The 2022 Campaigning Year in Review
What a year it has been!
We’ve run 10 online campaigns tackling issues in all four countries of the UK, ranging from peat burning and horticultural peat usage through to elections, targets for nature’s recovery and calling out the UK Government’s attacks on nature.
As part of those campaigns over 118,000 individuals (that's you!) spoke up for nature.
We’ve had some wins and some set-backs, but the fight for nature, people and planet continues. The impact we have achieved is hugely down to YOU and the actions you have taken.
Take a spin around the UK with us and see what we’ve been up to this year, and how your actions are making a difference to the world around us. Or click a link below to jump to the section of your choice:UK HQ/ UK-wide update
England Update
Scotland Update
Wales Update
Northern Ireland Update
UK HQ Update – by Kim, Alex and Steven
You were the powerhouse behind our Attack on Nature campaign in September, which was launched in response to the UK Government’s proposals to tear up the laws that protect our best wildlife sites, weaken protections for nature in the planning system, and scrap vital plans that would support farmers to enhance nature. The new Government formed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak soon rolled back on most of those threats. We are keeping a close eye on things and will keep you updated with any further concerns and successes.
Over the last few months our team, with support from our colleagues in the four countries, has rolled out a pilot for an RSPB Community Campaigns Network.
Over summer we trained up a small group of passionate and enthusiastic campaigners to work on campaigns to save nature in their local area. They came from all over the UK, some with campaigning backgrounds and some totally new to campaigning. Their campaigns were varied in design and aims – from saving bees in Richmond to installing swift boxes in Belfast. Without exception they brought a creativity and drive to their campaigns that we were bowled away with.
Our campaigners concluded their campaigns with events during this year’s Great Big Green Week in October. Our Sheffield campaigner even managed to secure a visit to her campaign event from Oliver Coppard, the Mayor of South Yorkshire.
Now, the campaigns teams at UKHQ and across the four countries are working on making the Community Campaigns Network even bigger and better. If you want to take action for nature and learn about community campaigning alongside other passionate campaigners, then keep an eye out in our Campaigns Update to keep informed about recruitment for the network.
England Update – by Pooja
It has been an exciting, fun, and intense year of campaigning! As we approach the end of 2022, it’s time reflect on the highlights of our campaigning journey this year and take time to celebrate our wins – big and small.
Here’s a brief review of the actions you’ve taken with us to stand up for nature and wildlife:
In February, the Government opened a public consultation in response to the Glover Review which looked at the future of England’s protected landscapes - our National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Beauty (AONBs). Your response to the consultation underscored the urgent need for the Government to take bold action to restore wildlife in these landscapes and to ensure that the people who sit on the governing boards of England’s National Parks and AONBs have the necessary skills, experience, and commitment to bring nature back to these places.
In March, the Government published its long-term biodiversity targets under the Environment Act 2021. By submitting a response to the consultation, you highlighted that these legally binding targets are not enough to restore wild spaces and wildlife in England, and that a bolder, more ambitious vision is necessary to drive nature’s recovery.
In the lead up to the South Yorkshire Mayoral elections in May 2022, you wrote to the mayoral candidates urging them to address the climate and nature emergency and invest in a better future for local communities by increasing accessible nature-rich green spaces.
In August, Defra announced the ban of all sales of peat to amateur gardeners in England by 2024. This was a particularly significant moment as we have been campaigning for the legal ban of peat in England and Wales since 1990 – for over 30 years!
While more needs to be done to protect our precious peatlands and we will continue to campaign to keep peat in the ground, this significant win would not be possible with your consistent support over the years.
In October, Anglian Water proposed a new public water supply reservoir in the Fens to meet the urgent need for more drinking water in the region. Your response to Anglican Water’s public consultation demonstrated the importance of designing a reservoir that protects and enhances the Fens’ iconic species and wildlife habitats while also delivering benefits to local communities.
In October 2022, you took action to save Hintlesham Woods from a damaging energy infrastructure project which would cause loss of ancient woodland. Earlier this month, National Grid announced that the option for the route through the woods has been dropped and the cables will now go around the woods. Your voice made all the difference!
In November 2022, once again you stood up for nature by raising concerns about two additional energy development proposals along the Suffolk coast. You responded to National Grid’s consultations highlighting that the proposed cable routes passing through important wildlife sites at RSPB North Warren and Minsmere nature reserves are unacceptable and that these options should be removed from their proposals.
We are grateful for your time and energy- your outpouring of support and enthusiasm has been the driving force behind our campaigns this year. We cannot wait to renew our campaigning spirit and continue to advocate for nature with you in 2023.
Until then, we wish you a restful holiday, abundant in mince pies and birdsong! See you next year.
