As 2025 draws to a close, this is a good time to reflect on some of the things National Landscapes, and the Association, have been working on. 

December 2025 means that there are now only four years until the start of 2030. So, as a country, we have four years to try and meet our international commitment to manage 30% of our land and sea by 2030 (30by30). National Landscapes, along with National Parks, have an important role to play as the backbone of 30by30. But this will require commitment and resource. 

A piece of work we did estimated the resources required for 45% of protected landscape area to meet the 30by30 criteria in England - £15bn over 5 years for the protected landscapes. A rough estimate for England might be £40bn, or £8bn a year. The agri-environment budget of £2.4bn a year and other current sources of funding would go a long way to meeting towards that if spent carefully. 

The 10 targets of the Protected Landscapes Targets and Outcomes Framework (PLTOF) will help protected landscapes work towards 30by30, although PLTOF is not as ambitious and has a longer time frame. Individual National Landscapes were asked to provide habitat creation (by 2042), peat restoration and tree planting (both by 2050) targets and the numbers were finalised in June. Collectively, we now have targets of 135,000ha (habitat), 54,000ha (peat) and 48,000ha (trees). This is ambitious and, importantly, targets are for the protected landscape area and all who work there. However, to have any chance of meeting them, we need to both retain the recently strengthened duty for relevant authorities to ‘further the purposes of’ National Landscapes and find sufficient resources. 

Nature recovery requires time and so is a long-term commitment. We need a vision for people to embrace and work towards. We have started the process of creating such a vision for National Landscapes in 2050 and nature forms a big part of that. More specifically, the Global Biodiversity Framework goal of ‘living in harmony with nature’. What does that look like? How will we know when we get there? And how will we get there? We are not sure yet but a pathway towards that vision must involve both 30by30 and the PLTOF targets as steps on the way. Something to work on in 2026.