Extent and condition of protected areas
Updated 10 December 2024
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-biodiversity-indicators/1-extent-and-condition-of-protected-areas--2
Last updated: 2024
Latest data available: 2024
Introduction
The first part of this indicator (Part A) shows the extent of protected areas in England. Designation and management of these areas is a key mechanism for conserving wildlife and geological features on land and at sea. Protected areas cover the most valuable of sites for biodiversity and geodiversity in England and provide a legal mechanism for ensuring their protection.
The second part of this indicator (Part B) shows the proportion of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), by area, meeting set condition criteria. Features are the species or habitats for which the sites have been designated.
Natural England have developed a new approach to monitoring SSSIs whereby previously the approach was to subdivide SSSIs into units and make assessments of condition at the unit scale; from 2023 they are now assessed for condition of special features across the whole of a SSSI (Part C). This new approach, known as Whole Feature Assessment (WFA), helps to better understand what is affecting features and how SSSIs function as part of their wider landscape. The WFA data are presented alongside the previous method of Area Assessment (AA).
The final part of the indicator (Part D) shows the area of land that is being managed under an agri-environment schemes (Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive) within Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). This is new analysis and therefore the statistic is currently being developed and is an Official Statistic in Development. We welcome feedback from users on the methods used in the development of this indicator. For example, feedback on whether this new indicator measures something users feel should be measured, and how well it does so. To provide feedback, email the production team at enviro.statistics@defra.gov.uk.
The data for this indicator can be downloaded from here: England Biodiversity Indicators. We also have an indicator similar to the first part of this indicator at a UK level, however there are differences in how the extent data for England are calculated, so they are not directly comparable.
Type of indicator
Part A: Extent of protected areas - State indicator
Part B: Condition of protected areas (by area) - State indicator
Part C: Condition of protected areas (by feature) - State indicator
Part D: Area of land managed under agri-environment schemes (AES) within SSSIs – State indicator
Type of official statistics
Official statistic - parts A,B, and C
Official statistic in development - part D - indicator under development: The UK biodiversity indicators project team would welcome feedback on the novel methods used in the development of this indicator. For example, does this new indicator measure something readers feel should be measured, and how well does it measure plant abundance? For more information, please visit the UK Statistics Authority’s website on Types of official statistics – UK Statistics Authority. To provide feedback, email the production team at enviro.statistics@defra.gov.uk.
Assessment of change
Assessment of change in extent and condition of protected areas:
| Measure | Assessment | Time period | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part A - Extent on land | Long term | 2005 to 2024 | Improving |
| Part A - Extent on land | Short term | 2019 to 2024 | Little or no overall change |
| Part A - Extent at sea | Long term | 2005 to 2024 | Improving |
| Part A - Extent at sea | Short term | 2019 to 2024 | Improving |
| Part B - SSSIs in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition (by area) | Long term | 2016 to 2024 | Not assessed |
| Part B - SSSIs in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition (by area) | Short term | 2019 to 2024 | Deteriorating |
Notes on the indicator assessment
Long-term and short-term assessment of the individual measures are based on a 3% rule of thumb. The base year for these assessments uses a 3-year average. See Assessing Indicators.
Part B) does not have enough consecutive years of data to enable a long term assessment of change. Parts C) and D) do not have enough consecutive years of data to enable long or short term assessment of change.
Key results
A) Extent of protected areas
The total extent of land and sea protected in England through national and international protected areas increased from 1.3 million to 3.5 million hectares between 2005 and 2024; an increase of 170% (Figure 1).
This total consists of 1 million hectares of terrestrial and freshwater areas, representing about 8% of the land area of England. Also contained in the total is 2.4 million hectares of marine sites (out to the 12 nautical mile limit), representing 49% of inshore waters around England.
The area of terrestrial and freshwater sites has remained relatively stable since 2005, whereas the area of marine sites has increased substantially, over the most recent five years to 2024 it has increased by 45%. Further detail on this increase can be found in the background section.
