Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust has today published its own manifesto ahead of the forthcoming General Election. The Trust are urging all parliamentary candidates to put nature first and commit to tackling the climate and ecological emergency, should they be elected next month.
In a letter to candidates, Debbie Tann CEO at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, states: ‘We know that so many voters care passionately about the state of nature and we are seeing people stepping forward daily wanting to play their part and desperate for others to take the necessary steps to create a better future for our wildlife and for generations to come.
“This must be the priority for the next parliament. Nature’s recovery is the most pressing political and social issue of our time.”
The Wildlife Trust is asking candidates to pledge to:
- Prioritise natural climate solutions at a local and national level, driving investment in wetland, woodland, heathland, meadow and marine habitats to capture carbon and build resilience to change.
- Back an ambitious Environment Act with legally binding targets to restore nature, a powerful, independent environmental watchdog, and a Nature Recovery Network to protect, expand and join-up places for wildlife.
- Help farmers to help nature – Introduce a new Agricultural Bill that pays for farming with nature and encourages landowners to restore and re-wild areas of our countryside for the benefit of wider society.
- Revive our marine environment through a network of Highly Protected Marine Areas and a new Marine Strategy. The Strategy should set out how we develop at sea, how we fish within environmental limits and how we restore our marine ecosystems to help tackle the climate crisis and support plentiful fish and marine life.
- Support the Trust’s new ten year plan to create a wilder Hampshire and Isle of Wight. The aim, as set out in WILDER 2030, is for the space for wildlife to be trebled and for hundreds of thousands of local people to be supported and encouraged to take individual and collective action in support of nature.