(c) David Tipling 2020 Vision
#DefendNature: We Need You
Nature is under attack and without nature we have no future
A healthy and safe natural world brings huge benefits to people, as well as to wildlife.
But wildlife and wild spaces across the UK are under huge pressure - in particular from Government plans to reduce environmental protections.
Despite warm words and commitments that should help nature, threats remain! We all need to act together NOW to #DefendNature
Since 2022 we have been working to influence the Retained EU Law (REUL) Bill, which threatened to give Ministers sweeping powers to remove or replace thousands of environmental laws, without public consultation or scrutiny by Parliament. We fear if these protections are lost, it would lead to even more pollution poisoning our rivers, more of our wild places at risk of being damaged – and potentially destroyed – and even more wildlife threatened with extinction.
We need to act together to #DefendNature.
We are now issuing 5 nature priorities that the next UK Government should have high on their agendas going into the next election. It is all our responsibility to express our concerns for nature, hold them to account and keep their promises in order to get your vote.
These threats include:
- The removal of important laws that protect nature, help to provide clean water and reduce pollution (through the Retained EU Laws Bill)
- The introduction of a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, and plans for Investment Zones as part of the growth plan, which will weaken protections for wildlife
- The review of nature-friendly farming schemes that reward farmers for managing land in a way that benefits nature and climate - with concerns that they will be watered down
These go against the explicit promises the Conservative Party made in their 2019 manifesto and the mandate they were elected to govern on. We have no option left to us but to ask our political leaders to represent us - their electorate. Together, we must #DefendNature.
Today, those fears are being realised. Even after giving very strong public reassurances that our natural world would be safe from harm, the Government wants to make new changes to existing rules which currently protect our rivers from pollution.
Ways you can help take action
SEND A POSTCARD TO YOUR MP
Ask your MP to help #DefendNature and take local voices seriously by sending a postcard that will land on the doormat of their office.
- Use our guide here to select your postcard image - there are 4 to choose from
- Follow the instructions to complete your message and find your MP
- Share your views with a 'letter to the editor' of your local press highlighting concerns.
WRITE TO OR EMAIL YOUR MP
- Find your MP here
- Send your letter by post or email to your MP
(c) Stephen Barlow
SEND A 'LETTER TO THE EDITOR'
Using our simple form, you will be matched up with the nearest local newspaper editor and can send your letter direct.
This Government made a manifesto commitment to deliver ‘the most ambitious environmental programme of any country on earth’. Now they appear to be poised to scrap the forward-looking Environmental Land Management schemes and go back to the EU system of simply paying farmers for the area they farm, with no regard to nature. This would be a disaster for nature and for our long-term food security. They have no mandate for these changes, and The Wildlife Trusts in partnership with other conservation bodies are asking that they pause and think again. We need everyone to get involved and defend nature. Please contact your MPs and your local councillors to demand that they speak out against these proposals.
Membership helps us give nature a voice
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©Tom Marshall
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Campaign update: 27th June 2023
Despite the best efforts of the Lords and some robust debate, the Westminster Government rejected the two amendments on the interlinked issues of strengthening parliamentary scrutiny and preventing the regression of environmental protection.
This was the fourth round of ping-pong – the transit of the Bill between the House of Commons and the House of Lords – and the debate had become somewhat political, with concerns that the Government was not following the usual process of making concessions. But neither Lord Anderson nor Lord Krebs pushed their amendment to a vote. The Bill will therefore now receive royal assent without those additional environmental safeguards.
However, the Lords were given some extra verbal assurances. These include:
- the Environment Act setting the context for the REUL powers
- recognition that the process should have due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement
- a commitment to public consultation on all REUL.
We have worked with the Greener UK coalition to galvanise public pressure to influence the outcomes for the REUL Bill, and can count the deletion of the sunset clause as a significant win.
Despite this, our concerns remain that the refusal to offer proper parliamentary scrutiny will make it easier for future governments to weaken environmental protection, water quality standards and other EU-derived protections. But we hold onto the fact that Ministers are now on the record at every turn with promises not to weaken environmental protections, and will challenge them to keep to these promises.
Campaign update: 25th May 2023
A crucial vote is took place on Wednesday 24th May that could have serious ramifications for nature. Thousands of Wildlife Trust supporters acted fast to convince MPs to vote for amendments to the Bill in order to ensure Parliament isn't left out of key decisions in future and that the laws that protect nature are not weakened.
Disappointingly, despite almost 10,000 of you contacting MPs, the UK Government and Conservative MPs voted down this amendment. The Bill will now be voted on in the House of Lords in June, where we hope an amendment will be reinserted to ensure our environmental protections are not watered down.
Campaign update: 15th May 2023
The UK Government had been forging forward with a ‘sunset clause’ on the Retained EU Law Bill that would bulldoze hundreds of important laws that protect nature and people at the end of the year (2023).
On the 15th May 2023, UK Government announced that it had scrapped the ‘sunset clause’, which means many vital environmental laws will remain in place in 2024. Your passionate postcards, emails and tweets to MPs raised the alarm. Thank you for your support.