Figure 1: Extent of protected areas in England on land and at sea, 2005 to 2024
Source: Natural England
Notes about Figure 1
- The extent of protected sites is the cumulative area assessed by 31 March of each year shown.
- Extent is based on the following designations: Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Areas (SPA), Ramsar sites, Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ) and National Nature Reserves (NNR). Any one protected area can have more than one designation, but each site contributes only once to the indicator total.
- For sites that span English borders, only the area within England is included.
- The area of sites in the ‘on land’ measure (terrestrial, freshwater and coastal) includes all sites within the specified designations to mean low water (MLW).
- The area of sites in the ‘at sea’ measure includes all sites within the specified designation between MLW and the 12 nautical mile limit; sites beyond 12 nautical miles, in UK waters, are excluded. These are covered by the UK Biodiversity Indicators indicator.
B) Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), by area
There has been little change in the area of SSSIs in favourable condition since 2016, in 2024, 35% of SSSI area was in favourable condition.
The area in unfavourable recovering condition has decreased from 57% in 2016, to 49% in 2024.
Figure 2: Cumulative proportion of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition in England, 2016 to 2024
Source: Natural England
Notes about Figure 2
- Site condition is the cumulative area assessed by 31 March of each year shown. As new assessments are completed they replace the previous ones, so the graph is a snapshot of the condition of the site network at a given point in time.
- Only ‘Favourable condition’ and ‘Unfavourable recovering’ categories are shown. Values for other categories can be found in the data tables.
C) Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), by feature
The new approach to monitoring SSSIs by feature has one data point for 2024. The percentage of SSSI features in favourable condition is 40% (Table 1). Under the unit area based approach (part B), the percentage of SSSIs in favourable condition was 35%.
This new approach will allow NE to record variation in a feature’s condition across SSSIs, and better inform management through unit-specific comments to aid with conservation. As of 31 March 2024, 25% of all SSSI features were up-to-date with a condition assessment. Feature condition data is cumulative and not every feature is assessed every year.
Table 1: Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) by feature in England, March 2024
| Condition | Count | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Favourable | 5418 | 40 |
| Unfavourable recovering | 2932 | 22 |
| Unfavourable no change | 985 | 7 |
| Unfavourable declining | 1298 | 10 |
| Partially destroyed | 61 | 0 |
| Not recorded | 2842 | 21 |
Source: Natural England
D) Area of land managed under agri-environment schemes within SSSIs
These statistics describe the area of land that is being managed under agri-environment schemes (Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive) within Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). To produce this indicator, we have calculated the area of each land parcel that is covered by agri-environment scheme options/actions in SSSIs (Table 2).
A land parcel is an area of land that is surrounded by a permanent boundary and has an area of 0.01 hectares or more. Agri-environment scheme options are activities that a farmer or land manager carries out on an area of land in return for payment, as part of an agri-environment scheme agreement (see Technical Annex).
Table 2: Area of land managed under agri-environment schemes within SSSIs, 2023
| Scheme | Option area in SSSI | Parcel area in SSSI |
|---|---|---|
| Countryside Stewardship | 169,800 | 189,300 |
| Environmental Stewardship | 279,800 | 288,300 |
| Sustainable Farming Incentive | 51,600 | 52,700 |
| Total | 461,100 | 489,100 |
Source: Rural Payments Agency, Defra
Notes about Table 2
- Data relate to agri-environment scheme agreements as of December 2023.
- The agri-environment scheme data excludes Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, test and trials and other schemes. The Environmental Stewardship data does not include any rotational options (see background to land area under agri-environment schemes within SSSIs for more information).
- Options/actions that are not measured in hectares are excluded.
- Capital options and capital-only agreements are excluded since the indicator aims to include land that is being managed.
To participate in agri-environment schemes, farmers select from a series of options for environmentally friendly land management practices. Many of these options involve management practices which do not apply to the whole of any given parcel of land, for instance, planting bird friendly seed mixes along field margins. Defra group does not collect geospatial data at the option level. We have developed a methodology to calculate the overall area being managed, trying to remove duplication where multiple options are being completed on the same part of a parcel. To account for this a minimum and maximum area per parcel is first calculated and the number reported in Table 2 is halfway between these two measurements. We also present the total parcel area containing any land-based option. This is the upper limit of land that is managed in agri-environment schemes. See the background to area of land under agri-environment schemes within SSSIs for more detail on the method.
