Cuts will be made to welfare and international aid, while Civil Service departments will have to reduce their running costs by 15 per cent by the end of the decade.
Defra is an unprotected department and typically one of the first to suffer during periods of pressure on the public finances.
Hundreds of jobs are already being slashed at agencies including Natural England, the Forestry Commission, and the groups responsible for managing national parks.
England’s National Parks, which receive the majority of their funding from Defra, say they are facing an “unprecedented” level of uncertainty as ministers are yet to confirm how they will be funded beyond next month.
Some, such as the Peak District and Lake District, have already announced job losses, while some visitor centres are to be closed.
He suggested one option may have to be charging people to enter, or having a model “whereby you have to pay a hiking licence, like you have to do in some countries every time you want to go for a walk”.
Axeing hundreds of nature jobs
The i Paper revealed last week that at least 200 posts are to be cut at Natural England, which is responsible for looking after protected areas, scrutinising planning applications and supporting farmers.
Donaldson, who works with farmers to help them access environmental schemes, expressed frustration over the high turnaround of Natural England staff.
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Around 300 job losses are also expected at the Forestry Commission, which manages England’s woodlands.
Jason Reeves, head of policy at the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, said job cuts at Natural England and other environmental bodies were a “false economy” and would put the UK’s climate and nature targets at risk.
At the Chancellor’s first Budget last autumn she sparked fury among farmers by making surprise changes to inheritance tax rules that removed the exemption for farms worth more than £1m.
It is currently unclear what will happen with the SFI budget from next year onwards, but many in the farming and nature sectors fear the scheme could see its funding reduced.
More homes exposed to flooding
A huge chunk of Defra’s budget is spent on building and maintaining flood defences.
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This is despite the Environment Agency (EA) already struggling to meet its targets around maintaining flood defences. On Sunday, The i Paper revealed that more than 3,000 of England’s most important flood defences are currently in disrepair.
But given Reeves’s comments during the Spring Statement, an increase to the flood budget appears unlikely.
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