April 28, 2022
Charity coalition's 2030 strategy aims to ramp up expansion of nature recovery areas to boost carbon storage, climate resilience, and connect more people with nature. Charity coalition The Wildlife Trusts is planning to ramp up its support for nature restoration, carbon sequestration, and public access to nature in the coming years, as part of its new 2030 strategy unveiled today, as the group warned the "dire" decline of the UK's natural world is in urgent need of reversal. The Strategy 2030 document sets out three overarching goals for the group, which comprises 46 grassroots charities with a collective 850,000 members, largely focused on harnessing the restoration of nature to help enhance biodiversity, drive down emissions, and boost climate resilience. The group said the Strategy would focus on making more space for nature connecting habitats on a large scale, which should help restore nature in the UK and enhance the ability of ecosystems to function, while also utilising nature to store carbon, prevent flooding, and reduce soil erosion. In addition, The Wildlife Trusts said it would concentrate on connecting more people with nature so as to support their mental and physical wellbeing, while in turn inspiring one in four people to take action in their communities to rewild their neighbourhoods, with a particular focus on engaging younger people. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with 41 per cent of species in decline since the 1970s, and 15 per cent at risk of extinction, including iconic species such as hedgehogs, water voles and red squirrels. But under the new Strategy, the group said it would be working with every county in the UK to drive change, such as through expanding the amount of land inside Nature Recovery Zones, increasing the size of The Wildlife Trusts' estate, and collaborating with farmers to create thousands of hectares of new habitats. Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, described the situation as "dire" as he called for special measures to help trigger "a decade of nature restoration". "Conservation of the wildlife and habitats that remain is no longer enough because what we've got left is so fragmented and diminished," he said. "In the past we've focused on preserving habitats and species - now we need to restore the abundance of nature, and with it, the ecosystem processes that'll get nature working again." But Bennett stressed there was still hope to deliver urgently needed changes, and that "it's up to us all - businesses, landowners, schools, governments, and individuals - to heal our natural world". "The UK has committed to protecting and managing 30 per cent of land for nature by 2030 and we're going to be working with all national governments and local authorities to make sure this happens," said Bennett. The announcement comes ahead of the long-delayed COP15 UN Biodiversity Summit, which is due to take place in China later this year. Governments around the world are under mounting pressure to jointly agree to a major treaty to reverse the devastating decline in nature. The new strategy comes as growing numbers of businesses and farmers in the UK are looking to ramp up investment in nature restoration projects, either as part of net zero strategies or to access new subsidies the government is introducing that will see landowners paid based on the ecosystem services they help deliver. TV presenter Liz Bonnin, president of The Wildlife Trusts, said there was a need for the charity's member groups to work together more closely as an "interconnected community" in order to not just halt, but reverse the decline in nature. "Our precious ecosystems - all interconnected and interdependent themselves - need to be able to do their job in maintaining the health of our planet," she said. "The Wildlife Trusts' Strategy is harnessing the tremendous amount of expertise from all 46 Trusts to restore our wild places, putting people at the heart of it all."