SoNaRR 2025: Land and sea use change

Land use change refers to a change in the use or management of land by humans. In Wales this can include management practices which cause changes in land use and land cover. Examples include intensification of agriculture, converting land from semi-natural grassland to enclosed farmland; or building of human settlements converting land from one ecosystem to urban ecosystem; or afforestation converting land to forestry use and woodland ecosystem land cover.

Sea use change refers to a change in the use or management of the sea by humans. In Wales this can include building infrastructure in the marine environment which can lead to loss or degradation of habitat; construction of coastal defences which could lead to coastal squeeze; and unmanaged recreational activities which can cause disturbance and physical impacts.

Key messages

• Land is a finite and valuable asset that underpins the delivery of ecosystem goods and services essential for well-being. There are increasing demands on the limited supply of land to provide multiple services, including food, timber, renewable energy, housing, carbon storage, climate change mitigation, habitat restoration, and resilience to extreme weather.
• Wales has a rich and diverse marine ecosystem which can provide many important services for people and the economy, including food, energy, blue carbon, and recreation. If appropriately managed, this could generate revenue to invest in local ecosystem resilience, markets, and communities.
• There is a risk of unsustainable land use and management changes (increased intensity or reduced management intensity) without appropriate policies and alignment of economic drivers. Farmers and land managers are vulnerable to global economic shocks, pandemics, and extreme weather events.
• Land, sea and terrestrial ecosystems play a crucial role in climate mitigation and supporting nature, especially in the uplands and around the coast.
• Expansion of offshore renewable energy to meet net zero targets needs careful management to meet the requirements of both the climate and nature emergencies.
• Future land use and management decisions should consider land use suitability and capability, alongside resource stocks and services to deliver for climate, nature, and people.
• Alignment between various types of interventions can address some of the challenges of the climate and nature emergencies, decarbonization targets, and well-being benefits.
• Priorities for interventions include, protecting special places for nature, implementing peatland restoration programmes, increasing tree and woodland cover, tackling multiple sources of pollution, integrating sustainable management systems and practices, and influencing behaviour change through engaging people with the land and sea.
  
  

Summary

Land is a finite and valuable asset, it underpins the delivery of ecosystem goods and services on which the built and natural environment depends for well-being. The most changes seen within Wales occurred within urban land use, followed by woodland, and improved productive land. There are growing demands on the limited supply of land to provide a greater range of multiple services. There is a risk that land has already been overpromised.

Demand for food and fibre sits alongside increasing policy ambitions for more renewable energy for the decarbonisation agenda, more organic materials for recovery to land, to supply housing for a growing population, to store and sequester carbon, to mitigate and adapt to climate change, maintain and restore habitats for biodiversity and improve resilience to extreme weather. These are all likely to influence future land use and management change in Wales. There is a risk of unsustainable land use and management changes (increased intensity or reduced management intensity) without appropriate policies and alignment of economic drivers. Farmers and land managers have been vulnerable to global economic shocks caused by pandemics, war, and extreme weather events.

The sea plays a vital role in supporting biodiversity, regulating climate, and sustaining human activities such as fisheries, recreation, and transport. However, it faces growing pressures from built development and human use. Infrastructure placed in the sea can directly remove or degrade habitats and alter physical processes like currents and sediment movement, with impacts often extending beyond the immediate site.

