funding to support the implementation, monitoring and review of Suffolk’s LNRS by SCC has been provided by The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).