- charities warn wildlife, wellbeing & climate aims could otherwise be missed
22 nature charities are today urging the Chancellor of the Exchequer to pledge at least £1.2 billion extra each year for nature in the forthcoming Spending Review and Budget on 27 October. The charities are calling for new funding for nature to deliver vital health, wellbeing and economic benefits post-pandemic, limit and mitigate the impact of climate change, and restore British wildlife treasured by the public.
Members of Wildlife and Countryside Link, England’s biggest nature coalition, welcomed the Government’s recent announcement of a legal target in the Environment Bill to halt the decline of wildlife by 2030, following their campaign for a target to improve the State of Nature. They say major public investment will be needed to meet it.
New modelling shows that, unless the Chancellor announces a bare minimum extra investment of £1.2 billion to restore priority habitats and protect wildlife alone, key 2030 nature targets and 2035 emissions targets may be missed. To be confident of achieving its wider environmental ambitions however, UK public spending on nature would have to triple. The current nature spend of £2.2 billion would need to rise to £6.8bn per year in total. This includes funding of:
- £2.262bn per year to restore and protect habitats and species to halt nature’s decline by 2030 across the UK
- At-least £5.5bn over 3 years across the UK to provide health and wellbeing benefits through equitable access to nature
- An additional £501m per year in England to underpin environmental commitments through advice, enforcement, and capacity-building
Restoring biodiversity is central to achieving all the benefits that nature can offer to provide cleaner air and water, tackle climate change, improve public health, boost the economy and provide the resources we rely on, including healthy soils. As well as helping our natural world this public investment would deliver a wealth of benefits for people, the economy and the National Health Service. It is estimated an extra £5.5bn spend over 3 years on greater access to enhanced nature alone would provide £200bn in healthcare benefits, deliver around 40,000 jobs, and help in levelling-up by providing 3,500 deprived communities across the UK with access to green spaces.
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Posted On: 20/10/2021