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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he is taking steps to increase the use of nature-based solutions to tackle climate change.

Defra has a vital role to play to ensure 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, and can therefore play a critical role in helping deliver the Government's priorities, such as ensuring nature recovery. Defra’s Secretary of State has made nature recovery one of the five top priorities for the Department.

This Government is committed to achieving its tree planting targets and is committed to the legal target to plant 16.5% tree cover by 2050.  We will also restore hundreds of thousands of hectares of peatland and we are developing delivery mechanisms for peatland restoration.

Defra has secured a farm support budget of £2.4 billion for the next financial year. This means we can maintain the momentum of our Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, which will rise to the highest funding levels ever by 2025/26. Through this investment, we are helping to secure a healthy and resilient future for English farming and restore our natural landscapes for generations to come whilst continuing to support farmers and landowners in their low-carbon, nature friendly practices.