Scotland Update – by Jason
A major focus for us this year has been farming. Most of Scotland’s land is farmed, and we’ve seen big declines in farmland birds such as curlew and lapwing in recent decades, so how we manage our land could save these species. We have a huge opportunity in Scotland to move toward more nature and climate-friendly farming, with the Scottish Government bringing forward an Agriculture Bill next autumn which will set the future direction of how half a billion pounds of public money is used to support the sector. We’ve been feeding into the consultation on this via the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, run by Scottish Environment LINK, of which we are a member. Your support for the LINK campaign has prompted 2,600 signatures on a petition to Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon calling for farm funding reform. In the coming months we will outline how we think funding can deliver the best results for restoring nature and reducing climate emissions, while also supporting food production. And we have plans to meet the Cabinet Secretary soon and convey to her your messages on this topic.
We have also been focused on the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, the first draft of which was sadly lacking in detail and urgency. You shared our concerns and responded in droves, with over 650 people writing to biodiversity minister Lorna Slater, urging her to strengthen the strategy, which she has now done. It’s better but needs further improvement. It’s a vital document that will set the direction for nature’s recovery in Scotland, and your strong response shows that Scotland cares about saving our iconic species of wildlife. We have launched a follow-up campaign - #SaveScotSpecies – to keep this important issue on the radar of all our MSPs.
And of course, we should mention the Attack on Nature – 6,000 people in Scotland took our action to write to their MP. Although this was prompted by legislation and policies proposed by the Westminster government, it posed a threat to the protections that cover our best wildlife sites in Scotland. We engaged with both governments and all parties on this issue, and your concerns were raised by MPs in a Westminster debate. While the Scottish Government has recommended that the Scottish Parliament does not consent to the legislation, it would still be possible for the UK Government to impact on sensitive habitats here in Scotland. There remains a live bill at Westminster, so that is where our focus now returns. We will keep you informed about its progress.
Wales Update – by Eleni and Tamsin
Since October you have been supporting calls for a farming system that benefits people, planet and nature. This has been in response to the introduction of the Agriculture (Wales) Bill, which seeks to reward farmers for promoting biodiversity, ensuring healthier habitats and reducing emissions while empowering local communities and promoting local food systems.
So far over 1,000 of you have sent emails to your Members of the Senedd at this important time when amendments are being made to the Bill, helping to ensure that people and nature remain a priority. We will continue this action into the new year so it’s not too late to take action if you haven’t yet!
90% of land in Wales is agricultural land. The species that call it home are declining at a faster rate than other species. The Bill provides a historic opportunity to support farmers to turn things around and bring iconic species such as the Curlew back from the brink.
As part of our food and farming campaign, RSPB Cymru launched the new short documentary ‘Farming with Nature’, at the Wales Real Food & Farming Conference on 23rd November. Around 50 people from a wide range of environmental, food and farming organisations enjoyed the premiere of the film on the big screen, which was followed by a discussion with Simon Wright, Gerald Miles, Hilary Kehoe and Arfon Williams and an audience Q&A session. Immediately after the live event, the film was also shared with Members of the Senedd via a YouTube premiere. ‘Farming With Nature’ shows that by working with nature, the three featured farmers have seen a wide range of benefits for wildlife, community and their businesses.
This time last year RSPB supporters in Wales and England pledged not to use peat-containing products in their gardens. Over 11,000 took the peat pledge as part of the #forpeatssake campaign, which positively influenced DEFRA’s consultation - ‘ending the sale of retail peat in horticulture in England and Wales’.
Peatlands are an enormous store of carbon, their protection is vital in our fight against climate change. They are precious places for wildlife that are under serious threat. They are dug for peat, drained, and converted to farming and forestry, and they are burned, leaving them unhealthy and unable to lock up carbon.
By phasing out products that contain horticultural peat we are taking important steps towards restoring these all-important landscapes.
The results of the consultation were shared on August this year, 95% of the responses were in favour of a ban. On the 5th of December 2022 the Welsh Government announced a ban on the sale of peat compost in Wales, citing overwhelming public support. A huge win in which RSPB supporters played a key role.
Many of you will have heard our increasing calls for a commitment to Nature Positive alongside biodiversity targets and a new Environmental Governance Bill from the Welsh Government.
To promote this call, in late Summer/ Autumn we worked with youth ambassadors from Climate Cymru and UK Youth 4 Nature to provide an educational Nature Positive workshop as part of the Climate Cymru Green Tour, a nature, climate and social justice campaign tour that travelled around Wales in late September.
During this tour people from communities around Wales expressed a huge passion for nature and its multitude of benefits to health, wellbeing and heritage. To show support our campaign asks they filmed moving videos and wrote entries in our Nature Positive scrapbook.
