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

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the area under certain environmental schemes on agricultural land under ELMs could count towards the Government’s objective of protecting 30 per cent of terrestrial land by 2020; and if so, under what circumstances.

Our new environmental land management schemes will support the delivery of our ambitious national targets and commitments for the environment, including the Government's commitment to protect 30% of the UK's land by 2030. We are exploring the potential contribution that the three schemes could make to the achievement of this commitment. This contribution could include: management of farmland in an environmentally sustainable way; supporting local nature recovery and delivering local environmental priorities; management of designated sites; and encouraging collaboration between farmers, including through landscape-scale habitat creation and restoration, or securing long-term management and protection for wildlife-rich habitats.