• Nature and climate crisis in focus on Monday 17 June as the environmental spokespeople of England’s five largest parties are invited to set out how they will recover nature and create healthier wild places to store carbon, help wildlife recover, and boost public health. • The debate will take place at Chester Zoo, a world-leading centre for conservation, and will be broadcast online by The Wildlife Trusts • The debate comes as 71% of adults in the UK say not enough is being done to protect the environment for future generations.

A coalition of the UK’s major nature and climate groups, including Chester Zoo, The Wildlife Trusts and Wildlife & Countryside Link, have joined forces to stage a landmark General Election event, to put the major political parties in the hot seat on their nature and climate policies. The ‘Big Nature & Climate Debate’ will be staged before a live audience on Monday 17th June and will be broadcast via YouTube at 7pm on Tuesday 18th June. It will provide a unique opportunity for voters to compare parties’ plans to achieve legally binding nature targets and utilise nature’s recovery to achieve net zero commitments.

In 2022, the UK signed an international deal to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. In England, that promise is underpinned by a legal duty in the Environment Act 2021 to stop the decline of species abundance, and a commitment to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature. These targets will be met or lost in the Parliament elected in this General Election, with the next five years also being crucial to staying on track to achieving net zero by 2050.