Inclusive Environmental Stewardship: Adaptation, Recovery and Access

The Government has prioritised resilience to climate change and environmental renewal through the Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) Strategy Roadmap, DEFRA’s Environmental Improvement Plan (2023), biodiversity net gain and the 30x30 target. These frameworks focus on protecting property, infrastructure, heritage and ecosystems. Evidence suggests less emphasis has been placed on accessibility and inclusion.

Disabled people, older adults and residents of deprived areas face systemic barriers to engaging with natural and coastal environments. Without explicit measures to address this, adaptation and recovery programmes risk entrenching inequalities and narrowing the wider public benefits of investment.

An inquiry could consider:

How far national and local adaptation and recovery strategies integrate accessibility and equality duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Whether stewardship programmes, including the FCERM Roadmap, can embed inclusive design.
How funding streams might link to measurable health, wellbeing and social outcomes.
Case studies where ecological protection has been combined with inclusive community access.
Options for closer alignment across DEFRA, DHSC and DLUHC to ensure ecological renewal also delivers social justice.