More than 50 nature organisations, and well-known names including Steve Backshall, Chris Packham, and Stanley Johnson are supporting a new ‘State of Nature’ campaign launching today.[1] They are calling for the Prime Minister’s commitments to reverse nature’s decline by 2030 to be backed-up in law. This is vital to ensure promises to protect nature are actually delivered and that struggling species like hedgehogs, turtle doves, puffins, dolphins, bees, butterflies, newts, bats, rare orchids and cornflowers can thrive again.
In an open letter to the Prime Minister today the coalition has urged him to close the commitment gap between the UK’s action abroad and domestic action on nature’s decline. Despite the PM calling on world leaders, ahead of global climate and nature talks, to turn around wildlife’s decline by 2030, there is no commitment within the Government’s ‘landmark’ Environment Bill to do the same. In fact current targets in the Bill wouldn’t guarantee action for nature in England until almost 2038, nearly a decade later than the PM is asking others to commit to.[2] Experts are warning that the Environment Bill will fail to halt the decline of wildlife and the environment unless it includes a legally-binding nature recovery target.
Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts says: “In the last fifty years we’ve witnessed the gradual disappearance of wildlife in our country. Hedgehogs, cuckoos, red squirrels and turtle doves are now a rare sight – and birdsong is quieter every year. We know that around half of UK wildlife has decreased since 1970, with 1 in 7 species now at risk of extinction.
“Almost a decade ago the Government promised to reverse this decline and leave the environment in a better state, but action has been painfully slow. We need to see an ambitious target written into law – one that will provide the impetus for nature’s recovery by 2030. This is the only way of guaranteeing real action across Government to bring back abundance – humming, buzzing and singing – to the natural world.”