Environmental Stewardship Scheme
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Environmental Stewardship agreements at protecting wildlife habitats and increasing biodiversity.
Answered by Dame Angela Eagle
Environmental Stewardship (ES) is a legacy scheme which operated in England under the framework of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. It was introduced in 2005 and closed to new applications in 2014. The scheme has been subject to ongoing monitoring and evaluation and over 100 reports are available on GOV.UK here (https://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/ProjectDetails?ProjectId=19360 ) by using keyword search “Environmental Stewardship”.
The largest evaluation undertaken of the Higher-Level Stewardship component of ES, covering 173 agreements over seven years, found that habitat and plant communities remained largely stable, with some improvements in lowland areas that were managed under restoration and creation options. Gains in biodiversity, such as species richness, were generally small. These outcomes were strongly influenced by initial habitat condition and management choices.
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