Recently, Martin Harper, Director of Conservation at the RSPB, spoke at a Westminster Forum seminar on the future of policy on biodiversity and natural capital in the UK. Here is the vision he set out for the Government’s 25 Year Plan on the Environment.
June 2016
Imagine a future where....
...there is enough land for the food we need and for wildlife because we use the food we buy, we consume only what we need and farmers provide habitat for wildlife on their land because they know it helps maintain yields in the long term
...fishermen can make a living while safeguarding fish populations
...at least 20% of our land and seas are really well managed for wildlife as well as people, and where wild species aren’t just protected, but thriving
...it is increasingly popular for land to be bought, enhanced for wildlife and passed on with legally binding conservation covenants
...everybody can have good contact with wildlife within 300 metres of where they live
...all our energy needs are provided by the power of the sun, wind and waves
...landowners welcome tourists on to their land to show them birds of prey
...children in England send emails to children in Ghana letting them know when their migratory birds have arrived in our spring
...we have an annual celebration of the special wildlife on our overseas territories
...we have annual parliamentary debates to agree action to improve the state of nature
...we are proud to have the best environment in the world because we have restored wildlife populations in a generation.
This is what, as an optimist, I imagine when I read the Conservative party’s manifesto commitment “to develop a 25 Year Plan to restore the UK’s biodiversity”. It reflects the ambition of the Convention on Biological Diversity (and its Aichi targets for 2020) whose goal is for humans to live in harmony with nature.
The challenge is how to turn this dream land into a real land. We wait eagerly for the framework for the Environment Plan and to working with Government to ensure that the final plan is something we can all be optimistic about. We will use the recommendations in the Response for Nature England report to assess the efficacy of this plan.
Martin Harper
Director of Conservation, RSPB
Find Martin on twitter @MartinRSPB
Aspects of this blog were originally published on the RSPB's website
The opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s and not necessarily those of the wider Link membership
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