Sussex Nature Recovery
A collective blueprint for targeted action
East Sussex, West Sussex and Brighton & Hove are home to wondrous and iconic wildlife including internationally rare habitats and species. But like the rest of the UK, nature in Sussex urgently needs our help.
Local Nature Recovery Strategies are a new approach to help us do that, and everyone in Sussex can take part.
Why are Local Nature Recovery Strategies needed?
Sussex boasts incredible and important biodiversity. Nature has shaped our iconic landscapes, it underpins our economy, supports our health and wellbeing and provides many other benefits from carbon storage to flood risk reduction.
But nature is in crisis. One in six UK species is at risk of extinction and the habitats they depend on have been lost, are in poor condition, or are too small and disconnected from each other, making them even more vulnerable to pressures such as pollution and climate change.
We urgently need to create more of the habitats that our wildlife depend on, and make these bigger, better and better connected to each other. Local Nature Recovery Strategies help us do that.
Views of South Downs around Midhurst, West Sussex © Sam Knight / Upsplash.com
A new tool to help restore nature
Developed with over 2000 residents, farmers, community groups and organisations, our Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs) set out how we can create, strengthen and reconnect habitats across West Sussex, East Sussex and Brighton & Hove. They are two of 48 strategies that cover the whole of England.
What they give us:
- The first comprehensive summary of our area’s important habitats and the pressures they face.
- 24 priorities – what we need to do.
- Over 200 practical and enabling actions to achieve this.
- A map showing where many of these actions will have the greatest impact.
Working collaboratively to implement them
East Sussex County Council and West Sussex County Council (our Sussex Nature Recovery team) are working closely with the Sussex Nature Partnership and with organisations, groups and individuals across our region to:
- Embed the LNRS into local decision making.
- Work out how we can best identify, support and champion nature recovery projects at all scales.
- Monitor and report on progress.
The LNRS is only statutory Sussex-wide blueprint for nature: a single set of priorities and actions for everyone to rally behind, seek funding for and work together to deliver.
Get to know your LNRS
- Read the eight principles that guide our approach to nature recovery
- Discover our important and rare local habitats like species-rich grassland, lowland heathland, ancient and gill woodland.
- Search over 200 practical and enabling actions with our tool
- Explore the Local Habitat Map.
Find resources
- Search our evolving hub of resources that help embed the LNRS in local decision making, help people use the LNRS and
- Guides for planners, community groups, gardeners, schools and businesses coming soon!
Latest News
Local Nature Recovery Strategies - Published!
A milestone reached!
A Blueprint for Seascape Recovery
The Blueprint can act as a voluntary marine extension to our LNRS
Looking ahead: the LNRS delivery phase
With publication of the LNRS imminent, we look ahead to implementation
