Research and analysis

Farming Sector Environmental Objectives: wildlife-rich habitat creation and restoration

Published 22 October 2026

Applies to England

1. Objective title

The farming sector and delivery partners will create and restore 300,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042, from a 2023 baseline.

2. Objective overview

A strong, well‑connected network of habitats is essential to support abundant and resilient wildlife across England.

The abundance of species across England has, on average, declined by around 40% since 1970, reflecting pressures on habitats and ecosystems. Known drivers of species decline across multiple taxonomic groups include land-use change, agricultural practices and habitat degradation.

Reducing pressures on wildlife and reversing these trends begins with restoring habitats locally, bringing them back to a condition capable of sustaining the species they are intended to support.

This objective aims to support the creation and restoration of grasslands, wetlands, shallow peatlands, and diverse coastal habitats to achieve wildlife‑rich status through agri‑environment schemes in England.

3. Relevant targets and commitments

30by30

Under the Global Biodiversity Framework, the UK government has agreed to:

• effectively conserve and manage 30% of our land and sea for nature by 2030

Wildlife-rich habitats created or restored under this objective could contribute to the 30by30 target, where they also meet the management and protection criteria.

Environment Act 2021

The Environment Act 2021 sets several statutory targets focussed on species abundance, reducing species extinction risk and wildlife-rich habitats, stating:

• halt the decline in species abundance by 2030, as represented by the overall relative species abundance index

• increase the relative species abundance index by 2042 so that it is greater than in 2022 and at least 10% greater than in 2030

• restore or create in excess of 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitats, outside protected sites, by 2042

• improve the Red List Index for England for species extinction by 2042 compared to 2022 levels

Environmental Improvement Plan

In order to meet the statutory targets set under the Environment Act 2021, the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 sets an interim target for wildlife-rich habitats:

• restore or create a total of 250,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitats outside of protected sites by December 2030

Interactions with other environmental objectives

Once priority habitats have been successfully created or restored to wildlife‑rich condition under this objective, their ongoing management and maintenance will contribute to the Wildlife-Rich Habitat – Maintenance objective.

This objective also relates to other objectives contributing to statutory habitat creation targets under EIP25 and 30by30, including Tree Canopy and Woodland Cover and Peatland Restoration.

This objective also overlaps with Peatland Restoration as both have contributing actions that create or restore peatland. Actions cannot contribute to both objectives simultaneously, as this objective requires actions to be undertaken on shallow peat or soils with peaty pockets, whereas those on deep peat contribute to Peatland Restoration.

4. Delivery approach

Methodology

An internal review within Defra identified Environmental Land Management (ELM) actions that support the creation or restoration of wildlife-rich habitats in line with statutory target definitions. These actions have been categorised according to the habitat they support, namely:

• coastal habitats, excluding intertidal and saltmarsh

• saltmarsh and Intertidal habitats

• arable Field Margins

• grasslands

• heathlands

• riparian habitats

• lakes and ponds

• wetlands not on deep peat

• trees and Scrub

This objective focusses on the implementation of ‘habitat creation’ and ‘habitat restoration’ actions on land to achieve ‘wildlife-rich’ habitat. Delivery towards this objective does not distinguish between ‘creation’ and ‘restoration’ actions as they are delivered through the same actions

Progress towards this objective is measured by total uptake of new key ELM actions under new agreements between 2023 and 2042. All key actions are measured in hectares. However, key actions that contribute to arable field margin (AFM), riparian or pond buffer habitats are measured by total in live agreements at the capture date.

Supporting actions make a direct or indirect contribution that is not measurable with current methodologies, and therefore not included in achieved uptake. Inclusion may change as further evidence and information becomes available.

Contribution of actions delivering AFM habitats is capped at 40,000 hectares. This is to ensure diversity of habitats delivered through this objective to support achievement of species outcomes, as uptake of actions delivering AFM habitats is likely to exceed requirement. A list of actions delivering AFM habitats can be found in Table 1.

Some ELM actions must be done in combination on the same area to contribute to this objective. These currently include:

• actions that manage lowland raised bog (WT10/CWT10) must be undertaken with actions that block grips or drainage channels (WN1).

• actions that carry out customised capital works to manage specific sites or species (FM2) must be undertaken with a supplement for either moorland re-wetting (UP5) or a raised water level/rewetting supplement (SP2/CSP2).

• actions that block grips or drainage channels (WN1) must be undertaken with a supplement for either moorland re-wetting (UP5) or a raised water level (SP2/CSP2). In this instance, actions that manage lowland raised bog (WT10/CWT10) are not required, however may still be present.

• actions that manage priority habitat species-rich grassland (GRH6/CGS22) must be undertaken with actions that provide floristically enhance seed mix for grassland habitat (GR3).

