A dead yellow hammer bird on a road © Shutterstock
#DefendNature: We Need You
Scroll down for easy ways to defend nature with us.
UK Government is seriously threatening our wildlife
People across Cumbria have expressed alarm at the Government's recently announced plans to remove long-standing legal protections for their much-loved wildlife and most cherished wildlife sites across the county.
We know you're as angry as we are about the Government's plans to change nature and climate laws - and are asking you to help #DefendNature.
Nature has really taken a battering; in the last week alone, UK Government has announced that they will be:
- Removing important laws that protect nature
- Considering scrapping plans to reward farmers for managing land in a nature-friendly way
- Lifting the ban on fracking in England
These go against the explicit promises the Conservative Party made in their 2019 manifesto and the mandate they were elected to govern on.
We believe the scrapping of environmental laws poses a major risk to the nature, people and economy of our beautiful county.
We have no option left to us but to ask our political leaders to represent us - their electorate.
How you can help: step-by-step
Send your MP a postcard
Ask your MP to #DefendNature. Just add a message to one of our postcards and we'll post it to their office for you.
Tweet your MP
Click here to find your MP & personalise your tweet
Write to your MP
- Download our template letter here
- Edit or add to the text to reflect your own concerns - are you concerned about a planning scheme in your neighbourhood?
- Find your MP here
- Send your letter by post or email to your MP
Climate march Nottingham by Leanne Manchester
Write to your local Councillor*
(*This impacts where you live and they need to speak up too!)
- Download our template letter here
- Edit or add to the text to reflect your own concerns.
- Find your Councillor here
- Send your letter by post or email to your Councillor.
Step 5: Take the pledge
Will you pledge to write to your MP and councillor?
Why are we and other environmental charities so concerned?
We believe the UK Government has launched a full-scale attack on nature – leaving wildlife unprotected by tearing up some of the most fundamental laws we’ve got.
New planning laws and ‘investment zones’ announced on Friday 23 September 2022 represent a ‘free-for-all’ on nature by weakening the laws previously in place to protect it from bulldozers and concrete.
Much of our local economy depends on resources provided by nature - for jobs, health, wellbeing and so much more. The removal of protection for nature in the new Cumbria Investment Zone risks harming business, as well as wildlife.
The new Retained EU Law Bill could also see the end of basic protections, leading to the loss of designated wildlife sites in the county and a relaxation on pollution laws, resulting in more sewage in our rivers and streams.
What’s more, the Government is also reviewing the new system that has been developed to reward farmers that help to restore the environment. Reports suggest that instead they might revert back to the old system of paying farmers depending on how much land they own (with larger landowners receiving more subsidy).
This is a complete about turn on the farming reform the Conservation Party promised to deliver in their election manifesto in 2019.
Even with current protections in place, only 15% of Cumbria can be reliably said to be ‘protected for nature’ and only one fifth of this protected land is in a good condition for wildlife - yet we need to secure 30% by 2030. We must start with protecting and looking after what we have left.
We strongly oppose the abolition of vital protections for our threatened wildlife & wild places in Cumbria. We urge you to contact your MP to share your concerns about these recent Government proposals.