New report shows that this Government risks becoming the first to break the law by missing legally binding targets to restore nature. Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL), and 20 members including the RSPB, National Trust, and The Wildlife Trusts are urging the Prime Minister to act now to put nature’s recovery back on track following the latest analysis by the Government’s watchdog.
The Office for Environmental Protection has shown that progress remains far too slow on environmental improvement. This puts economic growth, net zero, and public health at risk. What is missing now is political leadership and delivery at scale to determine whether this Government succeeds or fails to keep its international promises.
To meet its legal obligations and halt nature’s decline, the Government must urgently act on five priorities: wildlife-friendly farming, land use change, marine recovery, circular economy, and protected sites.
Richard Benwell, Chief Executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said: "Stopping wildlife decline by 2030 isn't optional – it’s the law. Four years on from the Environment Act, the Government still hasn't put in place the policies needed to deliver national nature-recovery targets. After years of warnings from environmental experts, the challenge is clear and time is running out: the Government must take urgent action for nature recovery now, or be the first to break this crucial nature-recovery law."
Additional quotes from members are available in the editor’s notes.
Wildlife-friendly farming must be rapidly scaled up so public money supports food production alongside thriving wildlife, healthy soils and clean water. Current schemes are not yet delivering the pace or certainty farmers need to restore nature across the countryside, with farmland bird numbers declining by 11% since 2019.
Beccy Speight, RSPB chief executive, said: “Nature in England is still in freefall, and the UK Government is off track on its own legal targets. Action is what matters now: real change on the ground before it’s too late. We back the OEP’s call for Government to drive greater uptake of high‑quality, nature‑friendly farming schemes and to properly fund, improve, and expand the protected sites network on land and at sea.”
With less than 3% of England managed well for nature, a change in land use planning is essential. Policies must be introduced to guide how land is used for food, nature, climate, and development, while meeting the target to protect 30% of land and sea for nature. Without better land use planning, nature recovery will continue to lose to short-term pressures, creating conflict and uncertainty rather than long-term solutions.
Harry Bowell, Director of Land and Nature at the National Trust, said: "We're another year closer to 2030 - and yet we're a long way off protecting 30% of our land for nature. We desperately need a clear strategy, one that makes room for wildlife, recreation, heritage, healthy food, and places to live. The Government has promised a compelling new vision via its Land Use Framework: this report shows it can't come soon enough."
Healthy seas are fundamental to nature, climate resilience, and coastal communities, yet progress remains slow. For example, UK seas meet only 2 out of 15 indicators of good environmental health. To turn the tide, the seas must be sustainably managed and damaging activities, like bottom trawling, must be banned from Marine Protected Areas.
Hugo Tagholm, Executive Director of Oceana UK, said: “Time is up: this government can no longer continue to take one step forward, two steps back in protecting UK seas. Our ocean needs more, sooner. We need to realise a vision of healthy seas that can support thriving wildlife and coastal communities. That will take joined up thinking and clear strategy, it will take courage and, above all, action.”
Resource extraction and processing is directly responsible for 90% of land-based biodiversity loss globally. Therefore, the transition to a circular economy must move beyond ambition into delivery, cutting waste, reducing resource use, and tackling pollution at source. The Circular Economy Growth Plan, due to be published this year, is a golden opportunity to end the current throw-away culture.
Catherine Gunby, Executive Director at Fidra, said: “The Circular Economy Growth Plan is a chance to move from ambition to action. That means reducing overall consumption and designing products without harmful chemicals, so materials can be safely reused and recycled. Without tackling over-consumption and chemical pollution at source, circularity will remain an empty promise.’’
Protected sites on land and at sea must be properly managed and restored. Only a third of protected sites are in good condition for nature, undermining national targets and the credibility of the protected site network.
Adeline Lerambert, International Policy Manager at Born Free, said: “Protected sites are the backbone of a healthy nation, but only if they are genuinely protected. They should be safe havens for wildlife, upholding animal welfare and the ecosystems people rely on. When these sites are allowed to degrade, wildlife suffers and the consequences ripple out through polluted water, increased disease risk and weaker climate resilience. The Government must move beyond designation to real action on restoration and protection – it is not a ‘nice to have’, it is fundamental to meeting the law and securing the One Health foundations that connect people, animals and nature.”
There are early signs of improvement in some policies, but paper promises will not save nature. The Government must now turn plans into action and provide the leadership needed to meet national environmental law and international promises for nature, health, and resilience.
ENDS
Additional supporting quotes from WCL members:
Wildlife-friendly farming
Russel Hobson, Director of Business and Research at Butterfly Conservation said: “The Government’s biodiversity indicators show a long-term decline in almost all farmland and woodland butterflies, but it doesn’t have to be like this. By working with farmers and land managers across the UK, we have demonstrated that with time and resources we can reverse the declining trends for some species. But we need the Government to provide long term support for actions that actually deliver on their legal responsibilities. As the Government’s own Environmental Improvement Plan Said: ‘Nature is not a blocker of economic growth, instead it is essential to underpin it.’”
Fay Vass, Chief Executive for British Hedgehog Preservation Society, said: “Britain’s iconic hedgehogs were once a familiar sight, but since the millennium their populations have fallen by between 30–75% in rural areas.
“This stark decline shows why the UK Government must take its legal obligations seriously — prioritising and strengthening wildlife-friendly farming is essential if we are to safeguard the future of this unique and much-loved species.”
Harry Barton, CEO of Earthwatch Europe, said: “Farmers are some of the most important stewards of our landscape. At this critical time for both the future of agriculture and the health of our environment, the government must show leadership on transitioning to nature-friendly farming. Inaction is not an option.
