This group focuses on land use, and how to address the biodiversity crisis in Shropshire.

To date, the group has delivered several key projects including:

• The Shropshire Love Nature festival, with over 40 public events
• The establishment of a Good Food Partnership for Shropshire
• An assessment of the carbon sequestration potential of different land management options
• An assessment of new tree and woodland establishment, and the associated sequestration of carbon

Moving forwards, the group has identified six top issues to address:

• Explore how Shropshire’s natural environment has the potential to be a significant carbon sink
• Develop the potential for tress and hedgerows to tackle the climate emergency
• Support the transition away from a high carbon society through innovative solutions in agriculture
• Present the opportunities and challenges for land management in a publicly accessible manner, identifying “what good looks like”
• Promote the Nature Recovery Network

All this work is guided by two key principles:

• Base all our work on firm evidence and strive to be an honest broker of the facts
• Have a clear communications strategy that targets key audiences on the key priorities

Our agricultural policies have supported rising food production but brought other problems – like greenhouse gas emissions, loss of soil fertility and loss of biodiversity. This is not sustainable.

Over half our wildlife species are showing change and decline, and natural habitats have become too fragmented to support wildlife effectively.

The Land & Biodiversity Group is focused on learning what we can from studies already done in order to make positive changes for the better in Shropshire.

Our first report, on Woodlands, can be accessed here.