Wildlife and Countryside Link have recently launched a major ‘Nature 2030’ campaign with a landmark 5-point plan for nature.

New research shows the public is unimpressed with the Government’s performance on the environment. Only 1 in 10 (8-13%) think the Government is performing well on key environmental issues, with Brits wanting greater environmental ambition from politicians. The vast majority of the British public, of all political persuasions, support ambitious new measures to help nature recover by 2030.

The Nature 2030 Plan outlines 5 key asks of political parties including: doubling the wildlife-friendly farming budget, making polluters pay for nature restoration, a large-scale green jobs creation scheme, increased protection and funding for wildlife sites and a new law guaranteeing environmental rights.

A coalition of organisations including the BMC, Ramblers, National Trust and RSPB is calling on all political parties to get behind these proposals in their general election manifestos to deliver on public appetite for greater environmental ambition and to meet binding targets for nature by 2030 and climate by 2050.

As part of the campaign, a series of Nature 2030 mini-manifesto documents have been produced on marine, freshwater, chemicals and climate. Today, they have published their most recent one for ‘People and Nature’.

People who are connected to nature take action to protect and restore it.  However, currently 38% of people in England do not have access to green and blue spaces within 15 minutes’ walk of their home. The UK ranks lowest of 14 European countries for nature connectedness. We must all be empowered to take action for nature, to create the green and beautiful future we want.

Nature 2030: A Manifesto for People and Nature

Nature 2030 is a challenge to all political parties ahead of the next general election to take action for nature, proposing five ambitious policies to get Government back on track to meet the 2030 nature targets and restore biodiversity.

For people’s access to and engagement with nature, this means:

• A Major Increase in Support for Nature-Friendly Farming: Doubling the support for farmers to make sure they can deliver nature restoration, public access, and naturefriendly farming.
• A Nature Recovery Obligation: Ensuring that businesses have nature and climate plans in place and setting new duties to drive private investment in the recovery of species and habitats and the creation of a healthy natural environment for the benefit of all..
• A 30 by 30 Rapid Delivery Project: Restoring more protected sites and landscapes by 2030 and creating a Public Nature Estate across England to create more nature, better nature, and more access to and engagement with nature for people.
• A National Nature Service: Delivering widescale habitat restoration and creating green jobs in urban, rural and coastal habitats and communities through a National Nature Service.
• A Right to a Healthy Environment: Establishing a new human right to clean air, clean water, and access to nature, by putting nature and access to nature at the heart of decision-making.

This is the UK’s opportunity to create a better state of nature.

To drive truly ambitious, holistic action, these Nature 2030 actions must be aligned and built around a comprehensive long-term target for people’s access to nature in England. The current Government commitment to provide access to high quality green and blue spaces for all people within a 15 minute walk of home should be put on a statutory footing.

The BMC are joining the Wildlife and Countryside Link to call on the next Government to introduce legislation to create more opportunities for everyone to access nature close to where they live.

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