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Link Blog

The Link Blog is a space for members, and others, to express their views about the natural environment.


It includes our year plan and Agriculture Bill series, as well as our Blueprint for Water focused blogs.

If you would like to contribute a blog, please contact Emma Adler.

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Rewilding and mitigation of floods and droughts: how much do we know?

Published on: 26 February 2024

Gemma Harvey, Professor in Physical Geography at Queen Mary University of London, and Stewart Clarke, National Specialist for Freshwater & Catchments at the National Trust, discuss new research reviewing the evidence for the role of rewilding in helping to build flood and drought resilience.

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Human Rights Day 2023: Time to Recognise a Right to Clean Air for All

Published on: 11 December 2023

December marks the alignment of two major anniversaries of human rights and air pollution. In this blog on environmental rights, Hannah Blitzer, Senior Policy Officer, Wildlife and Countryside Link argues that the time is now to recognise the right to clean air and a right to a healthy environment.

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Transitioning to a PFAS-free economy: NGOs propose Action Plan to tackle forever chemicals

Published on: 8 December 2023

With chemicals becoming an ever growing threat to people and nature, leaders in the fight against forever chemicals have outlined an action plan to transition to an economy that is free of such chemicals

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New Tree Equity Score tool shows the connection between trees and health inequalities

Published on: 7 December 2023

Sarah Jordan and Una Devlin of Sustainable Health Care discuss the launch of Tree Equity Score in the UK, and how this new tool can help plant trees in the places most in need of the health boosts that come from nature

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Local Nature Recovery Strategies: Sowing the seeds for success

Published on: 16 November 2023

With the LNRSs poised and ready to begin work to save their local wildlife across England, Meg Griffiths, Conservation Officer at Plantlife, writes about Plantlife's recently published guidance to make sure that the strategies have everything they need to work for wild plants and fungi species.

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Violation Tracker UK: Tracking the regulation of our waterways

Published on: 9 November 2023

Dr Maia Kirby is an outreach coordinator for Violation Tracker UK, the UK’s first wide-ranging database tracking corporate regulatory infringements. In this blog, she writes about how data can be used to follow regulation of the water industry.

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Why farming changes do not tick the box on cross compliance

Published on: 2 November 2023

Verity Winn, Senior Policy Officer (Agriculture), RSPB and Hannah Blitzer, Policy Officer, Wildlife & Countryside Link, highlight how gaps will be created in protections for water, soil and hedgerows when cross compliance for farmers and land managers ceases to apply from January 2024.

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The planning system & nature: What next?

Published on: 30 October 2023

As the Levelling Up & Regeneration Act receives Royal Assent, Matt Browne and Emma Clarke of Link look back at how the legislation has been improved for nature - and ahead to expected new rounds of planning reform.

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Access to nature for all

Published on: 27 October 2023

Stephen Russell, Policy and Advocacy Officer at Ramblers, Ben Seal, Head of Access & Environment at British Canoeing, Kate Ashbrook, General Secretary of Open Spaces Society and Cath Flitcroft, Head of Access, Environment and Sustainability at the British Mountaineering Council make the case for an Access to Nature Bill.

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Nature can’t wait. We know the solutions, but our politicians must act now.

Published on: 24 October 2023

Following the recent release of the State of Nature report, Beccy Speight, Chief Executive of the RSPB, writes about how the report’s findings give us the best understanding of the state of nature we’ve ever had and, crucially, what we need to do to fix it.

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