Guidance

30by30 on land: assessment privacy notice

Published 13 July 2026

Applies to England

This privacy notice explains how the voluntary 30by30 assessment process will use and manage your personal data. If you have any queries about the content of this privacy notice, email nature.recovery.data@defra.gov.uk.

Who collects your personal data

The Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the controller for the personal data we collect.

If you need further information about how we use your personal data and your associated rights, you can contact the data protection manager at data.protection@defra.gov.uk.

The Defra data protection officer is responsible for checking that we comply with legislation. You can contact them at DefraGroupDataProtectionOfficer@defra.gov.uk.

What personal data we collect and how it is used

We will collect:

• your name
• your contact details
• a boundary map of the land area you are putting forward for assessment
• information about how your land is used and managed

We collect this information because you are voluntarily assessing your land for its potential contribution to the government’s commitment to protect 30% of land in England by 2030 (30by30). An assessment form has been provided for this purpose.

Participation in this assessment process is entirely voluntary. If you choose to submit information for assessment, any personal data you provide will be processed under Article 6(1)(e) UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) (public task).

The information you provide will be collected manually, processed and shared within Defra group for internal analysis for the following purposes:

• to assess whether the landholding submitted meets the criteria for 30by30 (including assessment, risk based auditing and periodic review)
• to understand whether the landholding submitted may also be supporting delivery of other biodiversity targets
• to ensure there is no spatial duplication or overlap with existing 30by30 areas
• to provide you with information, advice and support and to answer any queries you may have in relation to your land assessment
• to assess progress in England towards 30by30
• to demonstrate progress in England towards 30by30 – this may include periodic publications of a map of England showing 30by30 area boundaries

If you have concerns about the boundary of the 30by30 area you are assessing being published, contact nature.recovery.data@defra.gov.uk to request that only point data be used for your area.

Lawful basis for processing your personal data

The lawful basis for processing your personal data is in accordance with Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.

(e) Public task: Processing is necessary to perform a specific task in the public interest, specifically for delivery of the UK government’s international commitment to protect 30% of land for nature in England by 2030 under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (Target 3). It will also support delivery of the government’s statutory biodiversity targets set out in the Environment Act 2021. These actions are necessary for the delivery of Defra’s statutory functions in relation to environmental protection and improvement, and biodiversity and wildlife.

Who we share your personal data with

We will share the personal data collected under this privacy notice with:

• Natural England: for providing analytical and specialist advice and support on the assessment criteria and to provide further advice to landowners and land managers.
• National Park Authorities (NPA) and National Landscape (NL) teams: where the land area being assessed falls within the boundary of a protected landscape information may be shared with the NPA and NL teams for the purposes of providing further support to landowners and land managers and to support the delivery, development and monitoring or current and future protected landscape management plans.
• Local nature recovery strategy responsible authorities: data may be shared with the relevant responsible authority in the locality for the purpose of providing support to landowners and land managers and to support the delivery, development, and monitoring of current and future local nature recovery strategies.
• Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC): for the purpose of quality assurance and for compiling Defra-reported 30by30 spatial data to a UK level and onward reporting of UK progress on 30by30. The information provided will be spatial boundary data of the assessed land area. No personal contact information will be shared with JNCC.
• United Nations Environment Programme - World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC): Spatial data will also be provided by JNCC to the UNEP-WCMC for the purpose of integration into the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas and for their Protected Planet Reports. This will not be area boundary data, it will only be point data for the area assessed. No personal contact information will be shared with UNEP-WCMC.

We respect your personal privacy when responding to access to information requests. We only share information when necessary to meet the statutory requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

How long we hold personal data

Your personal data will be held for an eight-year retention period. This is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including satisfying reporting and periodic review requirements, responding to landowner and land manager queries and providing ongoing support.

If your land is in the 30by30 pipeline, we will need to retain your personal data to be able to contact you about potential support opportunities or to discuss whether you would like to reassess your land if you have taken additional actions.

If the land area put forward is assessed as contributing to the 30by30 commitment boundary maps of the area may be held indefinitely to support future nature recovery analysis. Point data will remain on the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas indefinitely unless the area is deemed to be no longer meeting the 30by30 criteria or unless you request removal.

What happens if you do not provide the personal data

If you do not provide personal data we are unable to consider the contribution your land area can make to 30by30. Your land or land you manage cannot undergo assessment for 30by30 and no further actions will be taken.

Use of automated decision making or profiling

The personal data you provide is not used for:

• automated decision making (making a decision by automated means without any human involvement)
• profiling (automated processing of personal data to evaluate certain things about an individual)

Transfer of your personal data outside of the UK

We will not transfer your personal data to another country. Spatial data arising from your assessment will be reported by JNCC to the UNEP-WCMC for integration into the World Database on Protected and Conserved Areas.

Your rights

Based on the lawful processing above, your individual rights are:

Public task

• the right to be informed
• the right of access
• the right to rectification
• the right to restrict processing
• the right to object
• rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Read more about your individual rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time.

Personal information charter

Our personal information charter explains more about your rights over your personal data.