Some of the biggest organisations and businesses in the country are set to gather today (13th July) for the first time to map out how they can work together to reverse nature’s decline at a vital summit organised by Natural England.

The Nature Recovery Network (NRN) Delivery Partnership, led by Natural England, brings together representatives from over 600 organisations to drive forward the restoration of our protected sites and landscapes and help provide at least 500,000 hectares of additional new wildlife-rich habitat across England. The Network will link together our very best nature rich places, restore landscapes in towns and the countryside and create new habitats for everybody to enjoy.

The partnership represent a diverse range of interest including government, conservationists, businesses, farmers and landowners with members including KPMG, Church of England, NFU, and the Council for Sustainable Business. They will meet discuss how to co-ordinate efforts and pool knowledge and resources to deliver the national Nature Recovery Network.

The Nature Recovery Network aims to:

• Restore 75% of protected sites to favourable condition so nature can thrive.
• Create or restore at least 500,000 additional hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside of protected sites.
• Recover our threatened and iconic animal and plant species by providing more habitat and wildlife corridors to help species move in response to climate change.
• Support the establishing 180,000 ha of new native woodlands.
• Deliver a range of wider benefits, including carbon capture, flood management, clean water, pollination and recreation.
• Bring nature much closer to people, where they live, work, and play, boosting health and wellbeing.

Since launching in 2020, the Nature Recovery Network Delivery Partnership has worked together to deliver hundreds of projects for nature including:

• The launch of 5 landscape-scale Nature Recovery Projects totalling 99,200 hectares, which will trail the use of biodiversity net gain credits and finance to delivery landscape scale nature recovery

• The 21,000 ha G7 legacy nature recovery project in Cornwall

• Promoting innovation through the delivery of ‘seedcorn projects’ that kick started 220 nature recovery projects across England in 2020/21, with a further 100 planned in 2022

• Supporting the development of 27 projects that will generate repayable investment from a range of ecosystem services and provide valuable learning opportunities as we seek to channel more private investment into nature through the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.

• Delivering a vast new ‘super nature reserve’, spanning 6,140 ha of Somerset and encompassing some of the country’s most precious habitats

• Supporting the delivery of 160 Green Recovery Challenge Fund Projects

Natural England Chair Tony Juniper said:

When it comes to the state of Nature, we have reached a critical juncture. No longer is it sufficient to protect the remnants that we have left, but must now step up to the huge task of securing Nature’s recovery. This summit is a vital part of the plan to do that.

Nature restoration can no longer be the preserve of environmental charities, passionate specialists or a government body like Natural England. It must be a shared endeavour across society, and that is why we have brought together the Nature Recovery Network Delivery Partnership.

It is most heartening to see that the need to take decisive large-scale action is now more widely recognised, underlined by the hundreds of organisations coming together today to drive forward England’s Nature Recovery Network. Through working together we can transform the state of Nature from decline to recovery.

Timothy Crawshaw President Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and Chair of Tees Valley Nature Partnership said:

We are proud to be the host area for this national conference. Nature is needed everywhere for everyone no less so than in Tees Valley.

The Local Nature Partnership for Tees Valley has over 40 member organisations from the big names in nature like the National Trust, RSPB and the Wildlife Trust to our local groups with an estimated 6000 members involved in nature.

We are all thrilled to have this national support and recognition that will see the start of an exciting new phase planning and delivering our Local Nature Recovery Strategy.

The conference will explore collaborative action needed to help drive delivery of the Nature Recovery Network, and will see England moving beyond the conservation of protected sites to active restoration of the natural world.

The conference will engage land managers, land owners, business and communities alike to put lost features like hedgerows and trees back into our landscapes. These restored habitats will help address climate change through capturing carbon, while improving the quality of our air, water, and soil, and provide natural flood protection. They will also provide us all with places to enjoy and connect with nature and helping to improve our health and wellbeing.

Excellencies, colleagues, friends.

The Sustainable Development Goals remain the most important to-do list in the history of humankind.

