Download the report here.
Additional media quotes can be found below:
Hilary McGrady, Director-General of the National Trust said: “Protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 isn’t just a target — it’s a lifeline for our climate, our wildlife, and our future.
“The UK is falling short, with less than 6% of land effectively protected, and time is running out. Every day at the National Trust, we see how nature-rich places inspire people and enrich lives. We’re committed to playing our part, but nature charities cannot do this alone. We need urgent action from Government to deliver a real step change with proper funding, stronger protections, and a clear, coordinated plan to restore our most precious landscapes. With bold leadership we can turn ambition into reality — and ensure nature’s recovery is something everyone can be part of.”
Sue Sayer MBE, Seal Research Trust, said: “This report is proof that we lack data and evidence about our impacts on marine ecosystems. We desperately need a 'google map' of the sea so we can begin to effectively mitigate and so protect marine habitats and species, which now face an ever increasing number of serious, cumulative threats. We should appreciate that without healthy seas we have no air, water or food and no effective way of managing climate change. Will we realise in time, before it is too late? This is not about protecting our marine and terrestrial environments, this is about protecting the future of the human race from extinction.”
Thomas Widrow, Head of Campaigns at the John Muir Trust said: “We know that people deeply love the UK's wild places, but we need to act to ensure nature has the freedom to thrive. Our wild places can deliver nature restoration at scale. To do so, governments must reform the laws that dictate what must, should and can't happen in the nation's treasured National Parks and protected landscapes.”
Roger Mortlock, CEO of CPRE, the countryside charity, said: “Restoring nature is fundamental to delivering the government’s missions, but the critical 30% target is in real danger of being missed. We need to think differently about land use and coexistence with nature, but too often the rhetoric in parts of government has pitched growth and nature against each other. We can do both, but simply supercharging more business-as-usual housing and infrastructure growth is not the answer.”
“On a small island, having a joined-up approach to how we use land is critical. A land use framework could be transformative, but it is needed now, and the starting point should be the 30% target for nature. That’s the cake, not the icing. While we wait, our countryside is needlessly sacrificed for homes and infrastructure in the wrong place.”
Kathy Wormald, CEO of Froglife, said: “Amphibians and reptiles are among the UK’s most vulnerable species, reliant on healthy ponds, wetlands, grasslands, and woodlands that are too often left degraded or unprotected. The 30by30 target offers a critical opportunity to turn this around – but only if governments urgently act on the policies set out in this report: properly managing protected areas, expanding the network of sites, securing long-term investment, and strengthening monitoring. With these measures in place, we can restore the habitats our frogs, toads, newts, lizards, and snakes need to thrive, and in doing so, safeguard biodiversity and resilience across the UK.”
Rebecca Wrigley, Chief Executive at Rewilding Britain, said: “These woeful figures should be ringing alarm bells loud and clear in everyone’s ears. The time for urgent action is definitively here and in rewilding lies a powerful solution. We need an ambitious and credible delivery action plan for landscape scale restoration with rewilding at its heart. Rewilding Britain calls on the government to ensure that rewilding is part of the new land use framework for Britain; that nature recovery is made the primary purpose of our National Parks, transforming them into the paragon of thriving nature they should be; and that the restoration of our woodlands, peatlands and coastal & river habitats is rapidly scaled up in delivery and investment. Only by creating wilder, more natural landscapes at their core can we have any hope of meeting 30by30 whilst delivering sustained benefits to our economy and wellbeing of ourselves and our communities.”
Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, said: “The UK played a key role on the international stage in championing and securing 30by30 to help set nature on the path to recovery. Those global promises must translate into action to deliver the target through a strong and resilient network of protected sites on land and at sea.
“Achieving 30by30 isn’t just about numbers and targets, it’s about creating a sustainable future for people and nature. Protecting places that support our most threatened wildlife also benefits our own health and wellbeing, and these areas can lock up carbon, improve water quality, and combat the impacts of climate change by reducing flood risk. It is essential that the governments of the UK urgently set out 30by30 delivery plans that provide the ambition and detail that’s so badly needed to get us back on track.”
