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Froglife joins other Wildlife & Countryside Link members publishing a briefing on the new indicators of species abundance in England.

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Written by Dr Andrew Smart, Science & Research Manager. 

The recently published briefing sounds a bit dull, but Wildlife & Countryside Link members have called on the Government to review the data included in their abundance indicator and provide information to support their choice of the species they use and the impact of adding two new data sets, plants and freshwater invertebrates.

The indicator is really important as it will be used to identify whether the Government is meeting its targets under the Environment Act. The previous indicator (see the graphs included here) suggests that after an alarming decline from the situation in 1970, we currently have species abundance at around 40% of that of 50 years ago and that the indicator is continuing on a downward trend over the last few years.  

While we are pleased the Government wants to include more species to the indicator (at the moment there are no amphibians or reptiles included) they should be clear about their choice of species and how the inclusion of particular data sets changes the data.

What we hope for is some new commitments linked to the restoration of biodiversity and the natural environment as outlined in the Labour Party Manifesto: ‘Labour will deliver for nature, taking action to meet our Environment Act targets’.

 

 

Double down on delivery or Government nature targets will just be daydreams, says environment coalition

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  • The Office for Environmental Protection warns today that Government risks missing its targets to restore nature.
  • Government must scale up and speed up delivery of the Environment Improvement Plan, which lacks evidence and accountability.
  • Wildlife and Countryside Link says many milestones have already been missed, and rapid action and investment is needed to halt nature losses by 2030.

In the first major review of the Environment Improvement Plan, Government advisors warn that the Government is off-track, and risks missing the legally-binding target to halt nature decline by 2030.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has concluded that Government needs to speed up and scale up delivery. It also warns that the plan lacks transparency and accountability. This follows its 2023 report, which said progress had, ‘fallen far short of what is needed to meet Government’s ambition to leave the environment in a better state’.

Wildlife and Countryside Link is calling on Government to double down on delivery.

 

Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said:

“Government must double down on delivery of its nature promises or hopes of meeting the positive promises in the Environment Act will remain daydreams.

A rapid delivery plan of action and investment is needed to create an economy that can thrive with nature, instead of at nature’s expense. This plan is supposed to be the flagship of reforms to leave the environment in a better state for future generations. But instead, Government is bobbing along with business as usual.

We’ve already seen Government fall behind on key elements of the plan: the land use strategy, the chemicals strategy, and the pesticides reduction strategy are all missing in action. Major measures like the deposit return scheme, restrictions on lead ammunition and the horticultural peat ban are delayed. Much more ambition is needed for nature-friendly farming and making polluters pay.

Government should scale up investment in nature with a £1bn a year ‘Wild Isles Fund’ to restore wildlife, and more ambitious and generous support for nature-friendly farming. It should speed up action for access to nature and stronger ‘polluter pays’ responsibilities for big business.

The seeds of these ideas are in the plan, but they’ll simply lie dormant without leadership on delivery.”

 

Key targets for thriving plants and wildlife

Relevant Environment Act targets, binding in law:

  1. To halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.
  2. To ensure that species abundance in 2042 is greater than in 2022, and at least 10% greater than 2030.
  3. Improve the Red List Index of endangered species by 2042.
  4. To restore or create in excess of 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2042, compared to 2022 levels.
  5. That 70% of the designated features in Marine Protected Areas to be in favourable condition by 2042, with the remainder in recovering condition.

 

Wildlife and Countryside Link is calling for the following improvements to be made to the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP):

  1. The Government should set out cross-Departmental delivery framework, with clear timelines and accountability for implementation of key actions.
  2. It should scale up and speed up delivery of priority actions, including
    • Scaling up investment in nature, with a £1bn annual Wild Isles Fund.
    • Scaling up nature-friendly farming, with higher standards and incentives
    • Speeding up private sector investment, with corporate “polluter pays” plans
    • Speeding up action for access to nature, focusing on nature-deprived areas.
  3. The Government should publish evidence of how actions in the plan add up to delivery of the Environment Act targets.

Wildlife and Countryside Link launch ‘People and Nature’ mini manifesto

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Froglife would like to highlight the launch of the Wildlife and countryside Link (WCL) mini manifesto for People and Nature. 

