Evidence that shaped the Strategy
Across the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland local nature recovery strategy area, less than 1% of the area has a high biodiversity score. Also approximately only 6% of the area is covered by woodland, compared to the national average of 13%. The area suffers from surface water flooding, pockets of poor air quality, poor quality soils, mineral exploitation and pests and diseases.
See the Biodiversity quality assessment report for further information:
Strategies used to develop current strategy:
The science behind the final decisions:
Impact of doing nothing
The impact of not doing anything to look after nature can and will be seen in things such as higher deaths and illness from heat exposure and the consequences of flooding, poor air quality, reductions in the supply of quality food, inadequate access to nature and the outdoors, and poorer quality places to live and work.
Benefits of restoring nature
Restoring nature benefits everyone — from cleaner air and water to sustainable farms and healthier communities and thriving local wildlife. By protecting and connecting our landscapes, we’re helping to secure a sustainable future for people and nature.
If we can recover habitats, we can tackle these problems, and help future generations to have work, food, health and happiness.
Action to recover nature results in healthier and thriving ecosystems. An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life.
The benefits include:
- cleaner water for drinking and bathing
- cleaner air for us to breathe
- healthier soils for growing food and other products such as timber, biofuels and other products we need everyday
- conservation of minerals and geodiversity for future generations to utilise and learn from
- a variety of biodiversity that also helps us pollinate our food, manage pests and disease as well as providing the health and well-being benefits of interacting with nature and the world around us.
It will also strengthen local ambitions on climate change and flood risk management. This will be by guiding nature-based approaches to carbon removal and storage and flood prevention.
Local planning initiatives
It will help guide local planning policy initiatives, including Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) by informing the delivery of biodiversity offsetting. It will also help the area to attract future funding for environmental improvement and growth.