𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The UK’s national security is at risk because of the country’s failure to halt and reverse nature loss, a charity has warned. The Wildlife Trusts said nature must be treated as essential national infrastructure to ensure food and water security.

It also said that the country is not on track to meet its commitments to protect and manage 30% of land, freshwater and sea for nature by 2030. Zoe Quiroz Cullen, head of climate and international policy at The Wildlife Trusts, said: “The UK may have made important commitments to protect and restore nature, but we are not seeing action at the scale or speed needed to deliver them.

“As one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, now is the time to accelerate and turn commitments into urgent and sustained action. Governments across the UK must recognise that the stakes go far beyond meeting environmental targets, and that climate change and nature loss cannot be treated as separate or future crises.

“Healthy rivers, soils, wetlands, woodlands and seas underpin our food and water security, support healthy communities, and both tackle and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate. Nature must therefore be treated as essential national infrastructure and become a priority if we are to secure our future prosperity, security and resilience. The opportunity to restore nature is huge, and the cost of inaction is high – and rising.”

The UK is currently set to meet just three of its 23 targets by 2030, with insufficient progress on the remaining 20.

In England, a plan for protecting 30% of land is in place, but the report outlines how key details on its implementation and how progress will be measured are still missing.

Ms Quiroz Cullen said: “From restoring peatlands that store carbon and help clean and manage water, to protecting and creating more wild spaces in towns and cities, we can see how nature recovery can deliver benefits for wildlife, climate and people.

“The challenge now is to scale up this action across the UK and beyond.”

The charity’s report urged the government to support species reintroductions as part of measures to boost nature.

This includes beaver releases to help ecosystem restoration, climate resilience and natural flood management.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been contacted for comment.