Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made on its policy to rewild areas of the countryside; and if he will make a statement.

Re-wilding generally refers to actions that restore natural processes to create and sustain rich ecosystems, sometimes with a species recovery component where appropriate. The Government is supporting a number of initiatives to create wilder landscapes across England, as part of a broader approach to nature recovery.

For example, the Knepp Wildland project in West Sussex shows what can be achieved with re-wilding approaches, where the creation of extensive grassland and scrub habitats has significantly benefited declining bird species like the nightingale or the turtle dove.

Over the past three years, we have allocated £10 million to deliver approximately 6,000 hectares of peatland restoration for projects in England. In March 2020, the Chancellor announced England’s biggest ever investment in peat and tree planting through the £640 million Nature for Climate Fund. We are using a proportion of this to restore 35,000 hectares of peatland over the next five years.

We will also initiate ten Landscape Recovery projects between 2022 and 2024 to help restore wilder landscapes. The focus will be on large-scale sites where there are opportunities significantly to enhance the landscape to deliver a wide range of environmental outcomes.