Vision, aims and targets
Given the continued pressures facing nature, we need to plan proactively to ensure that the city-region has resilient spaces for wildlife and people to thrive. This will help nature to bounce back and at the same time provide spaces that improve our health and wellbeing, reduce flood risk, improve water quality and better adapt the city-region to climate change.
The fragmented and isolated nature of our best remaining sites, coupled with them not being in as good a condition as they could be, means that they do not currently provide the foundation from which nature can recover. To allow nature to recover our remaining spaces for nature need to not only be bigger and better, but crucially more joined up, allowing wildlife to move between them.
To halt – and in time reverse – local biodiversity loss and to help nature recover, we need everyone to work together and play their part.
Our vision
Our collective vision for nature recovery in Greater Manchester is to work together to deliver a resilient network for nature across the city-region, connecting and enhancing wild spaces so that people and nature can thrive.
Our aims
Our vision can only be achieved by working together across the city-region, with communities, developers, local authorities, businesses, charities and institutions all playing a part.
To deliver on this vision we need Greater Manchester to be a place where we all:
- Enhance and protect: Safeguard, enhance and restore wildlife-rich spaces.
- Create and connect: Create more wildlife-rich resilient spaces, where they will expand and connect spaces for wildlife and people.
- Build resilience: Manage and reduce pressures on our environment and waterways and maximise nature’s role in adapting the city-region climate change.
To achieve these aims we need to:
- Act together: Work together to take action for nature and embed space for nature and people to thrive across all our communities.
- Accelerate action: Boost the pace and scale of action for nature in response to the biodiversity emergency.
- Improve access: Improve local access to nature and ensure there are more opportunities to enjoy nature responsibly, in those areas which need it the most.
- Engage and value: Better engagement with nature and recognition of its value in our lives and economy.
Our targets
Working with partners we have selected headline targets for our three key aims, to drive forward nature recovery over the next decade. These will be monitored and reported on annually. Action beyond these targets is crucial, but they will be used focus action and enable regular reporting on progress.
Our targets are to:
- Aim 1 Enhance and protect:
- Target 1: To increase the amount of land designated for nature by 5,000ha by 2035, growing this from 11% to 15% of the city-region.
- Target 2: To bring 50% of sites designated for nature into active management for nature conservation by 2035.
- Aim 2 Create and connect:
- Target 3: To restore or create 1,800ha of new wildlife-rich land by 2035, and target delivery within the Nature Network.
- Target 4: To provide at least 3ha of accessible green space per 1,000 residents by 2035.
- Aim 3 Build resilience:
- Target 5: To reduce spills from combined sewer overflows into our waterbodies by disconnecting 150ha of land from our drainage network by 2030.
- Target 6: To better adapt the city-region to the impacts of climate change by expanding tree canopy cover from 15% to 17% of the city-region by 2035.