The scrapbook was handed over to the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James MS at an RSPB Cymru event on the 7th of December at the Senedd (Welsh Parliament). The messages were well received by Julie James MS, who personally endorsed the campaign asks for the first time.
We are looking to ramp up campaigning in the new year to ensure that we see time bound legislative commitments in 2023!
Northern Ireland update – by Ruby
None of this would have been possible without you!
For over two years, we’d been campaigning for the NI Assembly to Revive Our World, asking for targets in law that protect and restore nature. On Wednesday 9th March 2022, we achieved huge campaign success. After years of campaigning, hours of debates, many amendments, meetings, and rallies, a Climate Bill passed through the Northern Ireland Assembly into an Act! We had campaigned alongside the public, youth campaigners, and environmental NGOs as part of the Climate Coalition, consistently pressuring politicians to take action, ensuring Northern Ireland is no longer the only country in the UK and Ireland without Climate legislation. Last week, we saw momentous progress and reached our collective goal. To find out more about this achievement, click here.
In May, Northern Ireland held its Assembly elections. We grasped this opportunity to ensure nature and climate issues were ambitiously addressed in the next Assembly term, and so did you. We want to thank you for speaking up for nature, for people and planet - here’s what we achieved.
Using our e-action, many of you spoke up for nature, sending a whopping 2,317 emails sharing RSPB NI’s manifesto for nature with your local candidates. Many candidates who positively responded, promising to uphold key elements of our manifesto, have since been elected as MLAs! We’re looking forward to working with them, carrying on these discussions, making sure actions are taken to restore and protect nature. Using the responses we received from politicians, we are using this data to hold those politicians to account.
We could go on and on about all the incredible work the RSPB NI Youth Campaigners have done for us this year. From getting stuck into community work to help nature on Rathlin, working on the Giving Corncrakes a Home project, constantly campaigning and advocating for our many campaigns, taking action for nature locally and so much more, this group of 40+ young people aged between 13-30 are making huge changes to Northern Ireland politically and environmentally, proving that nobody is too small to make a difference. If you would like to find out more about the Youth Campaigners and their work and to apply, visit - Campaigner (Youth Campaigner, Northern Ireland) | RSPB Volunteering
Féile an Phobail is Ireland’s biggest Community Arts Festival. The August Féile is the highlight of the festival calendar, and it was RSPB NI’s first year taking part in the flagship event. As part of Féile an Phobail festival, we hosted Nature Talks Back, a dynamic discussion event featuring experts from the fields of politics, environment, and community. As our event came just a few months after Northern Ireland passed its first ever Climate Change Act, this panel discussion allowed our audience to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the NI Assembly as politicians shape the first ever Climate Action Plan for Northern Ireland.
Nov 12 saw mass mobilisations across the country and put thousands of people on the streets to demand climate and nature justice in solidarity with the Global Day of Action called by Egyptian groups at COP27. We, yet again came together as one movement to demand action. Find out more here - COP27: How is Northern Ireland tackling climate change? - BBC News
You helped us campaign that #CBDCOP15 can’t be a wasted opportunity. It’s literally a chance to save life on Earth. Thousands of you signed the petition telling Rishi Sunak to take action to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity before it’s too late. If you haven’t done so yet, you still have a chance https://bit.ly/3EtNtPO
Our amazing campaigner Dara McAnulty campaigned with us to ensure CBD/COP15 wasn’t a wasted opportunity. It’s literally a chance to save life on Earth, click here to watch his short film.
We launched our Nature Positive campaign alongside our Decade of Action Report! Northern Ireland is ranked 12th worse worldwide for biodiversity loss. From the towering Mourne Mountains to the cascading Causeway Coast and low-lying lands of Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland’s environment is diverse and iconic, but it needs protecting and restoring more than ever.
In the same way we talk about carbon emissions being ‘net zero’ or ‘net positive’, nature can be described in these terms too. It’s important we use terms such as ‘nature positive’ when talking about environmental goals, because the nature emergency is as important as the climate emergency, these issues are two sides of the same coin.
As a society, we have the answers; the technologies and nature-based solutions, we just need the ambition, investment, legislation and will from governmental departments. While DEARA’s biodiversity strategy is under review, RSPB NI have been working hard to demand targets in the law for nature’s protection.
In the new year, we will be a third year into the UN Decade of Action, but are still lacking the governmental action… Next year we hope to see departments acting drastically to halt and reverse nature loss in the forthcoming biodiversity strategy. What gives us the most hope is how, in 2022, we’ve seen a society of empowered individuals taking action, let’s keep that pressure on and carry on campaigning for a #NaturePositiveNI in 2023.
Our overall campaigns page for NI
From all of us we just want to say thank you so much for everything you have done for nature this year. Have a wonderful holiday season and we’ll see you in the New Year with a look ahead at what’s coming up in 2023!