THE WILDLIFE Trusts are calling on the UK Presidency of COP26 to tackle the nature crisis alongside the climate emergency – or say neither will be solved.
The charity has published a COP26 edition of its nature-based solutions report Let Nature Help.
It explains how climate change is driving nature’s decline, whilst the loss of wildlife and habitats leaves us ill-equipped to reduce emissions and adapt to a changing world.
In addition to the urgent task of cutting emissions at source and vastly increasing the amount of land and sea that’s earmarked for nature’s recovery.
The Wildlife Trusts are calling for greater protection of vital carbon-storing habitats with:
* a ban on bottom-trawling the seabed in England
* an immediate ban on peatland burning and end to farming on deep peat
* a significant increase in peatland restoration and repair of 100 per cent of upland peat before 2050
* a boost to sustainable farming that locks carbon into the soil and helps wildlife
* a new designation, Wildbelt, which protects places, including degraded land, that is put in recovery for nature
Ed Green, chief executive of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, said: “We are living in a climate and ecological emergency.
“Year after year we see and feel the growing disruption this is causing in extreme weather events, declining populations of familiar species and the deterioration in the services which nature provides us … pollination, flood management, soil fertility, beauty, serenity and relaxation.
“Adding sad irony to this stark crisis by distancing ourselves from nature and treating wildlife as a disposable commodity, we are making ourselves more and more unhealthy.”
“Nature’s recovery is the only way to solve the climate and ecological emergency, and to help improve our health and well-being.”
“We must no longer just think about slowing the loss and protecting what remains. We need to stop and reverse the declines and bring wildlife back at scale and at pace, to help restore biodiversity, stabilise the climate, ensure food security, improve health and wellbeing, and protect our economy which depends on nature and not the other way around.”
Read a copy of the COP26 edition of Let Nature Help report here