For this objective, eligible actions must be undertaken on soil where the majority has peat 10-40cm deep (shallow peat) or areas of mostly non-peat soils supporting pockets of deep peat (soil with peaty pockets). This definition aligns with wider peatland initiatives such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) UK Peatland Strategy. Agri-environment scheme actions that create or restore peatland which are undertaken on soils with deep peat contribute to Peatland Restoration instead.

Contribution towards this objective excludes uptake on existing protected sites. Namely, this excludes uptake on Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protected Areas, Ramsar sites and Marine Conservation Zones.

Baselines and Assumptions

For this objective, the definition of ‘wildlife-rich habitat’ is in line with The Environmental Targets (Biodiversity) (England) Regulations 2023. Namely, wildlife-rich habitat is a priority habitat or a habitat listed in Schedule 1 of The Environmental Targets (Biodiversity) (England) Regulations 2023 that is of sufficient quality that it is, or will be, capable of supporting flora and fauna which are typically found in the habitat in question. 

A list of wildlife-rich habitats and the meaning of sufficient quality can be found in Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions, however this also includes those that are the focus of other environmental objectives.

‘Habitat creation’ refers to actions that establish new habitats to a wildlife‑rich condition, meeting the quality required to support species typically found within that habitat type.

‘Habitat restoration’ refers to actions that achieve at least one of the following:

• lead to expansion of wildlife-rich habitat by supporting fragmentated patches of priority habitat where it would previously have been more widespread or is currently not considered wildlife-rich (known as relict habitat).

• address on or off-site pressures to allow wildlife-rich habitats of sufficient quality to become established in areas that no longer support the typical flora and fauna (known as degraded habitat).

• are undertaken on existing priority habitat (potentially wildlife-rich) that has developed in a degraded ecosystem.

These definitions are in line with Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions.

This objective uses the 1st January 2023 as the start of uptake, counting this date as having 0 hectares of contributing actions. However, this does not indicate the absence of relevant activity prior to this date. For AFM, pond buffer and riparian habitats, live uptake is measured as net increase compared to uptake as at 1st January 2023.

For this objective, hedgerow actions have been converted from metres to hectares, assuming that coverage extends 1.5 metres into the parcel. This is based on the minimum requirements for favourable width threshold for mature hedgerows established by Natural England and minimum width for new planting requirements under agri-environment schemes.

4.1 Key and Supporting Actions

Table 1: Environmental land management actions contributing to Wildlife-Rich Habitat – Creation and Restoration

