{"id":691312,"date":"2026-07-14T15:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691312\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T15:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:03:17","slug":"church-of-england-votes-against-plan-to-rewild-30-of-its-land-by-2030-anglicanism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691312\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of England votes against plan to rewild 30% of its land by 2030 | Anglicanism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Church of England<\/a> has voted against plans to restore 30% of its land for nature, with campaigners criticising its failure to show moral leadership.<\/p>\n

The C of E owns about 42,500 hectares (105,000 acres) of land, making it one of England\u2019s biggest<\/a> landowners. Currently just 3.5% of its land is used for nature restoration.<\/p>\n

The Rev Canon Val Plumb, an area dean in Oxford, introduced a private motion to the General Synod calling for it to rewild 30% of its land by 2030.<\/p>\n

The UK, along with more than 100 other countries, has made an international commitment<\/a> to restore 30% of its land for nature by 2030, a target which is considered the minimum needed to halt and reverse the global decline in nature.<\/p>\n

Plumb\u2019s motion was blocked on Tuesday, with the church\u2019s national assembly instead passing a separate amendment that does not include any measurable rewilding targets.<\/p>\n

This amendment, which was put forward by the Right Rev Graham Usher, the lead bishop for the environment, lists six steps that will be taken as an alternative to committing to the \u201c30by30\u201d target. This includes \u201cwhere appropriate, continue to support nature restoration projects\u201d and \u201cengage and collaborate with tenants about sustainable farming\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the run-up to the vote, William Nye, the secretary general of the archbishops\u2019 council, said Plumb\u2019s motion was inconsistent with the church\u2019s legal obligations and responsibility to ensure \u201clong-term capital growth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Claire Rogers, a campaigner at Wild Card, a citizens\u2019 movement campaigning for the UK\u2019s biggest landowners to rewild their land, said the church had missed an opportunity to show moral leadership by failing to support the 30by30 motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when wildlife is collapsing in our countryside, we need much greater action than has been committed to today. Over 190 countries, including our own, committed to 30by30 for a reason \u2013 they can\u2019t all be wrong,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Other large landowners have set measurable targets to protect nature. For example, the crown estate has committed to manage 36% of its land for nature by 2030.<\/p>\n

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On Monday the government published its strategy to reach its own 30by30 target. The plan was condemned as \u201cpathetic\u201d and \u201ccompletely insufficient\u201d<\/a> in the face of the spiralling environmental crisis. Currently just 7% of land in England meets the 30by30 criteria.<\/p>\n

The Church commissioners said they welcomed the amended motion that was passed and were \u201cpleased that Synod has embraced a collaborative approach that balances further support for nature with our legal and fiduciary obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause around 90% of our farmland portfolio is productive or highly productive agricultural land, our focus lies on integrating nature recovery into working landscapes, supporting food production, and fostering the resilience of rural UK businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Church of England has voted against plans to restore 30% of its land for nature, with campaigners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-691312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}