Caroline Lucas: “What action the UK takes on climate and biodiversity this year matters more than ever”
The Green Party has reiterated a call for a ‘State of Nature’ clause being included in the delayed Environment Bill which would require the government to set a legally-binding target of 2030 to halt and reverse the decline of nature.
Green Party MP Caroline Lucas supported an amendment to the bill [1], with the target seen as a vital way to hold ministers to account- without the amendment, opportunities to save the natural world from irreversible damage would be lost.
Meanwhile, the party has called on road building projects and airport expansion plans to be scrapped [2] following an announcement which said the capacity of Leeds Bradford Airport would be increased despite widespread condemnation and concern. [3]
Lucas said: “The Environment Bill needs to be strengthened if it is to provide the protection that’s urgently needed and that’s why this Amendment is so important. As it is, we have lost protections we had as EU members and what’s being put in their place is weaker.
“What action the UK takes on climate and biodiversity this year matters more than ever because, as hosts of COP26, government policies will be in the global spotlight. That’s why we need to see far greater ambition and the funding to back it.
“We live in one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, with 15% of our species on the brink of extinction and just under half of UK wildlife in long term decline. Now more than ever, the government must listen to these demands and protect the natural world they are failing so badly.”
ENDS
Notes, https://www.wcl.org.uk/state-of-nature-amendment.asp, https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2021/03/15/road-building-and-airport-expansion-must-be-scrapped-say-greens/,