Supports large-scale, long-term environmental restoration projects through tailor-made agreements co-designed with Defra.
Description
Landscape Recovery is part of the broader transformation of agricultural policy in England following Brexit. Leaving the European Union has allowed for a shift away from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and, in particular, from direct payments based on area, towards the principle of "public money for public goods." This principle has become the foundation of Environmental Land Management (ELM), the main framework through which the UK government compensates farmers and land managers for achieving environmental and climate outcomes. Today, the ELM offering can be described as based on three complementary levels of intervention. The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is the broadest and most accessible. It compensates farmers for implementing relatively standardized sustainable farming practices that can be integrated into productive farming systems. Current SFI agreements are generally short-term, most often around three years.
Countryside Stewardship (CS) is more targeted. It supports actions related to specific habitats, species, landscape features, or sites that are particularly environmentally sensitive. Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier provides more customized management for complex sites. At the other end of the spectrum is Landscape Recovery (LR). This is the most ambitious ELM instrument in terms of scale, duration, institutional complexity, and potential for land-use change. It funds large-scale projects covering at least 500 hectares and is based on tailored agreements lasting 20 years or more. Projects can focus on restoring rivers, peatlands, forests, and habitats; restoring species; and generating broader climate and ecosystem benefits. Unlike the SFI or most Countryside Stewardship agreements, LR is explicitly designed to support interventions that are difficult to implement through standardized payments.
One of the central features of the scheme is the opportunity it offers farmers and land managers to co-design a tailored long-term agreement with Defra, allowing it to be adapted to the specific characteristics and objectives of each project. LR also seeks to combine long-term public funding with private environmental financing. In this sense, LR is not simply a larger-scale agri-environmental grant. It is a negotiated, long-term, project-based governance instrument. Selected projects initially receive public funding for a Project Development Phase, during which they develop their project in greater detail and prepare it for long-term implementation, including defining governance and financing arrangements. Only after this development process can a project negotiate and conclude a long-term implementation agreement.
Country
United Kingdom
Ladder
Local
Nature
Non-financial
In which law/program is this instrument included?
Environmental Land Management (ELM)
Chronology of the instrument
2016
Brexit referendum.
Leaving the European Union creates a political opportunity to rethink the English system of agricultural support outside of the CAP.
2018
Publication of the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Publication of a long-term government strategy outlining England's environmental objectives for the next generation. It sets out key environmental priorities, particularly in the areas of biodiversity, water, landscapes and natural capital, to which the new agricultural policy will subsequently contribute.
February – May: Health and Harmony Consultation
Defra consulted farmers, land managers, environmental, food and agricultural organizations, other stakeholders, and the general public on the future of agricultural policy in England. The consultation proposed replacing the CAP-inspired support system with a system based on the principle of "public money for public goods" and environmental land management contracts. More than 43,000 responses were received, supplemented by regional events and stakeholder roundtables.
2018 – 2020
ELM Tests and Trials
The ELM testing and experimentation phases begin to develop and test certain elements of the future system with farmers and stakeholders. This establishes an explicitly iterative approach to public policy design.
November 11, 2020: Agriculture Act 2020
The Agriculture Act 2020 establishes the legal framework for post-CAP English agricultural policy. It replaces direct area-based payments with financial support for the production of public goods, including environmental protection, climate change mitigation, and other land management outcomes. It thus provides the legal basis for the ELM (Environmental Land Management).
2022
November 30, 2020 — The Agricultural Transition Plan 2021–2024 specifies how the government must ensure the transition from the CAP system to the new agricultural policy from 2021.
It officially presents the ELM architecture in three components: Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Local Nature Recovery, and Landscape Recovery. Landscape Recovery is designed as the component for large-scale, long-term landscape transformations, and as part of the national ELM pilot program.
2021
Continued piloting and co-design of the ELM
Defra is gradually defining Landscape Recovery as a mechanism for the long-term restoration of ecosystems, involving farmers, landowners, NGOs and, potentially, private funding.
2022
Launch of the first call for projects
LR's detailed policy is published and Round 1 is launched, initially focused on species recovery and river restoration.
Projects are selected following a competitive process, followed by a Project Development Phase of approximately two years. In total, 22 projects are selected and then enter their development phase.
2023
Environmental Improvement Plan 2023
The first revision of the 25 Year Environment Plan translates its long-term environmental vision into a more detailed implementation plan including intermediate objectives. It strengthens the link between ELM/Landscape Recovery and national nature restoration goals.
May–November: Second call for projects
Round 2 is launched with a particular focus on carbon neutrality (net zero), protected sites, and habitats rich in biodiversity. 34 projects are selected, bringing the total number of projects from the first two pilot phases to 56.
2026
Implementation
Three projects—Boothby Wildland, Upper Duddon, and Evenlode—have entered the implementation phase. Most of the other projects from Rounds 1 and 2 are still being evaluated or are going through various stages of development and validation. Projects for Round 3 have not yet been publicly finalized.
