Robert J. Smith, Samantha J. Cartwright, Andrew C. Fairbairn, Deborah C. Lewis, Gwili E.M. Gibbon, Claire L. Stewart, Rachel E. Sykes, Prue Addison

Conservation area networks in most countries are fragmented and inadequate. To tackle this in England, government policies are encouraging stakeholders to create local-level Nature Recovery Networks. Here we describe work led by a wildlife organisation that used the systematic conservation planning approach to identify a Nature Recovery Network for three English counties and select focal areas within it where they will focus their work. The network was based on identifying core zones to maintain current biodiversity and recovery zones for habitat restoration, meeting area-based targets for 50 priority habitat, landscape, landcover and ecosystem service types. It included the existing designated sites for conservation, which cover 6.05% of the study site, and identified an additional 11.6% of land as core zones and 18% as recovery zones, reflecting the organisation’s broad objective of conserving and connecting 30% of England by 2030. We found that systematic conservation planning worked well in this context, identifying a connected, adequate, representative and efficient network and producing transparent and repeatable results. The analysis also highlighted the pressing need for government agencies to provide national-level guidance and datasets for setting targets and including species data in spatial planning, creating a national framework to inform local action.