Yet President Putin’s illegal and senseless invasion of Ukraine has pushed the SDGs further from our reach. He has caused a humanitarian catastrophe and sent global food and energy prices rocketing, impeding the global recovery from COVID and pushing the most vulnerable to the cliff edge.

Despite these setbacks, the UK Government remains committed to meeting the SDGs by 2030, as we have set out in our new International Development Strategy.

We will continue to prioritise humanitarian need, committing $3.7 billion in humanitarian assistance over the next 3 years.

This will allow us to help the people in greatest need and most at risk, as we have this year with our commitment of $352 million to support over 4.4 million Afghans.

With our partners we will anticipate and prevent future shocks, tackling the underlying drivers of crises, instability and extreme food insecurity.

Our investments in research, innovation and access to vaccines will reduce threats to global health, and drive breakthroughs in health systems and health security.

To broaden economic growth, enhance peace and security, and advance equality, we are putting women and girls at the heart of our foreign and development policy.

We are leading global efforts to give all girls access to 12 years of quality education. The Transforming Education Summit must help make this a reality.

We are empowering women and girls by unlocking their social, economic, and political potential, and by standing up for their bodily autonomy.

And we are championing action to end all forms of gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence.

Climate change and nature loss remain urgent, existential threats. Our security and prosperity rely on a transition to Net Zero.

Our planet needs us to deliver on the commitments made at COP26. The window to keep 1.5 degrees alive is closing fast.

Everyone must step up to implement the Glasgow Climate Pact ahead of COP27. This means revisiting and strengthening NDCs; Long Term Strategies aligned to Net Zero; and developed countries doubling their adaptation finance by 2025.

We need an ambitious and transformative global biodiversity framework at CBD this December, including the global 30 by 30 goal, stronger accountability and the finance needed for implementation.

The UK Government will also deliver over $9.5 billion of development investment a year by 2025, through British International Investment – our new development finance institution.

This will support countries to build green, secure and open thriving economies as part of our British Investment Partnerships offer.

Collaboration between government and the private sector will unlock enormous advances in our efforts to finance the SDGs.

We cannot afford to lose focus from Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.

So let’s work together, and all play our part in ensuring no one is left behind.

Thank you President and thank you for Brazil’s leadership on this topic, and thank you to our briefers. I join you in paying tribute to all peacekeepers who have lost their lives in the service of peace.

President, effective strategic communications are essential enablers of mandate delivery. They help to build trust and amplify the voices of those building and sustaining peace. They are also vital to the safety and security of peacekeepers.

As we heard from the Secretary-General, almost half of peacekeepers said disinformation hinders mandate delivery and threatens their safety and security.

I want to make three key points in this regard.

Firstly, strategic communications should be a whole-of-mission activity, integrated into planning and mandate implementation, and measured by the Comprehensive Planning and Performance Assessment System.

And they should leverage digital technologies to keep pace with changing communications landscapes.  We support efforts to this end under Action for Peacekeeping Plus and the Strategy for the Digital Transformation of Peacekeeping.

Secondly, all actors should refrain from anti-UN misinformation and disinformation which undermines mandate delivery and the safety and security of peacekeepers, including in the DRC, the CAR and Mali.

Since the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group deployed in Mali, we have seen a significant increase in the volume of dangerous lies being spread about MINUSMA’s mandate and activities. This puts peacekeepers’ lives at increased risk in an already volatile environment.

It sows distrust which discourages local communities from sharing information with MINUSMA. That hinders the mission’s ability to prevent attacks on civilians and peacekeepers alike.

The continued spread of dis- and mis-information will lead to more lives lost. There is no excuse for such activities.

Thirdly, President, I want to underline the importance of strategic communications in supporting the women, peace and security agenda.

I am proud of the efforts British peacekeepers and their German counterparts have been making in MINUSMA in this regard. They have met local women’s associations and helped local radio stations reach out to female audiences.  This has helped build mutual understanding and given Malian women platforms for their peace advocacy.

In conclusion, President, let me stress that the United Kingdom continues to offer its full support to UN peacekeeping, including in mainstreaming an innovative, modern and integrated approach to strategic communications.