Environmental Protections and Biodiversity Trends

Protections and targets for England

There are a number of pieces of legislation protecting habitats and species in England. These include the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which protects native plants and animal species, and provides for the designation and protection of sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 which protects habitats and species of European importance.

In addition, there are four statutory targets for England under the Environment Act 2021 for nature recovery and reversing biodiversity loss:

• restore or create in excess of 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitats outside protected sites by 2042
• halt the decline in species abundance by 2030
• increase species abundance so that by 2042 it is greater than in 2022 and at least 10% greater than in 2030
• improve the Red List Index for England for species extinction by 2042 compared to 2022 levels.

The government has set out how it intends to meet these targets in its updated Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) published in December 2025. Alongside this it published a number of delivery plans for Environment Act targets. There is also an Environmental Indicator Framework, reporting on progress against the plan, which was last updated in July 2024.

Under the Environment Act 2021 public authorities now have an added duty to enhance biodiversity, put plans in action to meet this duty and report on progress every five years. The first reports, covering up to 1 January 2026, are due to be published by the end of March 2026.

Biodiversity indicators

The government publishes annual biodiversity indicators for both the UK and for England. These look at both long term and short-term trends. Nature conservation is devolved but the government reports for the whole of the UK on meeting its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (GBD), including the Global Biodiversity Framework 2030 targets.

The UK indicators were last updated in December 2025. UK wide, some indicators have shown long term improvement, but most have deteriorated or stayed the same. None of the indicators which show long term deterioration have shown short term improvement, although some have stopped deteriorating. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology concluded this could be a hint that declines may be slowing but “none have shown actual improvement, suggesting that biodiversity loss has yet to be reversed”.

Indicators for England were updated in February 2026. These showed that in England more indicators are deteriorating or showing no change than improving, over both the long and short term. In all, 22 measures covering the extent or condition of biodiversity related natural assets, were assessed. This showed only five are improving in the long term (although three have shown no change in the short term) and 13 are deteriorating in the long term. Of these 13, three (relative abundance of all-species, relative abundance of priority species and relative abundance of all-species of butterfly) have stabilised in the short term. However, the 10 measures relating to bird species abundance, butterfly abundance and European species or habitats in “favourable or improving environmental condition” are all deteriorating in the short term.

Status of habitats and species

A report on the status of habitats and species of importance in England was published in January 2026 by the government. This is to meet a requirement to report every six years under Regulation 9A of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. The report evaluates the conservation status of 71 habitat types and 74 non-bird species, and separately 221 bird species (of which 117 are listed as of conservation concern or threatened with extinction).

The findings for habitats and non-bird species include:

• 3% habitats were in a favourable conservation status (thriving throughout their natural range and expected to continue to thrive), down from 8% in the 2018.
• 48% of habitats were in an unfavourable and deteriorating condition.

• For non-bird species, 30% were in favourable conservation status, down from 33% in 2018.

The findings for bird species include:

• 44% of populations are declining and 48% are stable or increasing over the long-term
• 30% of populations are declining and 51% are stable or increasing over the short-term

For the remainder of bird species trends are not known.

The government is working with a number of different stakeholders, including Local Environmental Record Centres and other non-profit organisations, to improve recording, access to and sharing of biodiversity data.

Further reading

• Commons Library briefing on woodland creation (February 2026)
• Commons Library briefing on protecting and restoring river habitats (January 2026)
• Lords Library briefing on the impact of government policies on biodiversity and the countryside (November 2025)
• Lords Library briefing on Biodiversity and conservation: International commitments and UK government policy (March 2025)
• Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) horizon scanning article on biodiversity loss and nature recovery setting out legally binding targets and the range of challenges for reversing biodiversity loss in England(October 2024)
• Library Insight on Biodiversity loss: the UK’s international obligations (July 2024)
• POST note on freshwater habitat restoration (January 2024)
• POST note on climate adaptation for nature summarising options to allow nature to adapt to a changing climate and ensure the long-term effectiveness of conservation strategies (October 2022)
• POST note on restoration of terrestrial habitats in the context of the habitat restoration target for England and briefing on the restoration and creation of semi-natural habitats (October 2022)