To: Dame Angela Eagle DBE (Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and National Estate for Nature Members
UK Government: Demand major landowners do more for nature!
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Massive land inequality is killing our wildlife. Demand that the Government and major landowners step up their game for nature.
Why is this important?
Wildlife is in freefall. England is one of the worst countries in the world for how much wildlife we have already lost, and the places that we love - from ancient woodlands to precious moorlands - are at risk. Yet half of England is owned by just 1% of the population, and these massive landowners don’t seem to be doing much about the crisis we are in.
The Government has brought together some of England’s biggest landowners to tackle this crisis at a massive scale in the National Estate for Nature (NEN). But instead of ambitious action, it's become a voluntary talking shop.
There are just 14 members in the National Estate for Nature Group, but together they own 10% of England!
Whilst some landowners push ahead, others continue to delay and risk jeopardising any hope we have of reaching the Government’s commitment to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30by30).
With great power comes great responsibility. We are asking that all major landowners are held to account over how they are managing their land.
We are calling on the Government to overhaul the NEN framework to increase transparency and action for nature by:
- Providing a standardised and publicly accessible reporting framework that landowners must follow, including maps of total landholdings and existing contributions to 30by30;
- Requiring each landowner to set an area-based target towards 30by30 on their own estate;
- Including a ratchet mechanism to increase ambition towards 30by30, in which each target set is more ambitious than the last.
74% of the public think major landowners have a duty to protect nature on their land. That is why we are also calling for a new mandate for nature for all landowners with holdings of 1000 hectares or greater, not just for those in the NEN.
With your help, Wild Card has already secured action from the England's biggest landowners, including Forestry England and the Royal Family. Now, we're demanding action from all of them. Will you join us?
