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<p>The sand dune habitats of the Sefton Coast benefit from a range of legal protections
- as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC),
Ramsar site and National Nature Reserves (NNRs).</p><p> </p><p>Natural England (NE)
works proactively with landowners, land managers, developers, and the public to ensure
these important habitats are protected. The Sefton Coast Partnership has a key role
in bringing stakeholders together to ensure dune habitats are conserved. The Sefton
Coast was a location in the Dynamic Dunescapes project which actively restored dune
habitats by removing scrub, helping dune re-mobilisation, and utilising livestock
grazing to manage vegetation.</p><p> </p><p>In England, we have set four legally binding
targets for biodiversity, to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; to reverse
species decline by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore
or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, which will include
psammoseres. These targets, alongside other targets on water and air quality for example,
will drive action to create and restore habitats, reduce pressures on nature, and
recover species.</p><p> </p><p>A recently published paper, <a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublications.naturalengland.org.uk%2Fpublication%2F6427187599900672&data=05%7C02%7Cpqteam%40defra.gov.uk%7C93d4237744de4cf470b908dc741c70a8%7C770a245002274c6290c74e38537f1102%7C0%7C0%7C638512912700403721%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=G4mmXZX5UW0cJttpvHWSLF8%2BExRIlZoou%2BiQ5wYtKY4%3D&reserved=0"
target="_blank">Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions</a>,
developed jointly by Defra and Natural England, provides detail for those involved
in on-the-ground activities to restore or create wildlife-rich habitats. It includes
the list of wildlife-rich habitats, of which several are coastal, for example, littoral
sand and muddy sand, coastal vegetated shingle and coastal sand dunes.</p><p> </p><p>Natural
flood management is a key part of our solution to tackling flood and coastal erosion
risks. We will double the number of government funded projects which include nature-based
solutions to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk. Actions such as dune restoration
not only help to reduce flood risk, but also provide other environmental benefits
to wider areas. In February we awarded £25 million of funding to 40 schemes around
England for improving flood resilience through a new natural flood management programme.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe)
initiative is working to restore our estuarine and coastal habitats, including saltmarsh,
to benefit people and nature. The initiative involves Defra arms-length bodies, and
a partnership network of environmental non-governmental organisations. It has a mission
to restore 15% of the current extent of our key estuarine and coastal habitats (such
as saltmarsh, seagrass, native oyster reefs) by 2043.</p><p> </p><p>Natural England
is also undertaking climate change risk and vulnerability assessments across the SSSI
network and developing site adaptive plans to identify climate vulnerable habitats,
including sand dunes, and guide management to improve their resilience.</p><p> </p>
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