Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is urging public to help defend nature and voice their concerns

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, alongside other nature charities, is extremely worried about announcements made by the Government that pose serious threats to nature, climate and food security.

Over the last few days, the Government has announced the Retained EU Law Bill, threatening to revoke hundreds of laws that protect wild places and ensure standards for water quality, pollution and the use of pesticides, announced a new planning and infrastructure bill as well as investment zones as part of the growth plan, which threaten to weaken vital protections for habitats and wildlife, launched a ‘review’ of the long-awaited Environmental Land Management schemes, which were meant to reward farmers for restoring nature, preventing pollution from entering rivers and climate-proofing their businesses and lifted a ban on fracking in England, despite there being no evidence that proves fracking is safe.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: “Nature is under attack from a raft of dangerous decisions by Government and we know people are furious at the new threats.

"Vital legal protections for wildlife are at risk, fossil fuel extraction is being favoured over renewables, and the Government is going back on plans to reward farmers for managing land in a nature-friendly way.

“We are calling on the public to contact their elected representatives and share just how concerned they are. These actions will affect us all – the communities where we live, our wild places, food security, and our futures.

"The climate and nature crises pose monumental challenges, and recent proposals by this Government will only make things worse.”

Erin McDaid, head of Communications and Marketing at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, said: “This is the most destructive set of policies I have seen in over 29 years of working in nature conservation.

"Just when nature needs us most, the Government is threatening to turn a very bad situation into a disaster. Pursuing a dangerous agenda of deregulation could push much-loved species such as water voles and hedgehogs to the brink of extinction even faster than we’d feared.”