In one of the more close-fought and engaging elections for several years, it was somewhat a shame that nature was placed fairly low on the agendas for most parties. However, as naturalists and nature enthusiasts, this is something we have come to expect.
Looking on the bright side of this election, the RSPB’s ‘Vote for Bob’ campaign raised the support of over 1,000 parliamentary candidates. While we are still waiting for the figures on how many of these Bob supporters are now in Parliament, it is certainly destined to be a fair few out of this incredible tally of 1,000.
The whole concept of the vote for Bob campaign was to demonstrate to potential MPs that their voters care about nature and want to see them making positive commitments to nature, personally and via their parties.
What's next for Bob?
So, with the first phase of the Bob campaign out of the way, the most important bit is still to come. The RSPB hopes that these MPs will stay true to their word and place nature high on their agenda, as we all do. Equally, the MPs will also be looking for constant support from us, Bob supporters, to encourage them and try to push them through with their promises and commitments.
If the Bob campaign continues to be as huge a success as it has so far proven, I have no doubt in my mind that more and more parliamentary candidates will stand up and take action for nature if the MPs this term set the example of ‘there are lots of us doing this’. When we get to this stage, nature will highly increase in importance, benefitting all.
What should we expect from this Government?
From reading the conservative party manifesto, there are some positives for the environment, with £3 million being put towards the cleaning up of rivers and lakes, the protection of stonewalls and hedgerows and bee conservation. The “free, comprehensive maps of all open, green space” and a “higher fixed penalty for littering” shows they are taking an interest. We'll reserve judgment until we see what this government decide to do, laid out in the Queen's speech and the Budget.
Making up much of the opposition, Labour’s ambitions of a zero emissions world in the second half of the century, as well as the shorter term of a productive UNFCCC climate meeting in Paris show an impressive vision of high aspirations as well as short-term, practical thoughts.
Hopefully, these two parties, as well as the numerous others of course will put away their numerable differences and work together for betterment of our environment and our wildlife’s future.
What can we do now?
A really important action you can take right now, if you haven't already, is to defend our EU Nature Directives. These are the laws that protect some of our most vulnerable habitats and wildlife. You can go to the RSPB website to add your voice to almost 100,000 across Europe (signed up so far) to defend these vital laws from being weakened.
Jojo Jenner