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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support coastal habitats.

Coastal habitats play a crucial role in absorbing carbon dioxide, providing flood defence, supporting fisheries, enhancing water quality, and contributing to biodiversity and well-being.

The Environmental Improvement Plan sets out our focus on enhancing nature in marine and coastal environments, including the steps we are taking to restore and protect marine habitats and marine wildlife.

These include delivering the UK Marine Strategy, which sets our ambition for Good Environmental Status (GES) across our seas. To help achieve GES we have created a series of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to protect and restore our marine biodiversity. We are focused on strengthening the protection of this extensive network of 178 sites covering 40% of English waters, which represents the range of species and habitats found in our seas.

To complement the MPA network, the first three Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) in English waters came into force on 5 July 2023. HPMAs will provide the highest levels of protection in our seas, allowing nature to fully recover to a more natural state and helping the wider ecosystem, including coastal habitats, to thrive.

We actively invest in coastal habitat restoration, allocating significant funding to protect and enhance these vital ecosystems. For example, last year Defra announced a £640,000 funding commitment which is supporting vital restoration and creation of blue carbon habitats in the UK. The Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative aims to reverse centuries of coastal habitat decline by restoring seagrass meadows, saltmarsh and native oyster reefs to bring benefits to people and nature.

In February we awarded £25 million funding to 40 schemes around England for improving flood resilience through a new natural flood management programme.

The Government’s £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund has supported a range of nature recovery projects across England, some which have included saltmarsh and seagrass restoration. Defra is also funding coastal and marine restoration projects under its flagship £37 million Marine Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment R&D programme.