Over the past two weeks we've been focussed on convincing Eric Pickles of the importance of England’s special sites for wildlife, and marching in our tens of thousands to show those leaders attending today’s UN Climate Summit that we want to see action on climate change, for people, wildlife, and a cleaner, greener future.
(We have until the end of Thursday to ask Eric Pickles to step in to uphold the laws protecting England’s best sites for wildlife from development, so do email him today if you’ve not yet done so!)
Over the same period Jean-Claude Juncker, the new President of the European Commission, has also announced his new line-up of European Commissioners. Against such a positive backdrop as the hundreds of thousands of people globally who marched for a greener future, it’s disappointing and frustrating that there is no senior Commissioner with responsibility for sustainability (and within it climate and the environment) and that the mandate of these Commissioners is a clear, and almost exclusive, focus on growth, which comes so often at the expense of the environment. Our Conservation Director, Martin Harper, has laid out what it looks like and the implications for nature across the EU in his blog.
But there is a silver lining. Before these Commissioners are confirmed, Members of European Parliament have the chance to challenge and question their mandates. Our MEPs need to ask the right questions of those with responsibility for environmental issues to get commitments that environmental protection will not be sidelined or watered down in pursuit of ‘growth at any cost’. Our chief executive, Mike Clarke has sent his own letter to UK MEPs, expressing our concerns about the future of the environment under President Juncker’s new structure, and what ought to be changed.
If you’re concerned too, you can write to your MEP and encourage them, or their environment representatives, to ask challenging questions of the new Commissioners in next week’s hearings.
Find out more about what we’ve said and what you can do on our Saving Special Places blog.