Environment Secretary George Eustice has today (Tuesday, December 21) confirmed the reappointment of Tony Juniper CBE as chair of Natural England for a second term.
Natural England is a non-departmental public body, set up under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006, and is the government’s statutory adviser for the natural environment in England.
Juniper’s second term will be for three years and will run form April 23, 2022 to April 22, 2025. He has been chair of Natural England since 2019.
Prior, he was director of advocacy and campaigns at WWF-UK and president of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts.
Eustice believes that Juniper is a strong leader.
“Tony has provided strong leadership to Natural England, bringing passion and a wealth of experience to the organisation, and I am pleased he will continue as Chair for a second term,” he said.
Natural England continues to play a key role in delivering the 25 Year Environment Plan, and I look forward to working closely together as we implement the Environment Act, build back greener from the pandemic and restore nature across the country.”
Juniper has also worked as an advisor to the Prince of Wales, as an ornithologist and has published many books.
Commenting on his reappointment, Juniper said:
“I am honoured to be reappointed as chair of Natural England. Our vital role in defending and enhancing our nation’s natural environment has never been more important.
“Since I came to lead Natural England in 2019 we have made significant progress in restoring energy and direction to the organisation, created a clearer strategic plan and mission and secured a major increase in resources to implement it.
“We have made strides toward realising England’s ambition to create a Nature Recovery Network, supported the landmark Environment Act, declared new National Nature Reserves, helped the public connect with nature, advised government on nature-based solutions to climate change and how best to join up new farming policy with nature recovery, among many other things.
Looking to the future and there is a lot to do, and in this second term my focus will be even more firmly on the delivery of the government’s ambitious goals for nature recovery, including implementing biodiversity net gain, delivering programmes for key habitats, such as peatlands, gearing up species recovery programmes, initiating more landscape-scale nature projects, supporting government to deliver nature-based solutions to combat climate change and implementing new land management schemes, and harnessing all of that to establish the Nature Recovery Network which is so vital for overall success.
“I want to thank all of our brilliant staff, partners and stakeholders for their support and dedication, and I look forward to continuing to work together to deliver the biggest possible positive impact for Nature that we can.”
