It has been a bleak countdown to the international climate conference, COP27, which starts in Egypt on Sunday. In the 12 months since COP26, the global and national mood has flipped from cautious optimism to fear and division. In the UK alone, we’ve seen the following since COP26:

• Temperatures over 40˚C recorded for the first time ever. Habitats became hostile places for wildlife, animals suffered heat stress and retreated wherever they could to shaded, wooded or damp areas. Swifts fell out of the sky, trees shed leaves, bumblebees were grounded. See contrasting images below of Kirkby Moor, scene of the hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK at 40.3˚.
• Dangerous fires on heath, grassland and farmland – equal to 30,000 football pitches have been burnt so far this year. Some of our most precious habitats such as heathlands were destroyed; wildlife was unable to escape includingsilver studded blue butterflies, adders and the young of ground-nesting birds such as nightjar.
• Drought across much of the UK, with the driest July on record in south-east England. Rivers ran dry leaving dead fish and amphibians, and grey herons, otters, water voles and kingfishers struggling to find food. Ponds and lakes dried-up and plants died – the subsequent lack of nectar affected insects. Staff at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust were able to walk across a lake bed at Potteric Carr nature reserve

Dried up scrape © Jim Horsfall 

We cannot address climate change without restoring nature. Natural habitats have a critical role to play in storing carbon and helping us adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change. To have a global voice, the UK must ensure it is taking the right action at home – especially as we are one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

Kathryn Brown, director of climate change and evidence for The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“It’s vital that the Prime Minister shows climate leadership by championing nature’s recovery at COP27. The climate and nature crises are two sides of the same coin – we must restore nature because natural habitats have a critical role to play in storing carbon and helping us adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change. At the same time, climate change is one of the biggest threats to nature at a time when it is already in freefall globally; the latest assessment reveals we have lost 70% of our biodiversity since 1970.

“The UK must do more than simply turn up to COP27. We need assurances that the Government will rapidly increase efforts to protect at least 30% of land and sea by 2030 and strengthen environmental protections at home. Government’s failure to publish nature recovery targets this week – breaking the Environment Act – does little to reassure us they are acting to address the magnitude of the challenge we face.

“How can we expect other countries to prioritise nature in tackling climate change if we aren’t doing the same ourselves?”

See The Wildlife Trusts’ COP27 briefing. It addresses:

• Time is running out to avoid catastrophic warming above 1.5C – we are still on track for at least 2.5°C of warming by the end of this century, which would result in catastrophic impacts for people and wildlife, with a much greater chance of ecosystem collapse.
• If the UK wants to be a world leader on climate and nature, it must ensure it is taking the same urgent action at home. Progress must be made by all governments in the UK on commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 and the UK must strengthen, not weaken, its environmental protections. Earlier this week the Government broke the law by failing to set Environment Act targets – it is not on course to halt the decline of nature let alone restore it.
• Protecting nature and prioritising resilience is becoming even more critical in the wake of global extreme weather events in 2022. Investment in nature must be central to decisions on finance at COP27, with wealthy nations ensuring global majority countries can invest in nature to mitigate and adapt to climate impacts.