Further detail
A) Extent of protected areas
The SSSI designation underpins almost all of the international sites to the Mean Low Water (MLW) mark, but the European sites go beyond this with the inclusion of marine areas. Figure 1 shows the cumulative effect of adding European sites to the protected areas network over time, as they were submitted in a number of tranches to the European Commission over several years. In the last few years, the majority of terrestrial sites required to be designated under the Birds and Habitats Directives have now been submitted to the European Commission, however marine sites are still being designated. There are currently 260 SACs covering over 2 million hectares and 88 SPAs covering just under 1.9 million hectares. Figure 3 shows the change in the extent of different designation types on land (above the MLW mark) and Figure 4 shows the equivalent changes at sea (below the MLW mark to 12 nautical miles) since 2005.
Figure 3: Extent of protected sites on land (terrestrial and freshwater) in England, by designation, 2005 to 2024
Source: Natural England
Notes about Figure 3
- The extent of protected sites is the cumulative area assessed by 31 March of each year shown.
- Terrestrial sites include land (terrestrial, freshwater and coastal areas) to mean low water.
- Extent is based on the following site designations: Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Areas (SPA), Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Ramsar Sites, National Nature Reserves (NNR) and Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ).
The area of terrestrial and freshwater sites has remained relatively stable since 2005, whereas the area of marine sites has increased substantially, over the most recent five years it has increased by 45% to 2024. A large contributor to this has been the designation of inshore marine sites under the European Birds and Habitats Directives. The first jump was an increase of almost 800,000 hectares in marine SACs and SPAs designated from 2011 to 2012. This was followed by an additional 140,000 hectares of marine SACs and SPAs in 2014. More recently, over 600,000 hectares of marine SPAs were designated from 2017 to 2018 and almost 800,000 hectares of marine SACs were designated in the year to 31 March 2020.
Marine Conservation Zones have also contributed substantially to the increase in area of inshore marine sites around England. These zones are designated by government under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to conserve the diversity of nationally rare, threatened and representative habitats and species. There were 92 MCZs (inshore and offshore) in waters around England at 31 March 2024; the first 27 zones were designated in November 2013 resulting in the increase of 109,000 hectares visible in the 2014 data. The second phase designated a further 23 sites in January 2016, resulting in the increase of 240,000 hectares seen in the 2016 data. The third and largest phase so far designated a further 41 sites in May 2019, resulting in the increase of over 726,000 hectares seen in the 2020 data. The third phase essentially completed the UK Blue Belt and the UK’s contribution to the ecologically coherent network in the North-East Atlantic in terms of the representation of species and habitats.
Figure 4: Extent of protected sites at sea in England, by designation, 2005 to 2024
Source: Natural England
Notes about Figure 4
- The extent of protected sites is the cumulative area assessed by 31 March of each year shown.
- Marine sites between mean low water and the 12 nautical mile limit are included; sites beyond 12 nautical miles, in UK waters, are excluded. These are covered by the UK Biodiversity Indicators C1 indicator.
- Extent is based on the following site designations: Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Protection Areas (SPA), Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Ramsar Sites, National Nature Reserves (NNR) and Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ).
B) Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), by area
Figure 5 shows the detailed condition of SSSIs at the 31 March 2024. In total, 84.3% of sites were in favourable or unfavourable recovering condition, 6.7% were ‘unfavourable no change’ and 8.8% were in an unfavourable declining condition.
Figure 5: Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in England, March 2024
Source: Natural England
For further details about the extent and condition of protected areas, see the Technical Annex below.
