Government has 'mountain to climb' in fulfilling nature crisis pledge

A new House of Lords report, published on 26 July, has revealed that the UK Government faces a mountain to climb if it is to deliver its international commitment to protect 30% of England's land and sea for nature by 2030.

This extent meets the so-called '30 by 30' target agreed at the Montreal COP15 biodiversity conference in 2022.

The Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee's report warns that with seven years remaining, the extent of land protected for nature in England that can count towards '30 by 30' sits at just 6.5%, requiring an area almost one and a half times the size of Wales to hit the target.

The Committee's report, An extraordinary challenge: restoring 30 per cent of our land and sea by 2030, also found that protected sites in England, which can include land that has multiple uses, are often in a poor condition and in many cases inadequately monitored.

The new House of Lords report has found that the UK Government is well behind in the race to meet its 30 by 30 targets (Steer Photographic / commons.wikimedia.org).

While welcoming the Government's ambitions to meet the stretching target by 2030, the Committee's report concludes that it is not clear how the Government plans to achieve '30 by 30', and that a major step change in its approach to protected areas is required to deliver the commitment it made.

The Committee is calling on the Government to create more protected areas, retaining all existing designations, whilst ensuring existing protected areas are better managed, to achieve favourable condition.

Additionally, it wants the Government to confirm that areas should be protected for nature for more than 30 years to meet the '30 by 30' criteria.

It argues that a management plan needs to be put in place, with effective monitoring for protected areas on land based on an up-to date condition assessment which must be updated every six years.

The report also suggests that there should be an expansion to the current marine monitoring programme, both inshore and offshore, to develop a robust baseline of data that should be made publicly available.

Public awareness of local protected sites must be raised and communities engaged, so that local residents can play their role in preserving them, including unleashing and harnessing citizen science for data collection.

The report also recommends that there is a statutory duty on Natural England to monitor Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and ensure the resulting data is published.

Baroness Parminter, Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Committee, said: "Our report makes it clear that the Government faces a huge challenge to meet the '30 by 30' target it signed up to last year.

"The Government must designate more areas to be protected, meeting international criteria, and manage and monitor all protected areas better to achieve favourable condition.

"Time is running out to halt species decline and recover nature for the public good. We are therefore calling on the Government to act urgently as it has just seven crucial years to fulfil its nature crisis pledge."