Integrating social and policy dimensions into the design of multifunctional landscapes

Targets 2 and 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, to restore 30% of all degraded ecosystems and conserve 30% of land, water and seas by 2030 respectively, could galvanise the scale of action necessary to reverse biodiversity loss by increasing the area of land managed for nature recovery. These targets, and associated national strategies, highlight the need to think beyond conventional protected areas and adapt existing conservation toolkits so that they can respond to the realities of implementing conservation action in multifunctional landscapes. Systematic conservation planning (SCP) is widely used to guide the development of protected area networks. It is evidence-led and aims to secure positive biodiversity outcomes for conservation whilst minimising trade-offs with other sectors. While SCP can be beneficial when working within multifunctional landscapes, social and policy dimensions need to be better integrated within the approach to provide more relevant insights that align with broader policy, management and decision-making processes. This thesis explores how three emerging social and policy realities could be included within systematic conservation planning to guide nature recovery in England, a densely populated landscape with multiple competing demands on land. The research was carried out in collaboration with two conservation non-governmental organisations: Woodland Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust.

First, I use Q-methodology to identify shared sets of intrinsic, instrumental and relational values amongst private land-managers. I highlight how these values influence the potential for conservation action, how they vary between different cohorts of people, and how such information could inform engagement strategies with this important stakeholder group.

Second, I develop a novel methodology for incorporating rewilding into SCP. To do so, I mapped areas suitable for rewilding, set broad area-based targets for its inclusion as a feature, and used management zones to allow rewilding goals to be met alongside objectives for specific habitats and species. In doing so, I demonstrate that rewilding can be accounted for within SCP and, therefore, be strategically prioritised at a landscape-scale. Additionally, this shows how rewilding and ecological restoration can act as complementary, rather than conflicting, nature recovery strategies.

Third, I address the challenge of translating higher-level national conservation and restoration commitments into subnational objectives by testing three target setting approaches that apply different SCP principles. Specifically, I investigate whether subnational or subregional planning can closely approximate the efficiency of a higher-level national spatial prioritisation, emphasising the implications that different target allocation principles have on the equity and feasibility of spatial prioritisation outputs.

Finally, I consider the lack of guidance on how best to account for the social dimensions of conservation planning by reviewing the existing literature and identifying best practice for including insights and methods from the social sciences at each step of the SCP process. In the review, I identify future research directions in this field, particularly regarding how SCP can guide and inform the creation of networks that include other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs). Collectively, the findings of the thesis underline the importance of incorporating social dimensions in conservation planning and embedding this work within broader policy processes to guide decision-making around nature recovery in multifunctional landscapes.