Coastal development, including defences and transport infrastructure, contributes to coastal squeeze, preventing habitats from migrating inland in response to sea-level rise. According to the NRW Evidence Report ‘Understanding the likely scale of deterioration of Marine Protected Area (MPA) features due to coastal squeeze’ 29% of the Welsh coast (719km) has some form of linear or shore-parallel structure (this could include a coastal defence, railway infrastructure, or port infrastructure) which could prevent habitats from migrating landwards in response to sea-level rise, and therefore cause coastal squeeze. Marine species are affected through collisions, disturbance, and loss of critical habitats. Activities such as aggregate extraction and dredging disrupt sediment budgets, can physically damage sensitive habitats, and disturb wildlife. These pressures also contribute to pollution and the spread of invasive species, threatening protected sites and valuable ‘blue carbon’ habitats like saltmarsh and seagrass. Effective management and mitigation are essential to safeguard the health and resilience of the marine environment. Many pressures on the marine environment relate to unmanaged access and recreation. Recreational sea angling, recreational boating, bait digging and collection of living resources and foot access are potentially having the most impact on sites and should be tackled. Several other recreational activities and unmanaged access can also cause disturbance of birds and marine mammals, the severity of their effects will be dependent on the location at which they take place.

Land, sea and marine and terrestrial ecosystems have an important role in climate mitigation and supporting nature but over the long term the net sink of emission has been declining. Decisions on future land and sea use and management change must give greater consideration to land and sea use suitability and capability alongside a land and sea use change decision making frameworks.

Key changes since SoNaRR2020

Since SoNaRR2020, land use and management in Wales has undergone notable policy developments influenced by a combination of drivers and pressures. For example, the Agriculture (Wales) Act 2023 introduced Sustainable Land Management as an overarching framework. Demand for food and fibre sits alongside increasing policy ambitions for more renewable energy, more organic materials for recovery to land, more housing for a growing population and more habitat creation and restoration for nature recovery and climate resilience. Nutrient neutrality in SAC river catchments for phosphorus discharges are now key planning and permitting considerations. These changes reflect growing global and national ambitions for climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity recovery, and sustainable food production, underscoring the need for integrated land use and management decision-making.

Since SoNaRR 2020, new evidence has provided a better understanding of the key pressures in the marine environment which can be used to support the development of more targeted actions to enhance the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems. The effects of climate change are becoming more evident and increasing, with new evidence which predicts significant effects due to coastal squeeze. The planned expansion of offshore renewable energy has accelerated since the introduction of net zero targets, and this presents both opportunities and challenges in responding to the climate and nature emergencies. The publication of an Ocean Literacy Strategy for Wales in 2025 represents an opportunity to increase capacity and engagement, promote behaviour for sustainable use of marine resources and increase access to well-being benefits.

Read the full land use and sea change assessment in our State of Natural Resources Report 2025.

Key evidence sources

Explore some of the evidence we have used to inform our assessment:

• SoNaRR 2020 Land use and soil cross-cutting theme
• SoNaRR2020: Enclosed farmland
• An assessment of the current landbank in Wales
• ERAMMP Report-105: Wales National Trends and Glastir Evaluation
• Forestry Statistics
• National Peatland Action Programme
• UK Natural Capital Accounts
• Survey of agriculture and horticulture
• Marine Energy Wales: State of the Sector 2023
  
  

Case studies

The National Peatland Action Programme

The National Peatland Action Programme is a 5-year plan of peatland restoration in Wales, 2020 – 2025. Restoration action on over 1650 hectares in the first two years means the programme surpassed its initial restoration targets of 600-800 hectares of public and private land every year.

Natural Resources Wales / The National Peatland Action Programme

Mapping environmental considerations for marine planning

NRW have developed maps showing environmental considerations for strategic marine planning. The maps, now available on data map Wales, bring together currently available data for birds, marine mammals, seabed habitats and fish to support WG and others to explore potential future opportunities for sustainable use and management of the Welsh marine area.

Natural Resources Wales / Mapping environmental considerations for marine planning

Sands of LIFE and Dynamic Dunescapes projects

The Sands of LIFE and Dynamic Dunescapes projects continued until 2024. These projects continue to provide benefit to the coastal margin ecosystems (sand dunes particularly). Habitat has been restored by creating dynamic conditions via mechanical means, removing scrub, tackling INNS, installing or enhancing grazing infrastructure, felling conifers and creating early successional habitat.

Natural Resources Wales / Sands of LIFE

Dynamic Dunescapes