Stewarding the natural environment

We have a responsibility to take a leading role in stewarding the UK’s natural environment and biodiversity. 

Nature is critical for our very existence, quality of life and livelihoods. It also has the power to mitigate the effects of climate change. 

Humankind is pushing nature to breaking point with changes in land use, the growing demand for resources, and economic activity that takes more from nature than it gives back. 

As custodians of diverse urban, rural and marine holdings on land and at sea, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland we must play our part in halting the decline of nature and stewarding the land and sea for future generations.  

We have a unique opportunity to contribute to nature recovery at a significant scale.  

To do this, we are focusing on fostering partnerships, investing in research and innovation, and using data and evidence to make informed decisions. 

Our ambition for nature recovery 

We have launched our Nature Recovery Ambition that will shape our approach across our business to ensure we are always striving to accelerate nature recovery at scale. 

It sets out The Crown Estate’s vision, approach, commitments and goals; to restore and protect nature across land and sea; to maximise outcomes for nature, climate and people.  

We have proposed three goals around increasing biodiversity, addressing the water quality and enabling people to reconnect with nature. While we have made progress in these areas, we recognise that we have a long way to go. Core to the development of our ambition is engagement and collaboration with organisations. 

Download and read our ambition here

Below, read more about our nature recovery activities across the seascape, landscape and urbanscape.

Sustainable development of the seabed

Our ownership of the seabed and much of the coast around England, Wales and Northern Ireland gives us an enormous opportunity to deliver for nature, and we are taking a systems-led approach to managing this unique space for generations to come.

As demands on our marine space continue to grow, providing for healthy, diverse and well-functioning ecosystems is essential. We’re working with key partners in government, environmental NGOs and the private sector, to understand and plan for a range of future scenarios to help the UK meet the challenges of net zero and nature recovery.

Our Whole of Seabed Programme brings together the best available evidence across all marine and coastal activities, enabling us to identify prime areas of opportunity to deliver for biodiversity and ecosystem resilience.

Data is vital and we are helping to fill gaps in understanding of the marine environment. We've committed £50 million to our Offshore Wind Evidence and Change programme (OWEC), bringing together a variety of organisations with diverse skills and interests to deliver the sustainable development of the seabed in the UK. This includes supporting projects that fill critical evidence gaps around seabird interactions with offshore windfarms, restoring kelp forests, , the co-existence of marine life and offshore wind cabling, and how strategic compensation measures could support seabird colonies, habitat restoration and creation. Read more about OWEC here.

We’re also working with partners, and investing in research, to better understand the benefits and potential barriers to scale seaweed farming in the UK, how to restore vital native oysters and seagrass in our seas, and how designing for habitats and species can enable recovery, for example through eco-moorings for boats which can reduce pressure from anchoring on marine life.

Restoring the UK’s ecosystems will take extensive investment which is unlikely to be filled by public sector funding alone which is why we are exploring the potential that high-integrity private finance could offer to bridge the funding gap for nature recovery. Read more here .

The Windsor Estate

We continue to learn on our journey towards being a leader in environmental and ecological best practice on the Windsor Estate.

The Estate and Great Park spans over 16,000 acres and is home to a rich variety of plant and animal life, including one of the largest collections of ancient and veteran oak trees in Northern Europe and a diverse ecosystem of fungi, which includes 43 rare species confined almost entirely to the Estate. Around 80% of the land is subject to environmental designation and we spend significant amounts of time maintaining these Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Our goal is not just to protect, but to enhance our unique ecological habitats, delivering nature recovery. This includes delivering the estate’s most ambitious landscape replanting and restoration programme in three centuries. Begun in 2021/22 and provisionally planned as a ten-year project, it involves restoring areas of farmland and parkland with new trees, avenues, hedges and green lanes. We’ve also created new habitats including new heathlands to enhance wildflower diversity, wetlands and dead wood habitats to support wildlife and ecosystems and restored a traditional orchard to provide a home for wildlife.

Each year we welcome many public visitors to the estate and hope that through education and access to nature we are helping to support wellbeing and inspiring the wider population to care for the natural environment.

Rural nature and biodiversity

Spanning c.185,000 acres, our rural land plays a pivotal role in food production, nature recovery and livelihoods. We plan to dedicate 15% of our rural landholding to nature recovery – in addition to our existing priority habitats, which cover about a fifth of our rural land area.

Through partnering with our farmers to plant woodlands, hedges and hedgerow trees, and taking marginal land out of production around rural estates, we are enhancing habitats and providing additional benefits for water management and climate resilience, while reducing the carbon footprint of our business.

We created The Crown Estate Environment Fund, with an initial sum of £5 million – now increased to £10million - to support farmers for ‘no regrets’ nature recovery work such as planting new hedgerows and woodlands, and creating ponds.

In the two years since the programme launched, they have planted around 200km of new hedgerows and c. 400 acres of woodland, double our original target.

Environmental Farm Business Tenancy agreements

To assess the nature recovery potential of our farms in detail, in the past year we have employed local ecologists to work with our farmers to prepare bespoke environmental plans for each estate.

These will form a key part of our new Environmental Farm Business Tenancy agreements, through which our farmers will seek to enhance habitat creation and nature recovery alongside food production. We are grateful for the support of the Tenant Farmers Association and our farmers in developing this new approach.

Urban nature and biodiversity

Urban biodiversity provides vital connectivity for wildlife ecosystems, and is key to climate resilience, providing benefits such as cooling and flood management. Connecting people with nature is also valuable for their wellbeing and quality of life, as well as helping to build public support for nature across the country.

From roof gardens to wetlands, our aim is to restore and connect habitats. In the heart of London, in partnership with Wild West End and together with other property owners, we've brought over 4,000 square metres of green space to life, providing sanctuaries for birds, bats, and bees, improving air quality and sustaining healthy urban ecosystems.

We’re working with Westminster City Council to promote green spaces and habitats in London - from street planting to green roofs – including planning a permanent green link between Regent’s Park and St James’s Park in our ‘park-to-park project’. We’ve also commissioned our first ‘vertical meadow’ for a construction hoarding in St James’s, to bridge biodiversity during refurbishment works.

Regionally, we are making significant land available for habitat connectivity and public green spaces in mixed-use regeneration developments, including country parks and nature reserves. Our partnership with The Wildlife Trusts has allowed us to bring nature into our regional retail destinations, including bee friendly borders at Crowngate Shopping Centre in Worcester, a tranquil garden for honey bees on the rooftop of Princesshay Shopping Centre in Exeter, and introducing beavers to the Rushden Lakes retail and leisure park.