The long-term legally binding Environment Act Habitat target as described in the Statutory Instrument ‘The Environmental Targets (Biodiversity) (England) Regulations 2023’ is: To restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitats outside of protected sites by 31 December 2042.
The 2025 Environmental Improvement Plan sets an interim target of 250,000 hectares by 2030.
This report explains the methodology for arriving at an accurate metric for reporting progress towards the target.
This report sets out the data sources used, and analysis conducted in March 2026 to produce a metric to report progress towards the statutory habitat target.
The metric is reported and broken down by habitat type, data provider and Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) area.
Data included in the analysis in this report are provided from:
- Defra Group delivery mechanisms: Environment Agency, Farming Directorate (previously known as Farming and Countryside Programme), Farming in Protected Landscapes, Forestry Commission, Forestry England, Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme.
- External partners: Buglife, National Trails, Newt Conservation Partnership, Plantlife.