The UK just released a new plan for nature. What happens next?
RSPB CEO Beccy Speight argues that the UK Government must build on its new nature plan with comprehensive commitments to reform planning, support farmers and provide funding – lest it become talk rather than action.
The UK Government last week launched its national biodiversity strategy and action plan (NBSAP), which outlines how it intends to meet its commitments under the UN-convened global biodiversity framework that was signed off in December 2022.
This framework is often described as a Paris Agreement for nature. It is headlined by an ambition to halt nature’s decline by 2030 and restore nature at an unprecedented scale and pace.
The UK NBSAP launch came as nations met in Rome in a last-gasp attempt to nail down an agreement on mobilising the finance and resources needed to deliver the framework’s 23 goals. The best-known of these is for each supporting nation to protect at least 30% of land and sea – a goal which the UK is not on track to reach.
Nature NGO RSPB’s CEO Beccy Speight tells edie that while the UK’s “desire to play a leadership role” on nature on the global stage is “admirable”, the NBSAP largely “repackages” existing commitments and finance.
In other words, the NBSAP is not the vehicle that will move the UK from talk to action on protecting and conserving its nature, which is currently in a significant decline that presents billions of pounds’ of potential economic risk.
The policy decisions made by the Labour-led Government in the coming weeks and months, however, could be make or break.
Clearer targets
Speight sets out several “big rocks” which the UK Government must move into place to unlock its nature-positive vision.
Chief among them is the completion of the rapid review of legally binding targets under the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), covering issues from air and water quality to waste management. Environment Secretary Steve Reed ordered the review within one month of the general election, over concerns that the targets were not backed with adequate delivery plans, and could be too weak.
“I think that one of the challenges we’ve got is that we set these amazing targets and then don’t see the follow through,” said Speight. She highlighted how having delivery plans is vital to enabling private sector investment, which will be crucial to supporting nature in an era where the public purse is squeezed.
“Businesses are wanting to take a more informed and deeper approach to how they incorporate nature into everything they do,” Speight added. “The journey around nature is further back than with climate, but it is growing, which is where organisations like ours can help, for sure.”
It is becoming easier for businesses to develop nature strategies thanks to frameworks from organisations like the Taskforce on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Science Based Targets Network.
Planning reform
The delivery of any EIP targets could be undermined by Labour’s mission to drive economic growth by speeding up housebuilding and infrastructure delivery, unless efforts are made to integrate target delivery across departments strategically.
A new Planning and Infrastructure Bill has also been introduced, with Ministers promising to streamline environmental impact assessment processes without compromising standards. The Bill also proposes a new Nature Restoration Fund that will enable infrastructure builders to pool contributions for “larger, strategic interventions” – perhaps as an alternative to acting on their own sites.
Speight said it remains to be seen whether this approach will help or harm nature: “I can’t stand here, hand on heart, and say that the planning process at the moment is perfect. It can certainly be improved. I’m wanting to be constructive – the red line for us is that nature cannot go further backwards. It is on its knees already.”
She also implored Ministers to overcome “false binaries” between nature and development, arguing that “multiple deliverables” on the same piece of land are possible – as is the case with housing developments with high levels of biodiversity net-gain.
“We were quite public about expressing how disappointed we were by what I would call oversimplistic rhetoric from the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor in Particular about bats and newts… because it’s not helpful to anyone, really.”
To set out how competing demands for land will be managed, now and in the future, Defra is developing a land use strategy. Speight hopes this will put an end to “ad-hoc” decisions with unintended consequences.
Adequate funding
Arguably Labour’s biggest green policy stress test this year will be the comprehensive spending review.
Speight explains that the RSPB wants the Chancellor to at least maintain funding for protected sites, as well as the farming budget and, within that, provisions for nature-friendly farming, because “about 70% of the UK’s land is farmed, so if we can get that system working really well for nature, then we’ve got a really good chance of turning the situation around”.
Ministers sought to allay rumours of potential cuts of £100m late last year.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already faced strong backbench criticism for dialling down international aid spending to 0.3% of national spending from 2027. The level had been reduced from 0.7% to 0.5% under Rishi Sunak.
Starmer has said the move is necessary to fund higher defence spending as the USA reduces its support for Ukraine. Critics say the money should have been found elsewhere, given how vital international spending is to address global issues including the climate crisis.