Following the launch of the State of Nature report, I am keen to stimulate a debate about what else we need to do to live in harmony with nature. Over the next few weeks, people from differing perspectives will propose their One Big Thing for Nature. Today, I am delighted to welcome Ruth Davis, who has previously worked for Plantlife and RSPB and is now Chief Policy Advisor at Greenpeace UK.
The State of Nature report, detailing over half a century of decline in the richness and beauty of our countryside, fills me with sadness. I know that the millions of other people in the UK feel the same.
Ours are a group of nations whose identities have grown from the land; whose poets – from Shakespeare, to Clare, Thomas, Hill and Duffy - have dug their words out of the soil; and whose people have struggled not just to secure the vote and decent wages, but to retain common land and to be allowed to walk the hills. If we lose the battle to protect our corner of the natural world, it is no exaggeration to say that our history as peoples will fade before our eyes.
Yet somehow we find ourselves paralysed - faced down by an economic philosophy that tramples on our deeply held values and affections with apparent impunity. This is the future, and it hurts. So, to borrow (tongue in cheek) from Lenin, what is to be done? Well, to me, the most inspiring – and the only politically credible - way to reclaim our country from the grip of this brutal form of accountancy, is to rebuild its institutional and social, as well as its environmental fabric. Then, we will have a chance to defeat the divisive logic that pits nature against prosperity, and presents the protection of wildlife as an impediment to our common good, rather than an intrinsic part of it. Here are three ideas that might help.
Firstly, why don’t we work with housing campaigners to develop a plan for green affordable homes? We could support fair rents and the release of empty properties. But we could also demand that the country’s biggest landowners – Government, universities, churches, the Crown, for example - put a proportion of their land into community land trusts, to build houses in places that will not damage nature. By supporting housing schemes in the right places, as well as opposing those in the wrong, we will demonstrate our commitment to the common good.
Secondly, let’s tackle food, farming and wages. Many small farmers don’t earn enough to get by, let alone to farm in the way that they and we would like. At the same time, millions of people earning less than a living wage have little choice but to buy the cheapest food on offer – which is cheap precisely because farmers are not being paid enough. Farmers, customers, and employees could demand that big supermarkets pay a living wage, give farmers a decent price at the farm gate, and buy from farms that protect our land, water and wildlife.
Finally, let’s create an independent institution to safeguard our land. After years of political interference, Natural England is not so much a muzzled watchdog (to borrow Peter Marren’s phrase) as a neutered one. When its death warrant arrives, in the form of a proposal to merge it with the Environment Agency, let’s not negotiate the terms of its execution. Instead, let’s propose a new body, accountable to Parliament and the Crown, whose job will be to insist that Government applies those laws, hard-won by the people of this country, that exist to protect our land and wildlife from short-termism, vested interests and state-sanctioned greed.
Do you agree with Ruth? And what would be your One Big Thing for Nature?
It would be great to hear your views
Ruth, you are my hero.