UK lags in efforts to set land and sea aside for nature

The UK is falling behind in its aim to reach a target of setting 30% of land and sea aside for nature.

And it has missed the deadline to submit new plans to the UN ahead of its next international biodiversity summit.

The accusation of the UK lagging in efforts to deliver the so-called 30×30 goal has this week been made by the NGO Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL).

They say that just 9.7% of England’s seas are effectively protected for nature, up slightly from 8% last year. And the proportion stands at around 3% of land.

While a greater proportion of land and sea have specific classifications as protected or sites of interest, WCL has tracked little to no progress in real-world outcomes. Such sites may still face damage from agricultural or industrial activity and other risks include climate-induced extreme weather events and pollution, they said.

Less than 37% of England’s sites of special scientific interest were considered to be in good ecological condition last year and only a fifth of Marine Protected Areas are improving their conservation outcomes.

While WCL’s data relates just to England, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) has previously reached similar conclusions with UK-wide data, as has the House of Lords’ Environment and Climate Change Committee which stated in July that only 6.5% of land is protected in ways which can count towards the 30×30 target.

The target is a key feature of the UN-convened Kunming-Montreal declaration on biodiversity, ratified by more than 110 nations in 2022.

Crucial talks are to be held in Colombia later this month where countries will present new plans for delivering their declaration commitments and provide an update on progress.

WCL chief executive Richard Benwell said: “The new Government is going to need to take giant strides in the next six years to meet internationally agreed 2030 nature targets.

“As delegates arrive in Colombia for crucial nature talks, the UK has a major opportunity to show global environmental leadership. This must be backed up by action at home.”

Benwell wants the Government to bring forward a “rapid rescue package” for nature, speeding up reforms to agriculture and fisheries regulations and payment schemes and increasing protections for sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). Such a package should also include additional protected status allocations and more funding for nature restoration, he said.

The RSPB, the Campaign for National Parks and Oceana UK are all backing the WCL call to action, along with Syntegra MD Alan King.

He said: “The importance of protecting areas for nature and enhancing biodiversity opportunities cannot be over stated.

“The WCL is entirely right in its conclusions and call for urgent reforms. This country has to be laser focused on tackling the climate crisis and achieving this target would be a huge step forward. Action is required as a matter of urgency and it would be significant if the UK could show some leadership in this area.” 

Ministers have confirmed that the UK will appoint a nature envoy for the first time, to oversee participation in international discussions.

It has been reported that the UK has missed the deadline for submitting a detailed national delivery plan ahead of the next UN biodiversity summit, called COP16. This may be due to the fact that the new Government only came to power just three months ago.

Think-tank IPPR has published a series of recommendations on how the UK could show international nature leadership, despite the challenges associated with having a new government, based on research with experts including former International Environment and Climate Minister Zac Goldsmith.

The IPPR is calling on Ministers to:

• Publish a new global nature strategy
• Consider hosting its own international summit in between UN summits
• Allocate at least half of the next International Climate Finance budget to forests
• Establish new mechanisms to scale nature finance from private sources
• Mandate nature-related risk disclosures for large businesses
• Remove tariffs from goods imported from nature-rich nations, provided that sustainable production is proven
• Partner with other nations on the delivery of the 30×30 goal

IPPR associate director of international policy and co-author of the report, Laura Chappell, said: “The Foreign Secretary’s commitment to put climate and nature at the heart of the FCDO’s work is laudable, as is his swift announcement of a new international nature envoy role. But the world has no more than a decade to fundamentally change course, and the government needs to follow these actions up quickly.

“The UK can mobilise huge amounts of soft power and money to influence change, but this can’t just be a superficial effort; it must involve practical policies, targeted use of funds, and working with international partners without getting dogged down in bureaucracy.”