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Success for the Wilder Future Campaign

The Wilder Future campaign, launched March 2019, is about advocating for political change as well as asking people to take ‘personal’ actions where they live to help put wildlife back on track.  The campaign is celebrating success today after Environment Secretary Michael Gove addressed key stakeholders at Kew Gardens yesterday regarding the Environmental Bill, during which he stated,

I welcome the compelling case The Wildlife Trusts have made for including a new system of environmental spatial planning in the Environment Bill. We will, therefore, legislate for a new framework of Local Nature Recovery Strategies in the Environment Bill, to help support greener communities, bring greater benefits from biodiversity net gain and create wild places that are bigger, better, and crucially, more joined up.”

Other requests highlighted in the Wilder Future campaign were also included in his speech including;

– An independent Office of Environmental Protection which is “able to take central government and public bodies to court if necessary”.

– Mandate biodiversity ‘net gain’ in future developments – “We will ensure that the environmental impacts of new commercial and residential developments are more than made up for, by ensuring money is invested in improving existing habitats and restoring depleted environments to health”.

– Updating the previous reference for local authorities to “have regard” to nature conservation – “the old duty on them to “have regard” to nature conservation is not enough. So, I would like to amend the law to require all English public authorities not just to conserve but to enhance nature”

See the full speech here.

This success however, is only the first step, the campaign is far from over and you can still get involved. Take action – click here to join our call for a #WilderFuture.