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Letter to PM says young people will have even less nature without urgent action now

Young people hand in 60,000-strong petition to Downing St today calling for more ambitious nature targets.

This afternoon, a group of The Wildlife Trusts’ youth ambassadors handed in a 60,000-strong petition, and over 10,000 personal views shared by the public, all calling for more ambitious Government targets to halt and reverse nature’s decline.

The Government will soon set legally binding targets for nature’s recovery. This is urgently needed because the UK is one of the most wildlife-depleted countries in the world and habitat loss and degradation continue to blight people’s lives and affect nature’s ability to store carbon.

 The long-term target currently being proposed for nature’s recovery aims to have just 10% more nature in 2042 than 2030 levels – by which time the state of our natural world is expected to have declined even further. The Wildlife Trusts have written a letter to the Prime Minister expressing serious concern and calling instead for a 20% increase on 2022 levels.

Wild LIVE: Environment Act - is the UK Government delivering on its promises? (https://youtu.be/TLOogm9FdR8)

The Wildlife Trusts made it easy for people to respond to the recent public consultation on the Environment Act targets because people found it hard to navigate. Over 60,000 people backed The Wildlife Trusts' view that the target is far too low.

Young people will suffer most from the consequences of continued nature declines in their lives. The youth ambassadors handing in the petition today include author, activist and The Wildlife Trusts’ ambassador, Mya-Rose Craig, and nine other youth ambassadors from different parts of the UK.

Lily Leatherland, 16, youth ambassador for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, says:
“I am beyond excited and grateful to represent the many people who have given their comments. I pray that those at Downing Street will hear our opinions, demands and concerns and take them seriously - as we owe it to Nature.”

Matt Newbould, 19, youth ambassador for Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, says:
“I come from a small town called Southam, one of many which has been first-hand witness to the decline of wildlife caused by environmental destruction. That's why I'm taking part in this campaign, to help bring forward the voices of those witnessing the impacts of the climate and nature crisis to those in power to help them understand that they are not acting fast enough.”

Mia Coss, 20, youth ambassador for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, says:
“I'm so proud to represent everyone who has taken the time to give their opinion on the Environment Act targets laid out by the government. With biodiversity and ecological stability massively under threat in this country, it's so important that we have ambitious laws. Hopefully, in presenting the government with comments from thousands of people across the UK, we can highlight the need to act now to improve environmental protections.”

Danya Brown, 15, youth ambassador for the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, says:

“The youth ambassadors are formally handing over a letter to the Prime Minister about the lack of clarity of the Environment Act, along with thousands of comments from supporters and enabling them to share their views. We, as young people, will hopefully send a key message that parliament’s decisions will affect our generation and that we should have a pivotal role in helping our future.”

Editors notes

The box that The Wildlife Trusts’ youth ambassadors are handing in to 10 Downing Street contains:

  • The Wildlife Trusts’ letter to the Prime Minister (please see further below) about the Environment Act targets including the numbers of people who backed our campaign and left comments
  • A sample of the +10,000 comments in response to key consultation questions
  • See dropbox for map showing that the geographical spread of signers
  • A copy of the The Wildlife Trusts’ response to the consultation (You can read this here.)

Read The Wildlife Trusts’ briefing on the Nature Recovery Green Paper and Environment Act target consultations here.

 See ‘New UK Government targets could mean less wildlife for future generations’press release (May 2022) here. 

 One of the comments from a member of the public who signed The Wildlife Trusts’ petition:

“I'm only 19 years old and already immersed in the crises affecting the natural world. I want to grow up on a planet that is flourishing, not have to struggle constantly because those in power can't make good on their promises. I'm currently studying wildlife & conservation management and learning how important our connection with nature is and how many opportunities there are for us to create a mutually beneficial relationship with it. The first step comes by putting pressure on those who make false promises because they know the fallout won't really affect them.”

 The Wildlife Trusts’ letter to the Prime Minister reads as follows: 

 The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP

10 Downing Street

London

SW1A 2AA

29th June 2022

Dear Prime Minister,

Re: Environment Act targets consultation

I write on behalf of young Ambassadors from The Wildlife Trusts movement who have travelled to London from across England today to deliver the message that the UK Government should raise its ambition to restore nature.

Three years ago, the UK became the world’s first major economy to establish a national net-zero target in law, setting a global benchmark for serious climate ambition. We now have the chance to be the first country to do the same for our natural heritage and set a target to guarantee its recovery in law.

The Wildlife Trusts were delighted when you cemented your work of spearheading the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature by setting a target to halt the decline in the abundance of species by 2030. This should be the first step on the way to meeting the Government’s promise of passing on the environment in better state to the next generation.

But it cannot be enough to simply ‘halt decline’ – after we have lost so much, we need to start putting nature into recovery. 

The proposed ambition of the Environment Act’s long-term species target aims to increase species abundance by 10% by 2042 compared to 2030 levels, once nature has declined even further. An increase of 10% from that low bar will almost certainly mean that wildlife populations are lower in twenty years’ time than they are today.

The wildlife we have in the UK is incredible, with species found nowhere else on Earth. But as you have acknowledged, wildlife levels have been declining for decades and are now in crisis. We believe we can do so much better than aiming for a landscape that has fewer of these iconic wildlife species in 20 years' time than we currently enjoy.

Instead of a target to increase species abundance by 10% on 2030 levels, a target to increase abundance by 20% compared to current levels will guarantee in law the promise of passing on nature in a better state to the next generation. 

Over 50,000 people have supported The Wildlife Trusts’ view that the level of ambition proposed is not adequate. They all support our call for the current level of ambition to be significantly raised.

As you rightly identified at your COP26 opening remarks last year, “the people who will judge us are the children not yet born". Raising the bar of ambition for this target will reach beyond the term of a single Parliament to ensure that all future Governments take bolder steps to enhance and restore our natural heritage.

I look forward to receiving acknowledgement of today’s hand-in and will be pleased to meet to discuss this with yourself and Ministers, alongside our young Ambassadors, at your convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Craig Bennett

Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts

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