LR (Landscape Recovery) is a Defra-funded pilot project run under the banner of the Environmental Land Management scheme (ELMs).聽
According to Defra, it involves 鈥済roups of land managers and farmers, including tenants, working together to deliver a range of environmental benefits across farmed and rural landscapes.鈥�
LR aims to support long-term, large-scale land use change and produce environmental and climate鈥痮utcomes through actions such as habitat and ecosystem restoration.
It is funded from public and private sources, through bespoke, long-term agreements that can continue for more than 20 years. Using a mix of public and private funding to deliver landscape-scale projects is a new approach and the scheme will also test the best way to deliver and administer it.
LR is not restricted to farmers, all land managers and landowners are eligible to apply, and public bodies can apply where they are in a collaboration with private land managers.
Developing nationally
The first rounds were open to any individuals or groups who wanted to come together to deliver large (between 500 and 5,000ha) projects. Land in an existing scheme can be included, but Defra will not pay for the same activity twice.
After two rounds of applications, 56 LR projects are being developed nationally. A third round was expected to open for submissions by the end of 2024, but this has not happened so far.
Between them, the projects that have been announced cover more than 240,000 ha of land and have been awarded 拢37m in funding.聽
Defra said they will restore more than 35,000 hectares of peatland, sustainably manage more than 20,000 hectares of woodland and create over 7,000 hectares of woodland 鈥� including some temperate rainforest 鈥� and benefit more than 160 protected sites, including Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).