Following the UK Government’s response – click here – to the OEP’s report on Protected Sites in England – click here, Gemma Cantelo, head of policy and advocacy for RSPB England, said:
“Despite countless wake-up calls the UK Government still believes a business-as-usual approach will stop nature disappearing over a cliff edge. The OEP could not have been clearer in its protected sites report – Defra’s approach falls well short of the urgent action needed to protect vulnerable species and our most important spaces for nature by 2030. And yet in response to that report, the Westminster Government appears to ignore the OEP’s clear steer that a step change is needed to reverse the deterioration of England’s protected sites and to make progress towards their targets for nature’s recovery.
Restoring England’s protected habitats and pulling species back from the brink requires proper funding and action on the ground. The government is legally bound to meet its 30×30 targets yet its plan smacks of indifference. It must change tack and do so without delay if we are to halt the freefall of nature in this country.”
ENDS
Mark Avery writes:
- The OEP were right
- Defra and the rest of this Labour government is consistently wrong on the environment
- RSPB is right to support the OEP
- Environmentalists will be asking themselves whether their votes should head towards the Greens in May and afterwards. It is unlikely that the next UK government will be a Green government (although 3+ years is a very long time in politics) but perfectly possible that the next government will have to be the strangest of coalitions. If so, we might want the Greens to be part of the mix, at least.
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