Jenny Hawley, Policy & Advocacy Manager at Plantlife, said: “10 by 30 doesn’t have the same ring, but without urgent action that’s the reality we face. Paper promises must become practical action at pace and scale – especially restoring biodiversity on permanent grasslands, which cover over 40% of our land but could do far more for nature. If we fall short, it’s our wild plants and fungi that pay the price, the green foundations of life, supporting all wildlife.”
Joanna Bromley, Director of Policy & Communications at British Ecological Society, said: “Thanks to UK leadership, a global 30by30 target was adopted at COP15 in December 2022 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. But last year, Government appeared to be sleepwalking with only 3% of land effectively protected. Today, we are moonwalking at just 2.8%. Ecologists know what the solutions are. Defra knows what the solutions are. But Treasury is stuck presenting nature as the enemy of growth. With just four years to go, the Government needs to wake up, stop dancing and scale up public and private finance to underpin action.”
Paul de Zylva, nature campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “It's five years since Boris Johnson committed the UK to protecting 30% of the nation's land and seas by 2030, and progress has been dismal. Ministers just need to get a move on. As well as protecting more areas for nature recovery, the scourge of environmental damage caused by polluters must end. Too many so-called protected areas are blighted by sewage discharges, industrial contamination and destructive development – pushing wildlife into freefall. All new development must also restore habitats, and tougher fines are essential to stop polluters treating nature as a toilet.”
Matt Larsen-Daw, CEO of The Mammal Society, said: “The painfully slow progress being made towards achieving the 30by30 target in every nation of the UK suggests that nature is being consistently deprioritised in favour of other economic and social objectives. This betrays a failure to grasp the urgency of the biodiversity crisis in the UK and globally, and the truth behind the 30by30 target - that all of our health, wealth and happiness depends on nature.
"A real priority needs real commitment, shored up by strategic delivery plans, adequate funding and robust, transparent monitoring that allows those responsible for delivery to be held accountable and to adapt when intended outcomes do not materialise. We cannot treat this target as an aspiration - it must be considered a baseline to be achieved at all costs, so that future generations in the UK can build positive social and economic outcomes on the stable foundations of a healthy and resilient landscape."
Professor Jeremy Biggs, CEO of Freshwater Habitats Trust said: "As the UK's charity for all freshwaters, we are deeply concerned about the state of our rivers, ponds, lakes, streams, and wetlands. Most of these habitats are polluted and degraded and we're losing freshwater species at an alarming rate. We urgently need a reset for water, but this report from Wildlife and Countryside Link shows just how far the UK is from meeting its COP15 commitments to nature. The good news is that we know what needs to be done: by protecting the remaining high-quality freshwaters - and building out from there - we can create a national network of habitats for freshwater wildlife to thrive."
Anna Moscrop, Head of Science Policy at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, said: “The ocean is often overlooked when it comes to saving the planet, and there is an urgent need to effectively secure critical habitats and designated protected areas to enable marine species, like whales, to recover and support healthy marine ecosystems and a resilient ocean.”
Lucy Babey, Director of Programmes at ORCA, said: “Thirty by thirty has to mean thirty everywhere - on land and at sea. The UK Government points to the fact that over a third of our waters are designated as Marine Protected Areas, but on paper protection is not enough. Dolphins, porpoises and whales are still threatened daily by bottom trawling, bycatch, underwater noise, pollution and vessel strikes inside these so-called safe havens. If Ministers are serious about meeting their own targets, they must urgently strengthen protections, fund proper monitoring, and ensure our MPAs are genuinely safeguarded for the marine mammals and other wildlife that depend on them.”
Calum Duncan, Head of Policy and Advocacy at the Marine Conservation Society, said: “This report shows the critical need for all UK governments to work together to establish clear, measurable criteria for delivering 30x30 at sea, and to transparently document progress. Simply drawing boundaries and considering areas as contributing to international 30 x 30 goals is not enough. True protection requires tackling damaging activities, such as the use of bottom-towed gear in sites designated for seabed habitats, and addressing broader issues such as poor water quality, which continues to undermine conservation efforts in sites like those identified in Wales. Whilst we welcome recent fisheries management measures, including those in Scotland’s vast offshore Marine Protected Areas, urgent, coordinated action from all UK governments is essential to both make 30x30 a reality and to measure and prove it is a reality.”
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