The Landscape Institute welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation on the Draft Nature Recovery Strategy for Northern Ireland to 2032.

The Institute supports the overall direction of the draft strategy and the intention to provide a strategic framework for halting and reversing biodiversity loss. The proposed objectives cover the
right broad areas and provide a useful basis for more coordinated action across policy and delivery.

What matters most, however, is whether the strategy can translate that ambition into practical and sustained change on the ground. In the Landscape Institute’s view, this will require a stronger
emphasis on landscape-led delivery1, with nature recovery more clearly linked to land management, spatial planning, water, climate resilience and the long-term condition of the wider landscape.

This response places particular emphasis on the need to support action beyond designated sites, strengthen the practical framework for delivery, and recognise the contribution that well-managed landscapes can make to biodiversity recovery, environmental resilience and wider public benefit.

The Nature Recovery Strategy is a central to achieving a multi-functional outcome from the management of land and natural resources benefiting all local communities in Northern Ireland.
Supporting the delivery of food security, sustainably produced, the restoration of nature and building resilience to the future extremes of climate change. The Landscape Profession is equipped to help deliver the Strategy.

The comments below respond to the consultation questions in turn and reflect the views of Landscape Institute members working in Northern Ireland.