C) Condition of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), by feature
In 2023, Natural England (NE) changed the way that it monitors and reports the condition of site of special scientific interest (SSSIs). Prior to 2023, condition assessments were undertaken at the scale of SSSI units, where units are a subdivision of SSSIs usually based on land ownership. Since 2023, condition assessments are now undertaken at the whole scale of the notified feature, where a notified feature can be present on a SSSI across one or more SSSI units. This means that Natural England assess the condition of each feature at the scale of the feature within a SSSI and assign a condition category to the whole feature. This current condition monitoring approach is known as Whole Feature Assessment (WFA). More detail can be found in the Technical Annex.
D) Area of land managed under agri-environment schemes (AES) within SSSIs
The agri-environment scheme data excludes Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, test and trials and other schemes. The Environmental Stewardship dataset does not include any rotational options since the information around which parcel the rotational options are being completed on are not available in a digital format. This is in line with previously published estimates, but does represent a significant source of uncertainty.
The amount of land in SSSIs was calculated by multiplying the amount of area in options or the parcel area, by the proportion of parcel in the SSSI. For example, all of the option area contributes where the parcel is fully in the SSSI. If a parcel is 70% in a SSSI, 70% of the option area will be included. Overlaps between SSSIs are removed.
More detail can be found in the Technical Annex.
Relevance
Designation and management of protected areas are key mechanisms for taking action to reverse the loss of biodiversity. These protected areas cover many of the most valuable sites for biodiversity in England with associated legal mechanisms for safeguarding habitats and species. Wider landscape designations have a number of purposes, including conservation and public enjoyment.
In a densely populated country like England, where the landscape and habitats have been modified by centuries of use, protected areas often need to be actively managed to ensure the species and habitats they contain persist into the future. The condition indicator is a measure of the outcomes of management action and conservation policy on protected areas.
International/domestic reporting
This indicator feeds into the Outcome Indicator Framework, a set of indicators describing environmental change related to the ten goals within the 25 year Environment Plan. As part of the Outcome Indicator Framework, this data contributes towards the evidence base used to prepare the annual progress report for the Environmental Improvement Plan. This indicator contributes to OIF indicator D2: Extent and condition of protected sites.
Web links for further information
- Marine conservation zone designations in England
- Common Standards Monitoring Programme
- Common Standards Monitoring guidance
- Marine Protected Areas
- SSSI condition statistics
- Sites of special scientific interest
- Convention on Biological Diversity see the Global Framework 2030 Targets
- Environmental Improvement Plan 2023
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the many people who have contributed by providing data and to the many colleagues who have helped produce this indicator.
Technical Annex
Background to extent of protected areas
The total extent of protected areas in Figure 1 is the combined area of:
- Nationally designated sites (Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), National Nature Reserves (NNR) and Marine Conservation Zones (MCZ)).
- Internationally designated Special Protection Areas (SPA) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC, including candidate Special Areas of Conservation and Sites of Community Importance), and sites designated under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar).
There is considerable geographic overlap in these designations, with many sites being designated as two or more of SSSI, NNR, MCZ, SAC, SPA and Ramsar, although such sites contribute only once to the calculated areas presented here. The indicator is based on a spatial analysis of protected area polygons which removes overlaps between designation types. Coastal sites are split at mean low water and contribute to both the terrestrial and marine lines in Figure 1.
SSSIs can be designated to protect biological (species and/or habitats) and/or geological (landforms and/or geology) features. Sites may be designated as just biological, just geological, or as mixed biological/geological sites.
Background to condition of protected areas
This indicator focuses on the condition of SSSIs.
Nationally important SSSIs are designated with the aim of conserving specific biological or geological features. The condition of these features is assessed on a rolling programme against agreed standards. ‘Favourable’ condition status indicates that the SSSI meets the agreed standards for the features of interest. ‘Unfavourable recovering’ condition status indicates that the SSSI fails to meet the standards but has appropriate management in place that will achieve those standards (sites with inappropriate or no suitable management are ‘unfavourable’). More information about these definitions can be found on Natural England’s Designated Sites View Website
The UK-wide Common Standards Monitoring programme is undertaken by the statutory conservation agencies to assess the effectiveness of management of the features for which protected areas have been designated. Favourable Condition Target(s) have been set for each site. The monitoring tests whether these targets have been met.