The recent announcement by Govt is a step in the right direction but the manifesto for People and Nature argues that if we are serious about making a difference for nature and for people’s ability to access the environment and improve their health and wellbeing the UK should have new legislation, an Access to Nature Bill that will:

  • Set a new legally-binding access to nature target for all people to have access to a high quality green or blue space within a 15 minute walk of home.
  • Extend public access rights to waterways, woodland, riversides, and grasslands.
  • Create a more equal and inclusive freedom to enjoy land and water for other user groups, such as cyclists, horse riders, cavers, swimmers, paddlers, and disabled people.
  • Remove the 2026 cut-off date for registering historic rights of way.
  • Require the Government to publish a clear strategy for improving access to nature.
  • Establish an Access to Nature Investment Strategy
  • Mandate all new development meet the Green Infrastructure Standards. Ensure every child has regular high-quality access to and engagement with nature within education, through their curriculum and by supporting teachers and schools to deliver outdoor learning across all education settings.

The Froglife Strategy aims to: transform lives; engaging people from all walks of life; our projects are inclusive and have good representation from people of all backgrounds; we particularly focus on people who are new to conservation and from areas of multiple deprivation and Progress them on their wildlife journey

WCL is a coalition of 82 wildlife and conservation and environmental organisations, with over 8million members, protecting over 750,000 hectares of land and 800 miles of coastline

WCL is coordinating the Nature2030 campaign to ensure the Government meets its announcement in September 2020 to protect 30% of our land for biodiversity and “halt the decline in species abundance [in England] by 2030 /… and.. increase species abundance by at least 10% by 2042, while ensuring that abundance is greater than in 2022”. (Read more here)

Time is short, the recent State of Nature report highlighted that 19% of UK species studies have declined on average by 19% since 1970 and nearly 1 in 6 species are threatened with extinction from great Britain. Nature 2030 is also supported by the ‘Nature Cant Wait’ campaign

Please get involved in conservation and make your voices count, support Froglife in any way you can:

 

Government plans to remove nutrient neutrality from new developments.

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Urban runoff and sewage from new housing development contributes to the leaking of nitrates and phosphorus into rivers, lakes, streams and seas. An excess of these nutrients causes “eutrophication”—algal blooms which starve a river of light and oxygen, killing wildlife.

Under current legislation, planning authorities have been required to closely consider the potential impacts of development on nutrient pollution levels in sensitive freshwater habitats but Government has tabled an amendment to the Habitats Regulations to remove this requirement. The new section

  • instructs planning authorities to assume no increase in pollution
  • prevents planning authorities from requesting an assessment to investigate pollution impacts further or concluding potential impacts will be adverse
  • instructs authorities to ignore any evidence of potential adverse impacts.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), has been very clear as to the impact these changes will have upon environmental protection. The amendment would: ‘‘Permit certain environmentally damaging activity to proceed without ‘appropriate assessment’ of certain nutrient impacts, thus risking substantial harm to protected wildlife sites. Planning authorities would also be required to disregard negative findings concerning such nutrient pollution in any appropriate assessments, and disregard representations from Natural England or others. The proposed amendments would therefore remove legal controls on the addition of nutrient loads to sites that already suffer from these impacts. ….’’

Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL), a collaborative network of conservation organisations, including Froglife, argues strongly that nutrient neutrality should be maintained and is calling for peers to reject the Government’s damaging proposals. 

Further Reading

The case for nutrient negativity

Levelling Up Bill Briefing Nutrient pollution

Celebrities, charities and the public want radical new commitments for nature from politicians at the 2024 general election

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  • Major ‘Nature 2030’ campaign launches today with landmark 5-point plan for nature
  • The 5 key asks of political parties include: doubling the wildlife-friendly farming budget, making polluters pay for nature restoration, a large-scale green jobs creation scheme, increased protection and funding for wildlife sites and a new law guaranteeing environmental rights,
  • New research shows the public is unimpressed with the Government’s performance on the environment. Only 1 in 10 (8-13%) think the Government is performing well on key environmental issues, with Brits wanting greater environmental ambition from politicians
  • The vast majority of the British public, of all political persuasions, support ambitious new measures to help nature recover by 2030  

Celebrities including Steve Backshall, Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin, alongside a coalition of 80 charities led by Wildlife and Countryside Link, are urging all political parties to ramp up their ambition on environmental issues in the forthcoming general election. 

The charities, including the National Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, RSPB and Woodland Trust, are today launching the Nature 2030 campaign. The campaign outlines a 5-point plan of landmark measures needed to restore nature by 2030. The coalition is calling on all political parties to get behind these proposals in their general election manifestos to deliver on public appetite for greater environmental ambition and to meet binding targets for nature by 2030 and climate by 2050.

