The UK government plans to expand or create 25 national nature reserves and ensure that everyone in the country is no more than a 15-minute walk away from a green space or area of water, it said Tuesday.
The government will provide additional cash to protect species of wildlife such as hedgehogs and red squirrels and commit to restore at least 500,000 hectares of wildlife habitat, and 400 miles of river.
As well as the 25 new or expanded national nature reserves, there will be money to protect or create 3,000 ha of new woodland along England’s rivers.
The announcement Tuesday sets out how ministers intend to clean up air and water, boost nature and reduce waste over the next five years in England.
“This plan provides the blueprint for how we deliver our commitment to leave our environment in a better state than we found it, making sure we drive forward progress with renewed ambition and achieve our target of not just halting, but reversing the decline of nature,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
Green Party lawmaker Caroline Lucas raised concerns to the BBC however, that the plans would have the desired effect.
“At the moment nearly three million people live more than 10 minutes from green space and any new access would be needed to be protected in perpetuity,” she told the public broadcaster.
“If it means access on farmers’ land, obviously that would need to be squared with farmers and finance might be needed for that as well.”
The Office for Environmental Protection, a body responsible for looking after the UK’s green spaces, has previously said that efforts were not close to what was needed to protect Britain’s environment, noting a “deeply concerning decline in biodiversity”.
The government has now set out how it intends to meet legally-binding targets on water quality, biodiversity, and waste as well as the landmark targets agreed at the COP15 UN biodiversity summit in December.
The UK’s Environmental Improvement Plan outlined Tuesday has outlined five main goals:
- Creating and restoring at least 2,000 square miles of new wildlife habitats;
- Ensuring everyone in England lives within a 15-minute walk of woodlands, wetlands, parks and rivers;
- Restoring 400 miles of England’s rivers;
- New targets for 2028 for reducing plastic, glass, metal, paper and food waste;
- A promise to put environmental protection at the heart of all new government policy.
By Roy Manuell – roy@carbon-pulse.com
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