Change to monitoring SSSIs by feature
In 2023, Natural England (NE) changed the way that it monitors and reports the condition of site of special scientific interest (SSSIs). Prior to 2023, condition assessments were undertaken at the scale of SSSI units (mentioned above), where units are a subdivision of SSSIs usually based on land ownership. Since 2023, condition assessments are now undertaken at the whole scale of the notified feature, where a notified feature can be present on a SSSI across one or more SSSI units. This means that Natural England assess the condition of each feature at the scale of the feature within a SSSI and assign a condition category to the whole feature. This current condition monitoring approach is known as Whole Feature Assessment (WFA).
The change in approach necessitated the creation of a condition status baseline for every feature. The mechanism for this was consulted on in 2021 through Citizen Space. This baseline was formed from information held at the unit scale within the NE reporting system, CMSi (Conservation Management System international). Much of this data, however, was old and incomplete.
The data supplied for the condition of these monitored SSSI feature represents either the baseline created from historic unit data (represented by the confidence categories from no confidence to high confidence) or the outcome of a more recent assessment undertaken post-2020 across the full extent of a whole feature and given a complete confidence category.
These data are subject to regular review to make sure that they represent the best available data at that point in time.
Addressing the evidence gap of an increase in “Not Recorded” condition between the area based and the new feature based approach is one of the priorities for the SSSI monitoring programme. The number of “Not Recorded” condition categories will continue to decrease as Natural England undertake new whole feature condition assessments each year.
Background to area of land under agri-environment schemes within SSSIs
The agri-environment scheme data excludes Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot, test and trials and other schemes. The Environmental Stewardship dataset does not include any rotational options since the information around which parcel the rotational options are being completed on are not available in a digital format. This is in line with previously published estimates, but does represent a significant source of uncertainty.
Agri-environment scheme options that are measured in metres, units or tonnes are excluded, likely to lead to slight undercounting. Additional options are removed from the analysis since they either relate to planning or an additional payment where the land is already included in options. They are: SP10 and PA3 in Countryside Stewardship and management payment, SAM1, MOR1, NUM1 and IPM1 in the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023 offer.
The information about the exact location of the option is not collected on the application form – applicants only need to supply information about the size of the option area and the parcel they will locate it on. As it is not known whether options on a parcel overlap, a minimum and maximum area per parcel has been calculated:
- To calculate the minimum area, the area of the largest option on a parcel is used. For this method, it is assumed that all options occur in the same area of the parcel – they are stacked on top of each other.
- To calculate the maximum area, all the option areas on a parcel are summed. If this area is larger than the parcel area, the total parcel area is used – it is assumed that the options cover the whole parcel. If the total parcel area is missing, the area of the largest option is used as the area. The total parcel area is missing for a small percentage of parcels in the dataset.
The parcel areas are then summed to give the maximum and minimum total areas. The number reported is halfway between these two measurements.
There were a very small number of parcels where the parcel identifier in an agreement does not have a match in the reference parcels data (0.4% of parcels in schemes). This is likely to be due to changes to parcels made through the RLE1 process where the parcel identifier has changed. In these cases, the minimum area approach is used to provide a conservative estimate.
The amount of land in SSSIs was calculated by multiplying the amount of area in options or the parcel area, by the proportion of parcel in the SSSI. For example, all of the option area contributes where the parcel is fully in the SSSI. If a parcel is 70% in a SSSI, 70% of the option area will be included. Overlaps between SSSIs are removed.
Development plan
Since our previous publication we have adapted the language and visualisations used in this indicator. We are keen to hear from our users about these changes, as well as our published development plan, please email us.
For Part D, area of land under agri-environment schemes within SSSIs, we would like to hear from users about these statistics, for example, feedback on whether this new indicator measures something users feel should be measured, and how well it does so. To provide feedback, email the production team at enviro.statistics@defra.gov.uk. These statistics will be developed and improved ahead of our next update to the Biodiversity Indicators.