Webinar Event 2024 Talk 3 Summary: Condatis and the Nature Recovery Network- Humphrey Crick, Natural England.

Humphrey Crick is the Deputy Director for Nature Recovery Science in the Chief Scientist’s Directorate at Natural England. In the third talk of the morning Humphrey talked about his recent work, thinking about the design of the Government’s Nature Recovery Network across England and how Condatis can help identify key areas for habitat connectivity, particularly because of the potential impacts of climate change.

He first acknowledged the UK government’s ambitious nature recovery goals, including the Environment Act 2021 and the 25-year Environmental Improvement Plan. The Environment Act 2021 aims to build a Nature Recovery Network across England:

“A national ecological network that buffers and connects our best terrestrial and freshwater wildlife sites, including Protected Sites, and allows wildlife populations to move and thrive.”

This initiative follows a 2010 review that identified that protected wildlife sites were fragmented, and emphasised the need for expanding, improving, and connecting these sites. Key targets of the Act include halting species decline by 2030 and creating and restoring 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042.

Humphrey stressed the importance of Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) under the 2021 Act, with county-level authorities responsible for creating the plans to enhance and promote nature and its recovery. The whole of England will be covered by LNRSs by mid-2025.

Humphrey explained how Natural England has used Condatis in projects over recent years. One project identified key areas for south-to-north connectivity in England’s top-priority habitat networks that could be targeted for protection by LNRSs. After determining the extent to which habitat connectivity is already protected, this project identified a shortfall in legal protection for certain habitat patches that are particularly important for maintaining connectivity.

The most recent project has created national maps of bottlenecks for four broad habitat types: heathland, wetland, grassland and woodland. This method depicts ‘areas of search’ around bottlenecks where habitat restoration and creation could enhance connectivity. Higher resolution analysis of bottlenecks has also been conducted at a regional level. These maps will be particularly valuable for LNRS teams working at the county level, supporting decision-making and prioritising areas for habitat creation and restoration to enhance connectivity. The talk concluded with an overview acknowledging the importance of habitat connectivity in government policy. Humphrey highlighted how Condatis can assist in advancing these policy objectives by identifying key areas for protection, pinpointing regions crucial for maintaining connectivity, and suggesting potential sites for habitat creation to address bottlenecks.