Asked by: Lord Petitgas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the industrial and net-zero strategies, what plans they have to publish a cross-government rural affairs or countryside strategy.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas, so that we can realise the full potential of rural business and communities. We are ensuring that the needs of people and businesses in rural areas are at the heart of policymaking, including in the development of cross-government strategies
Asked by: Lord Petitgas (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that their net-zero policies do not undermine (1) farming, and (2) biodiversity.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to delivering net zero by 2050 and will work with farmers and others with a stake in our food system towards this. The transition to more climate-friendly practices will work hand in hand with food security and farm productivity.
We are supporting farmers to adopt low carbon farming practices, increasing the carbon stored on their land while boosting profitability. These practices can also free up land for nature-based solutions like afforestation and improve farm efficiency and diversification opportunities on low-grade land. We will closely examine how to enable innovation benefits in reaching net zero whilst considering new technologies and best practices for farming.
We are committed to continuing the rollout of Environmental Land Management schemes, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive, which are key in protecting farming and delivering our net zero targets, with co-benefits for biodiversity and climate adaptation. We will introduce a land-use framework, helping to protect both the environment, food security and livelihoods.
Climate and nature are intrinsically linked. Defra has a vital role to play in helping deliver carbon budgets and ensuring nature-based solutions are a core part of tackling climate change and averting its impacts. Nature-based solutions deliver multiple benefits for climate, biodiversity and people.