There are a million urgent environmental causes to fight. So when organisations come together on just one, you know it's crucial.
Alongside over 70 organisations, we are calling on the Prime Minister to amend the Environment Bill to include a legally binding State of Nature target for nature’s recovery in England by 2030. If you are one of the 145,000 people who have already signed the petition, thank you! If not, you can sign it here. Keep reading to find out more about the campaign.
What is the Environment Bill
The Environment Bill is the UK Government’s proposed new law which sets out how they plan to protect and improve our natural world, but it lacks the urgency and ambition we need. Originally announced by Theresa May in 2018 to plug the gaps in environmental law created by leaving the EU, the Bill is currently making it’s way through Parliament. Below is a diagram of the different stages a Bill must go through before it becomes law.
What do we want?
Nature’s decline is something we are all too familiar with, but this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to put wildlife on the path to recovery. By writing a State of Nature target to reverse the loss of nature in England by 2030 in the Environment Bill, the UK Government will be bound by law to achieve it. We need this target in law because we've had many ambitious statements from the UK Government and Prime Minister promising to restore nature before, but time and again these reassuring words have failed to deliver because they weren't backed up by law.
If the State of Nature amendment is included in the Bill, England will become the first country in the world to set a target to halt nature’s decline in a decade, sending a powerful message to other world leaders ahead of the UN nature and climate summits later this year.
While the State of Nature amendment would only apply to England it’s inclusion would, however, set a powerful precedent for other national governments. The Governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales must all set legally binding targets to halt and start to reverse nature’s decline by 2030.
Why we need nature’s recovery in law
We cannot beat climate change without nature.
Regular time in nature is great for our physical and mental health.
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth. For example:
What we are doing to strengthen the Bill
We launched the campaign on the 1st March 2021 with a joint letter to the Prime Minister which was signed by almost 100 environmental leaders (including Stanley Johnson, the Prime Minister’s dad). For April Fools Day we printed our own newspaper with the headlines from the future we believe are possible if nature’s recovery is written into law in the Environment Bill. We sent a copy to every MP in England.
On 11th May, during Mental Health Awareness Week, we will be running an online talk on the benefits of nature for mental health. You can register for the webinar here.
The UK Government has so far opposed adding a State of Nature target to the Environment Bill but there is still time to amend the Bill and support is growing - over 145,000 people have signed the petition, that's double the amount of species we have in the UK! Your voice can help to increase the pressure so they can't say no anymore. Please sign the petition and share it far and wide, together we can ensure nature's recovery this decade.
There are a million urgent environmental causes to fight. They are all essential. But this is one that – if we are successful – could help us to win them all, guaranteeing environmental action for a decade to come.