New research has found very low public satisfaction with Government spending and performance on the environment, with high demand for more ambitious environmental commitments from politicians. [2] Key findings include:

  • Only around 1 in 10 Brits think that the Government is performing well in key environmental areas.Even Conservative voters are underwhelmed by the Government’s performance, with a maximum of 21% thinking the Government is doing well on any key nature issue
  • More than half of Brits (53%) say Government is not doing or spending enough on environmental issues, with Labour and Lib Dem voters feeling particularly strongly that there is a lack of ambition. 73% and 78% of previous Labour and Lib dem voters respectively, say not enough is being done or spent on the environment
  • All five of the headline policies nature experts are proposing are well supported by the public, with support of 68% to 83% for each measure (with only between 4-10% of the public opposing any of the measures). [4] Making big business behave more environmentally responsibly is the measure the public back most strongly, with 83% supporting requiring businesses to pay to clean up the pollution they create (including 57% strongly supporting) and just 5% opposing
  • Support Is very high across voters of all political stripes, but is highest among Lib Dem voters with support of 78-91% for the measures, compared to 71-86% for Labour voters and 63-83% of Conservative voters


Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link said: “Next year, the environment will be a major election battleground. Like rivals in an Attenborough film, politicians will be vying to be seen to be greener. But vague promises to be nice to nature simply won’t suffice. Our research shows that people are deeply unhappy with the lack of progress for nature, and that the majority of us want to see the investment and regulation needed to restore our natural world.

“The Nature 2030 campaign, backed by 80 charities, challenges all party leaders to commit to five radical reforms needed to halt the decline of wildlife by 2030 – greener farming, green jobs, polluter levies for big business, more wildlife sites, and environmental rights for all. We’re inviting everyone to sign our open letter to party leaders, so that when the politicians next lock horns, it will be clear to everyone who is really willing to take action for nature.”

Naturalist and explorer Steve Backshall, said:  “Everywhere I’ve travelled nature is on a knife edge. From the river at the bottom of my garden, to the bottom of the ocean, to the furthest reaches of the Amazon, I don’t know how much longer we have to save threatened wildlife and restore nature.

“Two years ago, I was pleased to welcome the Government’s legal target to stop wildlife losses here in England, but since then I’ve seen nothing like the scale of action needed to make it happen, just more political point-scoring. That’s why I’m backing the Nature 2030 campaign, and its five demands to turn things around. Nature isn’t a ‘nice thing to have’, it’s a necessity, and it’s time that all political parties stepped forward to deliver better for nature.”

Hilary McGrady, Director-General of the National Trust, said: “With a general election on the horizon, and widespread support for greater environmental action, we need to see all political parties step up their ambition to respond to the nature crisis. The UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and the evidence is clear that, without major change, there’s simply no prospect of halting the decline of nature by 2030.

 “Poll after poll shows that the public want a better future for our rivers and wildlife, for the changing climate, and for our next generation. And the recent People’s Plan for Nature, published by the first UK-wide citizens’ assembly on the topic, made clear that nature must be at the heart of all decision-making – not treated as an add-on. Political parties have a simple choice ahead of them, commit to action to support nature or face complicity in its collapse.”

The Nature 2030 campaign asks are being launched today (18 July) at a parliamentary event with leading politicians including speakers The Rt Hon Sir Ed Davey, Natural Environment Minister Trudy Harrison, and Caroline Lucas. The 5 landmark commitments nature experts are seeking from political parties are:

  1. A pay rise for nature and farmers: Doubling the nature-friendly farming budget to £6bn pay for ambitious farm improvements and large-scale nature restoration.
  2. Making polluters pay: Putting a Nature Recovery Obligation in law, requiring polluting big businesses to deliver environmental improvement plans, and funding to counter the damage they cause to nature
  3. More space for nature by 2030:  A 30×30 rapid delivery programme restoring protected sites and landscapes and creating a Public Nature Estate to fulfil the promise to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature, and deliver more nature in all communities.
  4. Delivering the green jobs we need: A National Nature Service, delivering wide scale habitat restoration and creating thousands of green jobs
  5. A Right to a Healthy Environment: establishing a human right to clean air and water and access to nature, building nature into decision making, enabling people to hold decision makers to account and driving changes that will recover nature and improve public health.

In 2022, the UK signed an international deal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. In England, that promise is underpinned by a legal duty in the Environment Act 2021 to stop the decline of species abundance, and a commitment to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature.

This leaves just seven years to turn environmental promises into reality. However, as the Office for Environmental Protection concluded, ‘the current pace and scale of action will not deliver the changes necessary to significantly improve the environment’. For nature, this means loss of irreplaceable habitats and 15% of our wildlife species at risk of extinction. For people and businesses, it means continued decline of air, water and nature will harm health and prosperity. For the climate, there is no hope of meeting net zero without restoring nature. The current Government has been quick with words but slower with delivery and the Nature 2030 coalition is urging commitments that will make a rapid change on the ground.

The coalition of charities is today also urging members of the public to add their name to an open letter being sent to all the main political parties to call for more radical nature commitments. Members of the public can add their name here.

 

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