We all want clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and a thriving natural world for its own sake and because it supports our very existence? Nothing much to argue about here, surely…?

However, that’s exactly the battle that we are fighting.

Over the last 100 years, thanks to the efforts of organisations like the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, and other environmental and social charities across the country, we have helped to secure important laws and regulations that provide protection for our most threatened wildlife and wild places, and help to clean up our air and water.

These laws provide some protection for special habitats such as wetlands, woodlands and meadows across our county, and country, which could otherwise have been lost forever.

However, these laws were never designed to support the recovery of nature, but to hang onto what we have got (or had).

Despite the success of these laws, and the determination of thousands of individuals and organisation to save wild places, we have still lost a huge area of wildlife habitats and the species that rely upon these habitats continue to decline. The recent State of Nature report provides a stark reminder of this with its shocking conclusion that 1 in 8 of the UK species assessed are at risk of extinction.

That’s why we are campaigning hard for a new Environment Bill that will set ambitious targets for the recovery of nature and put the right responsibilities and duties in place to make this happen everywhere across the country.

We were therefore delighted to see a new Environment Bill announced in the Queen’s Speech earlier this month and to hear the Environment Secretary, The Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, say:

There has also been a key win on ensuring targets to restore nature are legally binding. We now need to make sure that these targets meet the scale of the environmental crisis. 

However, we are disappointed that major national infrastructure projects, such as HS2, will not be made to leave the natural world in a better state (achieve a ‘net gain’). We will also be looking for reassurances on the independence and enforcement powers of the Office for Environmental Protection.

Overall, there’s a lot to be positive about – but the fight has only just begun to ensure that this Bill becomes law!

We need as many people as possible to let our politicians know that they need to act urgently to create a Wilder Future, and a Wilder Nottinghamshire, and be part of nature’s recovery.

We need urgent action to protect our natural world. The Environment Bill is starting to progress through Parliament. We need to ensure as many MPs as possible speak up for the environment at this crucial time. Make a difference by asking your MP to attend. Just fill in this simple form.

#WilderFuture #Wilder Nottinghamshire