Councils urged to declare ‘nature emergency’ and draw up plans to help wildlife

Woodland Trust research shows just 12% of UK local authorities have an action plan for reversing declines in nature.

Trees and a park with buildings in the background — The Woodland Trust wants councils to take urgent steps to restore wildlife and green spaces in their area (Alamy/PA)

Just one in eight local authorities have an action plan in place to help the UK’s depleted nature recover, conservationists have warned.

The Woodland Trust is urging councils to declare a “nature emergency” and take urgent steps to restore wildlife and green spaces in their area.

The charity has launched a new nature emergency scorecard, which shows that only 25% of UK local authorities – 100 out of 395 councils – have declared a nature emergency, and just 48, or 12%, have a nature action plan in place.

It is calling on councils to identify land for restoring habitat and planting trees to improve levels of tree cover, which can benefit health, while local authorities under acute financial pressure could allow wildflowers and grass to grow on public land, which costs nothing but helps wildlife.

The Woodland Trust wants developers to play their part buy committing to 30% tree canopy cover on new housing estates, and putting in trees in areas with less than 16% cover.

And it is urging councils to commit to protecting and managing 30% of public land for nature by 2030, in an echo of the national “30X30” commitment to help nature recover and something which only five councils have committed to so far.

The nature emergency scorecard website offers support and advice to local authorities and also helps members of the public to contact their council leader to urge action on conserving the natural world.

Long grass and wildflowers in front of a wetland swale and an open playing field edged with trees under a cloudy sky — Councils are being encouraged to let grass grow long and manage 30% of public land for nature (Emily Beament/PA)

Louise Wilkinson, the Woodland Trust’s nature recovery lead, said: “Local authorities – as landowners, policy makers, and local champions – have a unique role in driving the change that nature urgently needs.

“Many are not doing enough, and a nature emergency declaration is a vital first step in acknowledging the challenge and turning it into nature recovery on the ground.

“By putting nature on an emergency footing, councils can take meaningful steps to reverse decades of decline and create healthier, greener communities for people and wildlife alike.”

Andy Egan, the trust’s head of conservation policy, said the nature crisis was “every bit as critical” as the climate crisis.

“We have seen the benefits of local authorities declaring climate emergencies and taking climate action, which is why we are calling on all local authorities to join the 100 trailblazers who have already done so and to make their own nature emergency declaration,” he said.