Conservative Environment Network
Category: Environment & Climate Change
Year Awarded: 2023
Amount: £180,000
Conservative Environment Network
In September 2025, CEN published ‘Paradise Regained’ a narrative document that makes the case for restoring English nature by drawing on conservative philosophy and ideas.
Underpinning this narrative are five tenets of a distinctly conservative approach to restoring English nature: placing national pride at the heart of natural environment policy; empowering the stewards of our land to restore nature; putting outcomes ahead of outputs in our regulatory environment; ending our reliance on public money to solve all of our environmental problems by embracing the role of the market in financing nature recovery; and leveraging our newfound environmental sovereignty to tailor nature policies to English species and habitats.
A central theme throughout this publication is the role that farmers should and can play in nature restoration. The chapter dedicated to farming specifically highlights how nature has depleted over decades on account of farmers responding to economic incentives set via policy, rather than the blame being laid at the hands of farmers themselves.
The publication has been welcomed by Conservative MPs, including the Shadow Environment Secretary, Victoria Atkins MP, former Environment Secretaries, including Lord Gove, Baroness Coffey, and George Eustice, as well as other notable conservative thought leaders. Through the promotion of this publication, CEN has attracted interest from 10 conservative farmers wanting to get more involved with its mission.
Our Paradise Regained paper has proved to be an effective strategy thus far at raising awareness of, and engagement with, the natural environment and sustainable farming as a serious policy topic within the conservative movement. With the funding from the Samworth Foundation, we have and will continue to leverage this and accompany it with tangible policy recommendations.