Action Code	Action Name	Scheme	Type	Habitat
CCT2	Make space for new coastal habitat	CS Higher Tier	Key	Coastal habitats (excluding intertidal and saltmarsh)
CT2	Creation of coastal sand dunes and vegetated shingle on arable land and improved grassland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Coastal habitats (excluding intertidal and saltmarsh)
WT7	Creation of reedbed	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Coastal habitats (excluding intertidal and saltmarsh)
CCT4	Create intertidal and saline habitat on arable land	CS Higher Tier	Key	Saltmarsh and intertidal habitats
CCT5	Create intertidal and saline habitat by non-intervention	CS Higher Tier	Key	Saltmarsh and intertidal habitats
CCT7	Create intertidal and saline habitat on intensive grassland	CS Higher Tier	Key	Saltmarsh and intertidal habitats
CT4	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat on arable land	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Saltmarsh and intertidal habitats
CT5	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat by non-intervention	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Saltmarsh and intertidal habitats
CT7	Creation of inter-tidal and saline habitat on intensive grassland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Saltmarsh and intertidal habitats
CAB18	Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips (on arable land or permanent crops)	CS Higher Tier	Key (n)	Arable field margins
CIPM2	Flower-rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips	SFI Expanded Offer	Key (n)	Arable field margins
IPM2	Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips	Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023	Key (n)	Arable field margins
AB8	Flower-rich margins and plots	Countryside Stewardship	Key (n)	Arable field margins
CGS22	Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland	CS Higher Tier	Key - Partial	Grasslands
GRH6	Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland (endorsed)	SFI Expanded Offer	Key - Partial	Grasslands
GS7	Restoration towards species-rich grassland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Grasslands
GS8	Creation of species-rich grassland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Grasslands
GR1	Create or restore grassland habitat	Capital Grants	Key - Partial	Grasslands
GR3	Floristically enhanced seed mix for grassland habitat	Capital Grants	Key	Grasslands
CLH2	Restore lowland heathland	CS Higher Tier	Key	Heathlands
CLH3	Create lowland heathland	CS Higher Tier	Key	Heathlands
LH2	Restoration of forestry and woodland to lowland heathland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Heathlands
LH3	Creation of heathland from arable or improved grassland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Heathlands
CSW12	Make room for the river to move	CS Higher Tier	Key (n)	Riparian habitats
CSW22	Connect river and floodplain habitats	CS Higher Tier	Key (n)	Riparian habitats
BFS6	6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses	SFI Expanded Offer	Key (n)	Riparian habitats
SW11	Riparian management strip	Countryside Stewardship	Key (n)	Riparian habitats
SW12	Making space for water	Countryside Stewardship	Key (n)	Riparian habitats
CWT1	Buffer in-field ponds and ditches on improved grassland	CS Higher Tier	Key	Lakes and ponds
CWT2	Buffer in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	CS Higher Tier	Key	Lakes and ponds
BFS2	Buffer in-field ponds on arable land	SFI Expanded Offer	Key	Lakes and ponds
BFS3	Buffer in-field ponds on improved grassland	SFI Expanded Offer	Key	Lakes and ponds
WN5	Pond management (less than 100 square metres)	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Lakes and ponds
WN6	Pond management (more than 100 square metres)	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Lakes and ponds
WT1	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Lakes and ponds
WT2	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Lakes and ponds
WN7	Restoration of large water bodies	Capital Grants	Key	Lakes and ponds
WN12	Create or restore ponds	Capital Grants	Key	Lakes and ponds
CUP3	General moorland management	CS Higher Tier	Undetermined	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
CWT10	Manage lowland raised bog	CS Higher Tier	Key - Partial	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
CWT14	Create fen, reedbed or wetland mosaics	CS Higher Tier	Key	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
UP3	Management of moorland	Countryside Stewardship	Undetermined	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
UP5	Moorland re-wetting supplement	Countryside Stewardship	Key - Partial	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
WT9	Creation of fen	Countryside Stewardship	Key - Partial	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
WT10	Management of lowland raised bog	Countryside Stewardship	Key - Partial	Wetlands (not on deep peat)
CWS2	Manage and restore plantations on ancient woodland sites (PAWS) supplement	CS Higher Tier	Key	Trees and scrub
CWD8	Create scrub and open habitat mosaics	CS Higher Tier	Key	Trees and scrub
SCR1	Create scrub and open habitat mosaics	SFI Expanded Offer	Key	Trees and scrub
WS2	Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites (PAWS) - restoration and maintenance	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Trees and scrub
WD8	Creation of successional areas and scrub	Countryside Stewardship	Key	Trees and scrub
BN7	Hedgerow gapping-up	Capital Grants	Key	Trees and scrub
BN11	Planting new hedges	Capital Grants	Key	Trees and scrub
FM2	Major preparotory work for Priority Habitats (creation and restoration) and Priority Species	Capital Grants	Key	Undetermined
WN1	Blocking Grips or Drainage Channels	Capital Grants	Key	Undetermined
GRH7	Haymaking supplement	SFI Expanded Offer	Supporting	Grasslands
GRH8	Haymaking supplement (late cut)	SFI Expanded Offer	Supporting	Grasslands
GRH11	Cattle grazing supplement (non-moorland)	SFI Expanded Offer	Supporting	Grasslands
GS15	Haymaking supplement	Countryside Stewardship	Supporting	Grasslands
TE16	Use tree surgery to ‘hinge’ a tree into a watercourse	CS Higher Tier	Supporting	Rivers
FG1	Fencing	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
FG2	Sheep netting	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
FG3	Permanent electric fencing	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
FG4	Rabbit fencing supplement	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
PA1	Implementation plan	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
PA2	Feasibility study	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
PA5	Moorland mapping	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
SB3	Tree removal	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
SB4	Chemical Bracken Control	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
SB5	Mechanical Bracken Control	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
SB6	Rhododendron Control	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
WN3	Ditch, dyke and rhine restoration	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
WN4	Ditch, dyke and rhine creation	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
WN8	Timber sluice	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
WN9	Brick, Stone or Concrete Sluice	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined
WN10	Construction of water penning structures	Capital Grants	Supporting	Undetermined

Note: (n) denotes actions required to be in live agreements at the capture date

Trajectory

The required area of contributing actions has been calculated through to 2042. This trajectory is based on analysis of historic uptake and illustrates the annual uptake that would be required to contribute to the environmental objective by the end of the assessment period. Its shape is informed by assumptions about economic and behavioural factors and delivery constraints.

As information on future schemes is not currently available, the trajectory should not be interpreted as a forecast of uptake or as an indication of future scheme availability.

Figure 2: Required uptake of actions contributing to Wildlife-Rich Habitat – Creation and Restoration to 2042, hectares

Source: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

5. Metadata

Objective	Wildlife-Rich Habitat – Creation and Restoration
Related commitments	Statutory wildlife-rich habitat creation targets
Reporting status	Final
Contributing schemes	CS, CSHT, SFI
Aggregation method	Agreements live since January 2023
Geographical scope	England
First reported	October 2026
Last updated	October 2026