Nature 2030 Campaign
Update – May 2024
Thank you to the 100,000 plus people who signed the Nature 2030 open letter, an incredible show of public support for nature restoration.
The open letter closed in April and is now being handed into major political parties (see here and here).
The asks of the Nature 2030 campaign are being taken forward through ongoing advocacy and the ‘Restore Nature Now march’, a major demonstration in London on 22nd June. March with us to restore nature!
Ask our politicians to take action to stop the collapse of nature.
Join more than 100 charities and celebrities like Steve Backshall and Chris Packham in demanding a vote for nature at the next election. Through the Nature 2030 campaign, we’re calling on all political parties to adopt five landmark policies for nature’s recovery ahead of the next General Election.
It’s no secret that we need nature
From making our communities better and healthier places to live to supporting farmers and dealing with the effects of climate change and pollution, nature plays a huge, but often unseen role in our everyday lives.
But right now, nature in the UK is in trouble. For many years our natural world has been under threat, often forgotten by decision-makers and pushed to the fringes of our communities and our wild places. Add your name to the call for change.
Why nature needs our help now
The UK is one of the worst countries in the world for nature loss with just 3% of land and 8% of our seas well protected for nature. Many of the species which call the UK home have seen their populations decline by an average of 41% in the last 50 years, leading to 1 in 6 species at risk of extinction.
Despite this crisis, targets to restore nature have been repeatedly missed. In 2020 the UK only met three of out 10 global targets for nature recovery and had actually gone backwards on six targets.
These failures have a huge impact on not just our wildlife and wild places but on communities across the country. Whether it’s the knock-on health impacts of increased air pollution and lack of access to natural space costing the NHS billions of pounds every year, or fewer pollinators and an absence of healthy soils putting farm productivity at risk, nature’s decline is bad for the country.
Turning promises into action
There have been some big promises made in recent years, with the UK committing to halt the loss of wildlife and manage 30% of the land and sea for nature by 2030. However, these commitments haven’t always been backed up with the ambition needed to meet them. The evidence is clear, without radical action, we’re at real risk of losing some of our most important wild places and wildlife and our politicians can no longer afford to see nature as a ‘nice to have’.
That’s why we need politicians of all parties to support five policies to turn the tide for nature by 2030 and you can join us in demanding change!
The commitments we need for nature:
We’re calling on party leaders to commit to our five actions for nature ahead of the next general election. Together, these policies would give the UK a real opportunity to meet the targets to protect and restore our wildlife and wild places by 2030, support local communities across the country and help to turn the tide against the nature and climate crisis. We want to see:
- A pay rise for farmers, doubling the support for farmers to make sure that they can deliver nature-friendly farming and nature restoration
- Making polluters pay, ensuring that businesses have nature and climate plans in place and setting new duties to drive private investment in species and habitat recovery.
- Making more space for nature, restoring more protected sites and landscapes by 2030, and creating a Public Nature Estate across England with the support of local and national partners.
- Creating more green jobs, delivering wide-scale habitat restoration and creating green jobs in urban, rural and coastal habitats and in species recovery through a National Nature Service.
- A Right to a Healthy Environment, establishing a human right to clean air and water and access to nature.
Read more about our Nature 2030 proposals here.
This is the UK’s opportunity to create a better state of nature.
If you want politicians to turn a new leaf at the next election, join us in demanding a brighter future for British nature by signing our open letter today.
Membership of Wildlife and Countryside Link is open to national and international voluntary or other non-profit organisations based in England. Member organisations must be able to demonstrate an interest in furthering the work of Link, and their aims must include the protection of wildlife, landscape and the quiet enjoyment and appreciation of the countryside. Individual members of the public are not eligible to join Link, but may be interested in joining one of Link's member organisations.