The House of Lord’s Environment and Climate change Committee say that an urgent step-change is needed if the Government is to deliver on its ’30 by 30’ target to protect 30% of our land and seas by 2030..
Evidence shows that only around 6.5% of England is effectively protected for nature. More than 3,000,000 hectares are needed to achieve the 30 by 30 target: this equates to an area roughly one and a half times the size of Wales.
Improving nature in England would bring a host of co-benefits – including improvements to public health and wellbeing, as well as tackling climate change. Protected areas in England will play an important role in restoring nature and meeting internationally-agreed biodiversity targets.
Whilst welcoming the Government’s ambitions to meet the stretching target by 2030, the Committee’s report concludes that it is not clear how the Government plans to achieve ’30 by 30’, and that a major step change in its approach to protected areas is required to deliver the commitment it made.
The Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee, Baroness Parminter, said:
“Our report makes it clear that the Government faces a huge challenge to meet the ‘30 by 30’ target it signed up to last year.
“The Government must designate more areas to be protected, meeting international criteria, and manage and monitor all protected areas better to achieve favourable condition.
“Time is running out to halt species decline and recover nature for the public good. We are therefore calling on the Government to act urgently as it has just seven crucial years to fulfil its nature crisis pledge.”
