Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
A Delicate Balance Climate action needs nature. Nature needs climate action. Neither will succeed if we don’t prepare for a changing world. Erin McDaid, Head of Communications & Marketing, Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.
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ast month, ahead of the global COP26 climate conference The Wildlife Trusts issued a report calling for the nature and climate crises to be tackled at speed. With the UK holding the Presidency of the conference, The Wildlife Trusts are calling for the nature crisis to be addressed alongside the climate emergency – spelling out that without action for nature, neither will be solved. To ram the message home we published a special COP26 edition of our nature-based solutions report, Let Nature Help, which explains how climate change is driving nature’s decline, whilst the loss of wildlife and habitats leaves us ill-equipped to reduce emissions and adapt to a changing world. Speaking as the report was launched Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts said: “Net zero needs nature. Nature needs net zero. Both need to be resilient to the climate of the future. Nature’s fantastic ability to trap carbon safely and provide other important benefits is proven – peatland, woodland, saltmarsh and other wild habitats are vital carbon stores. But these natural places are in decline and face even greater risk of degradation from the extreme climatic conditions that are already inevitable over the next 30 years.”
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Our natural places are in decline and sadly face even greater risk of degradation from extreme climatic conditions – conditions that are becoming all too familiar and which will remain inevitable over the next 30 years. The urgency in Craig’s message is underpinned by the fact that we now face the prospect of a vicious spiral of damage – so we must take action to stop it right now. Governments have been talking for decades and it is now clear that the current decade must be one of action. As well as urgently cutting carbon emissions we also need an enormous increase in the area of land and sea that is protected for nature. To be effective this increase must be to at least 30% by 2030. We’re also calling for the Government to embed climate action – both in terms of mitigation and adaptation – across all departments and swiftly take steps to stop carbon-emitting activities such as new road building, peat burning and trawling the seabed. Failure to act urgently in critical areas will have a massive impact on the likely success of future action Other measures The Wildlife Trusts wish the Government to deliver on include a ban on the sale and use of peat in gardening and compost products, alongside an immediate ban on peatland burning and a significant increase peatland restoration.
