The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for leading the Government's approach to sustainable development, both across Government and specifically for the environment, the food industry and rural England. Most areas of Defra's work rely on science to underpin policy development, regulation and other activities. Defra's science builds on science, economics, policy evaluation and other types of evidence, to build a base for new and improved policies and evaluate progress against indicators of sustainable development.

Defra's Wildlife and Countryside Research Programme is designed to support three policy divisions:

• European Wildlife Division, whose main objective is to conserve and enhance the diversity and abundance of English wildlife in accordance with EU and international commitments.
• Global Wildlife Division, whose mission is to press for effective protection measures for wildlife internationally, and to support that objective with efficient licensing and enforcement systems domestically.
• Countryside (Recreation and Landscape) Division, whose main objective is to improve enjoyment of an attractive and well-managed countryside for all.

Biodiversity research and related
The budget of 6,000 000 € is based on an approximate calculation from the overall R&D expenditure across a wide variety of themes, some of which have biodiversity elements. Several programmes funded deal with biodiversity as The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, The Darwin Initiative, The Rural Economy and Land Use Programme, UK Climate Impacts Programme.