Letter to PM says young people will have even less nature without urgent action now

Letter to PM says young people will have even less nature without urgent action now - The Wildlife Trusts

Young people to hand-in 60,000-strong petition to Downing St 3 (c) Chris Wood

Young people hand in 60,000-strong petition to Downing St today calling for more ambitious nature targets.

This afternoon, a group of The Wildlife Trusts’ youth ambassadors will hand in a 60,000-strong petition, and over 10,000 personal views shared by the public, all calling for more ambitious Government targets to halt and reverse nature’s decline.

The Government will soon set legally binding targets for nature’s recovery. This is urgently needed because the UK is one of the most wildlife-depleted countries in the world and habitat loss and degradation continue to blight people’s lives and affect nature’s ability to store carbon.

The long-term target currently being proposed for nature’s recovery aims to have just 10% more nature in 2042 than 2030 levels – by which time the state of our natural world is expected to have declined even further. The Wildlife Trusts have written a letter to the Prime Minister expressing serious concern and calling instead for a 20% increase on 2022 levels.

The Wildlife Trusts made it easy for people to respond to the recent public consultation on the Environment Act targets because people found it hard to navigate. Over 60,000 people backed The Wildlife Trusts' view that the target is far too low.

Young people will suffer most from the consequences of continued nature declines in their lives. The youth ambassadors handing in the petition today include author, activist and The Wildlife Trusts’ ambassador, Mya-Rose Craig, and nine other youth ambassadors from different parts of the UK.