Conservation work must shift from a “newt-by-newt or bat-by-bat” approach to driving the recovery of nature across entire landscapes, Natural England boss Tony Juniper has said.
The chairman of the Government’s nature agency said the organisation’s job was no longer about just conserving protected areas and species, but about helping nature recover as “critical national infrastructure”.
Mr Juniper said that while Natural England and its predecessors had delivered “positive” outcomes in terms of protecting areas and species, delivering agri-environment schemes and working through the planning system, “unfortunately in 2025 we see nature declining in many respects”.
Rewilding is a proven thing now, Knepp and other places show not only can it work it can benefit the owners. It should be obvious a hollistic approach is better