We need as many people as possible to look over the draft strategy, and the map we’ve created, and let us know what they think.
Oxfordshire’s natural landscape is vitally important, and we have an opportunity to create a shared ambition to secure its future.
Nature matters because the natural world is our life support system. Without a healthy, diverse natural environment, future generations won’t have access to clean water, clean air, food or a safe environment to live.
Oxfordshire is home to some diverse, natural spaces – from ancient woodlands and chalk grasslands to wetlands and rivers. Currently, these types of natural spaces make up 6.5% of the county. It was clear that local people and organisations want to both, improve and strengthen existing areas that are important for nature and to make space for nature everywhere to spread throughout our county in a connected network. All local people and organisations will have a role in improving and creating habitats across Oxfordshire’s villages, towns, cities, and countryside.
Our local nature recovery strategy allows Oxfordshire’s local people and organisations to develop a shared ambition to recover nature across Oxfordshire - a new countywide plan for nature that will identify where we could create, improve, or restore habitats (areas of nature). The strategy will become a shared long-term ambition that local people and organisations can use to contribute towards creating a bigger, better, and more joined up natural environment for Oxfordshire’s generations to come.
There are many people already creating space for nature in Oxfordshire so with the shared ambition of the LNRS combined with the right support for people to take action, and by working together, we can restore a resilient network of nature in Oxfordshire.
The Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) are a set of new national strategies designed to target priority actions that help nature in locations where they are most needed. Local Nature Recovery Strategies are expected to help join up national efforts to reverse the decline of biodiversity.
“Biodiversity” is a term that refers to the variety of all life, including plants, animals, fungi, and micro-organisms. A stable and healthy variety of species provides us with everything necessary for survival, from fresh water, clean air, and climate regulation to food and medicines and much more. These benefits do not typically come from individual species but from a rich variety of species working together in groups within a habitat.
Across England, 48 of these strategies are currently being created and one of those 48 areas is Oxfordshire. The main purpose of the strategies is to identify locations to create or improve habitats which are most likely to achieve the shared local priorities for nature and the wider environment. The strategies do not force the owners and managers of any land identified to make any changes. Instead, the government tell us that they will be encouraging action through, for example, opportunities for funding and investment.
This was our first information-gathering phase of workshops and a survey where we heard from over 1,000 people and organisations about ambitions and priorities for nature's recovery in Oxfordshire.
We held an online webinar to tell you what we heard during ‘Phase 1’ and we launched a mapping tool, so you could tell us about places where you were already willing to create or improve habitats for biodiversity including where you have already done some work. Your response was impressive and we heard of 172 individual locations covering over 5,000 hectares of Oxfordshire as well as emails of larger areas across the county where there is support and willingness to improve and create habitats.
We are now preparing for phase 3 (which will begin in October 2024), where a formal public consultation will be held online for you to see the draft version of the documents and draft map that make up the LNRS, including a written list of priorities created to achieve in the county.
During this phase, you can tell us what you think about the drafted documents and map before we finalise the strategy for 2025.
You will find the LNRS Consultation Survey (phase 3) on the OCC website, where you can tell us whether you think the written documents are about right, or whether you would recommend changes before we create the final version of this strategy in 2025. It is therefore important that you read the documents before you start the survey. earing your thoughts on these draft documents and the draft map will help us to create a final Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Oxfordshire in 2025.
We need as many people as possible to look over the draft strategy, and the map we’ve created. Let us know what they think – have we got the priorities right? Have we missed anything? Find out more here...
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