Land use
Oliver Newham, UK Rewilding Policy and Advocacy Lead at Rewilding Britain, says: "The OEP’s latest report shows the Government is nowhere near meeting its legal commitments to nature. With nature in freefall and targets like 30by30 looming, action is urgently needed at the pace this crisis demands.
“Rewilding and nature recovery at scale offers hope and abundance, but it needs the right conditions to succeed – with bold leadership to restore ecosystems. Anything less risks locking in further decline and missing the opportunity to deliver a wilder, healthier Britain."
Darren Moorcroft, Chief Executive of the Woodland Trust, said: “Having spent 18 months rewriting its targets for nature recovery, the Government is now almost out of time to deliver any of them. We need to see this Government move much faster and further, not just for the survival of the nation’s woodlands, natural habitats and wildlife, but for our own communities and health.”
Kit Stoner, CEO of the Bat Conservation Trust, said: “Meeting the Environment Act’s targets to halt and reverse species decline requires a far more serious approach to land-use change than the government has shown so far. The anti-nature rhetoric used to push through the Planning and Infrastructure Act reflects this government’s resistance to the evidence-based changes needed to tackle the biodiversity crisis. Without them, it will keep failing to deliver the win-win for nature and communities we all want.”
Zoe Wedderburn-Day, Head of Policy & Strategy and Solicitor at Fish Legal, said: “The announcement from the Office for Environmental Protection reinforces the outcome of the legal action Fish Legal took on behalf of Pickering Fishery Association. The OEP’s suspicions of government non-compliance with environmental law matters because it helps explain why so many rivers remain in poor condition despite strong laws on the statute book. Pollution is well known, but less visible is the repeated failure to turn clear legal duties into practical action. Compliance with environmental law is not optional, and neither courts nor watchdogs should be needed to restate that.”
Marine
Professor Melanie Austen, President of the British Ecological Society, said: “As an island nation, our seas define and inspire us. Whenever we see marine life, like whales and dolphins, breaking through the surface into our world, we’re captivated. But the health of our oceans means that, for most people, these moments are too rare.
“There are strong signs of recovery in some places. With the right evidence-based policies and solutions, such as well-implemented marine-protected areas, sustainable mussel farming or eco-engineered sea walls, marine life can recover. The ecological community is a resource of immense national expertise. Collaboration between the government and experts is the route to achieving the UK’s legally binding targets.”
Sally Hamilton, CEO at ORCA, said: "As an island nation, our wellbeing is tied to the health of our seas - yet too much of the marine environment remains exposed to damage, despite being ‘protected’ on paper. If we want cetaceans to thrive in UK waters, we have to safeguard the habitats they depend on and restore the ecosystems that sustain them. That means stronger management of Marine Protected Areas, real enforcement, and bold leadership to put marine recovery at the heart of nature’s return.”
Protected sites
Professor Jeremy Biggs, CEO at Freshwater Habitats Trust, said: “We are deeply concerned about the state of our rivers, ponds, lakes, streams and wetlands, and the rapid loss of freshwater species caused by pollution and degradation. Urgent action is needed to protect the remaining biodiversity hotspots and to build out from these strongholds to restore the wider freshwater environment. The scientific evidence is clear about what must be done to reverse this decline. We now need a firm commitment from government to meet its 30x30 promise for freshwater.”
Calum Duncan, Head of Policy and Advocacy at the Marine Conservation Society said: "Marine restoration efforts continue to be undermined by a failure to properly defend protected areas from damaging activities and pollution. Designation alone is not enough – pollution and damaging activities in these valuable habitats must not be allowed to continue unchecked. With a Water White Paper, a long-overdue PFAS Plan, and a decision on fisheries management for 43 seabed MPAs and five MPAs for mobile species this year, the government has a clear opportunity to stop pollution at source and ensure 30x30 targets are met in practice and not just on paper."
Dr Rose O’Neill, CEO at Campaign for National Parks, said: “Covering 10% of the land in England, National Parks should be playing a vital role in achieving 30x30. However, thanks to consistent under funding and lacking the powers and resources needed, only 6% of the total land area of National Parks currently managed effectively for nature. If we are to meet these goals they can't continue to be overlooked.”
Rebecca Kennelly MBE, TCV Chief Executive, said: "There’s no doubt that people need nature, and nature needs us. It's vitally important that we create, improve and care for nature in green spaces across the UK and the Government's leadership is key to making this happen. Nature underpins everything from our health and wellbeing, the security of our economy, and overall climate and protection of our planet. We need to invest in nature to maximise the full range of benefits it provides. Protecting land for nature allows wildlife to thrive, biodiversity to increase, and people to feel the multiple and long-lasting benefits of connecting with nature."
Joan Edwards OBE, director of policy and public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, says: “Despite its promise to halt and reverse the severe decline of nature in this country, the Government is utterly failing to restore wildlife and wild places at the pace required by its own targets. Today’s report from the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) is damming evidence that without a significant step change in action and ambition, this Government will not fulfil its legally binding domestic and international commitments to recover nature.
“Report after report shows that nature declines are acute and that tackling the nature and climate crisis is of great importance to our food security, wellbeing and economy. Yet, as the OEP has pointed out, progress against the Government’s successive Environmental Improvement Plans has continued to fall short, failing to kick-start much-needed action on the ground to protect and restore wildlife, habitats and greenspaces.
“We need a coordinated effort across land use, food production, marine management and the circular economy to tackle the scale of this crisis. However, dangerous rhetoric continues to emerge from Number 10, falsely blaming nature for a beleaguered economy and hampering efforts to protect what remains of our natural world.”
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