Nature | Conservative Environment Network

OUR NATURE PROGRAMME

ABOUT

The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. We believe that we have a responsibility to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity to ensure that future generations can enjoy rich and abundant nature, while building the homes and producing the food we need.

With 70% of England’s land devoted to agriculture, we believe that farmers should be given a fair return from the market for sustainable food production and should be rewarded with public and private funding for their role as custodians of our countryside and for protecting and restoring nature.

As well as nature-friendly farming, land use, and habitat restoration, our nature programme covers topics such as water quality and security, nature-based solutions to climate change, resource efficiency and security, sustainable fisheries management, and restoration of the marine environment.

CEN’s nature programme brings together conservatives from across the UK to champion conservative solutions that will restore our natural environment. Explore this page to find out more about the work of our nature programme.

CAMPAIGNS

We coordinate environmental action within the conservative movement and mobilise conservatives to achieve positive environmental policy change. We do this by developing and championing policy campaigns in Parliament and across the UK. Some of our recent nature campaigns can be found below.

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In May 2025, the UK won a court battle to ban sand eel fishing in the North Sea to protect British puffins. This victory is proof that Brexit can deliver for British wildlife. Join us to celebrate this victory!

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In 2024, we raised awareness of the importance of British peatlands and the role that the horticultural industry plays in their destruction.

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Nature-based solutions (NBS) to farmland flooding and drought can help to alleviate the risk posed to farmland.

CEN has been raising awareness of the vital role that NBS can play on our farmland and working with MPs to campaign for policy solutions that establish more of these nature-based solutions on the ground.

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In 2023, we successfully campaigned to increase full protections within the marine protected area around South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, a UK Overseas Territory, by an additional 166,000km².

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Our new model of ‘public money for public goods’ is a more efficient use of taxpayers’ money and will help farmers to tackle the biggest medium term threats to food security: biodiversity loss and climate change.

But this new system is only as strong as the budget underpinning it. With rumours of a budget cut circulating, CEN has been campaigning to keep the nature-friendly farming budget intact and to index it in line with inflation.

PUBLICATIONS

While we do not undertake policy research ourselves, we produce publications that promote environmental issues and solutions within the conservative tradition. Some of our recent nature publications are available to read below.

LATEST MEDIA AND OPINION

We raise awareness of environmental issues and their electoral importance among conservatives, as well as promoting conservative voices within the environmental policy debate. We do this by regularly producing blogs, as well as landing stories and opinion pieces in the media. Read our latest nature-related media hits below.

KING’S SPEECH WILL FAIL NATURE, ENERGY SECURITY, AND HOUSEHOLDS

Press Release

May 131 min read

In Pursuit of Harmony: How conservatives can restore nature and build the houses we need

Introduction The United Kingdom is one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth. Within our urban areas, iconic species such as hedgehogs , butterflies , water voles , house sparrows, and doves are rapidly decreasing in number. As we expand our built environment, undeveloped land is being built upon, reducing the available habitat for wildlife in these locations. Nature-unfriendly development is contributing to the decline in our natural environment seen across the c

Mar 2629 min read

OVERBEARING REGULATIONS ARE BLOCKING NATURE AND HOUSEBUILDING

Press release

Mar 255 min read

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EVENTS

We organise public and private events that enable conservatives to debate environmental issues in a trusted setting and find common ground. Photos and recordings from previous events delivered by our nature programme can be viewed below.