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Budget, plus a “natural wealth
fund” to ensure that we provide
for future generations.
Regional
The way we spend money on the
environment is often inefficient.
It can be uncoordinated, short-term
and untargeted. We call for catchment
commissioners across the country to
coordinate investment in our natural
wealth in a way that works with the
local environment.
Local
The poorest and most vulnerable
people have least access to nature,
particularly among children. We propose
national support for green prescription
schemes and planning guidance to
improve equitable access to high-quality
natural environments.
• • •
Crucially, these advances will
complement direct conservation
approaches, such as species and habitat
protection under the EU Birds and
Habitats Directives and under national
legal protections, including Sites of
Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and
Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs).
Accounting for nature and natural capital
investment should be seen as a valuable
way to incorporate nature’s importance
in decision-making, but they should
never be seen as an alternative to legal
protection for our environment.
Together, these steps will improve lives
today and in the future. They will help
restore our wetland environments and
the species that depend upon them
and maintain our natural heritage.
They will make us more resilient to risks
like flooding and creating safer, greener
places for communities and families.
They will reinforce the natural assets that
underpin our businesses. Crucially, they
will help make us the first generation to
invest more in nature than we take away.
The 25 year plan for nature
The Government has recognised
that we cannot continue to grow as
a society without investing in nature.
It is working on a 25 year plan to restore
the environment. We support that bold,
modern objective.
We are calling for the creation of
100,000 hectares of new wetlands
as part of the Government’s 25 year
environment plan, as part of a set of
environmental objectives for 2040—clean
water, pure air, healthy habitats. Creating
100,000 hectares of wetlands will cost
money, but we will be richer as a result.
This should be part of a natural
revolution in Government, recognising
our need for nature. We have to put the
environment as a whole at the heart of
our decision-making.
So, to support the Government in
its 25 year plan, and to help deliver
100,000 hectares of new wetland,
we propose a simple series of changes
from the top to the bottom of the way
our society works:
International
No country can save nature alone:
only by working together can we
ensure we leave a thriving natural
world for the next generation. As the
UK’s relationship with the EU and the
rest of the world changes, we must
ensure that environmental protection
is strengthened. The 25 year plan is
a chance to set the targets, funding
and regulations to make this possible.
It should also be a plan to play a
leading role in other international
agreements, from climate change
to species protection.
National
Our natural wealth is invisible in
Parliament. Each year, the Budget
Statement sets out economic results
with scant regard for nature. We need
a “natural wealth statement” that makes
our natural wealth a key part of the
100,000
Hectares
We are calling for the creation of
100,000 hectares of new wetlands.