The UK's largest environmental charities have slammed the government for not doing enough to encourage an uptake in nature-friendly farming methods to tackle climate change.
The Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust and the RSPB said the government's Brexit farming promises were "broken" following the release of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme roadmap.
Details of the eagerly awaited scheme were unveiled on Thursday (2 December), showing how farmers will be paid for managing land more sustainably.
But the announcement was called a "huge disappointment" by the nature charities, adding that the plan did not "bode well for nature, climate, or farming".
They warned that the UK's post-Brexit reform of agricultural subsidies risked "recreating the status quo by funding basic good practice".
Concerns have been raised that the government is failing to come up with an ambitious scheme to encourage more farmers to undertake nature-friendly practices.
Environmental and nature charities believe that the pledges made by the government in its 25-year environment plan are now in jeopardy.
Proponents of nature-friendly farming say that instead of causing pollution, greener practices could help clean up the countryside and reverse the UK’s label of being one of the world's most nature-depleted countries.
Farming accounts for more than 10% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, so "transformation is critical" to help tackle climate change, the three charities said.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said the roadmap showed a "shocking lack of ambition" which did "very little to address the climate and nature crises."
“After leaving the EU, we were promised that the billions of pounds of taxpayer’s money given to farmers would be used to improve our natural world," he said.
“There’s so much that farmers could be rewarded for doing, such as restoring peatlands and employing ambitious measures to prevent soil and pollutants from washing into rivers – to help wildlife and store carbon.
"It’s an absolute scandal that the government has failed to seize this unique and important opportunity to improve farming so it can help restore nature and address the climate crisis.”
Beccy Speight, chief executive of RSPB, said that leaving the EU was a 'perfect opportunity' to reform the way Britain produced and consumed food.
"However, this government is letting this opportunity slip through their fingers by not supporting nature friendly farming and not delivering on previous promises," she added.
"Not only does this go against public wishes but it also undermines the government’s ability to deliver their own environmental targets as a result.
"Farmers want to be doing more but they need incentives in place to help them.”
