Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has called for bold and committed action for nature’s recovery as General Election campaigning gets underway. Following Wednesday’s announcement that a General Election will be held on 4th July, the Trust has emphasised the critical importance of this election for the future of UK wildlife. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world and the decisions taken by the next government will have a pivotal impact on efforts to urgently halt nature’s decline. Debbie Tann MBE, Chief Executive of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, has urged all political parties, candidates, and voters to prioritise nature and biodiversity in their platforms, policies and choices. She said:
“The next 5 years will be decisive in our efforts to protect and restore the natural environment. “We need bold and committed action from political leaders to ensure we meet our targets and secure a thriving natural world for future generations.”
The Trust has identified 5 key policy priorities that must be addressed to halt and reverse species decline and ensure a positive future for all:
- Reforming our planning system: Development needs to be both nature-friendly and sustainable. Our planning system must be reformed to protect critical habitats and natural resources, and ensure that new developments contribute positively to the recovery of the natural environment.
- Supporting the transition to Nature-Friendly Farming: Agriculture is one of the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change, and in turn these issues are a huge threat to food security. Policies should properly fund the transition to sustainable and regenerative methods of food production that support biodiversity restoration, soil health, and climate resilience.
- Tackling water pollution: Clean water is essential for both wildlife and people. Stricter regulations and better management of pollutants, including agricultural runoff and sewage, are vital if we are to protect our rivers and seas. Our local chalk streams are a world-renowned habitat, but their health is at great risk. We need local champions backing more robust protections to help save our chalk streams.
- Supporting greener communities: Urban and rural greenspaces provide the essential habitats and stepping stones that our wildlife needs to survive and thrive, whilst also supporting people’s health and wellbeing and helping deal with the impacts of climate change. We need to empower communities to connect with and look after the nature on their doorstep.
- Prioritising Nature-Based Solutions to climate change: Natural solutions such as reforestation, wetland creation and seagrass restoration can make a meaningful contribution to combating and building resilience to climate change while also boosting biodiversity. These ecosystems can act as buffers against extreme weather such as flooding or droughts, protecting people, houses, crops, water supplies and vital infrastructure.
This election represents a pivotal moment for our environment. The Trust calls on all political parties to commit to these policy priorities and demonstrate their dedication to nature conservation. Voters, too, have the power to drive this change by supporting candidates who prioritise the environment. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust remains dedicated to working with local communities, policymakers, and conservation partners to ensure that nature is at the heart of decision-making processes.
Nothing at all to do with the mass uncontrolled immigration of the last 25 years of course as they cram an extra 10 million people in – remember the same people calling for us to ‘save nature’ are also the ones calling for net zero impoverishment and the carpeting of countryside in Chinese made solar panels that don’t work, the banning of farming to feed ourselves (to re-wild land that hasn’t been wild for thousands of years) and the open borders policies that are causing us to disappear under the weight of third world immigration
Certainly does make me wonder now, if the world would have been by now a far nicer place to live IF Germany had won the war.
Seems almost criminal to think such, but I can see a time now, we may well wish they had as our society, and culture is lost, not for a while, but for the rest of eternity.
At least the Germans have far more in common with us than the third world’s dregs, who ruin every area they choose to impose themselves upon, anywhere on the globe, proving, as if it were needed, it is ‘them’ that is the problem, not the country they are in.
ALL politicians have let us down badly, aided by the gagged media
Ha ha. You have truly flipped your wig when you think the world would be a better place if Germany won the war. You obviously would not exist if Germany had won the war because the whole population of the island would have been exterminated according to the principles of eugenics and the desire to create a pure master race.
There won’t be any nature when everywhere is covered in houses turbines and windfalls.
I fail to understand that few can see or perhaps wish to acknowledge the loss of our beautiful countryside and all the creatures which reside there and the undoubted link with the truly, never ending stream of people arriving on our shores each day.
Just because thankfully most aren’t themselves residing here, many more displaced indigenous move here to avoid living in areas they no longer feel comfortable with.
The BBC and media have done an effective job of subtly ignoring the harm from masse immigration and blame anything and everything else but.
Wow that’s amazing, but what’s it gotta do with the election ? .. I’ve dug a hole in my back garden and made it into a pond and I’ve got loads of pond frog’s in it..planted loads of plants so it’s gonna be buzzing this summer…what’s not to love about nature… ye hah..
Sadly I recently cancelled my IOW & Hampshire Wildlife Trust monthly Direct Debit as the umbrella group of Charities it falls under (Wildlife & Countryside Link) warned that the British countryside is a “racist colonial” white space. They should stick to the protection of British Nature (which I will always support and care for) and keep out out devisive politics. Google the WCL and act accordingly.
What about increasing opportunities for people to have good job opportunities via commercial development. Clearly the trust don’t care about people.
This is to plant 5he seed in your mind! So when the next government announce, that people will be restricted to roam freely in nature, because nature is fragile, etc etc. More bs imafraid, control of where you can roam in the countryside.