Countryside and wildlife conservation groups want a judicial review of government action on nature loss.
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    A coalition of more than 80 nature conservation groups is launching a legal bid to force whichever party is in power next month to improve government targets on tackling wildlife decline in England.One in six UK species are currently at risk of extinction and a legally-binding target was set by the Conservative government to stop nature loss by 2030.Organisations including the National Trust, the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts have also joined forces to urge politicians from all parties to pledge to do more to boost biodiversity.The main political parties have committed to halt species decline by 2030.

    He told the BBC: “There’s been a long-term decline in wildlife and we’ve seen no sign that the policies in place right now are going to be able to halt and reverse that decline.“We need whoever forms the next government to step up and make the investment, the legal changes and take the action necessary to really start to turn things around.”A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it was unable to comment on any legal action.But she added that the secretary of state was not legally required to complete a review of the EIP until the end of January 2028.The setting of environmental targets on halting the decline of species abundance is a devolved issue.

    All four of the nations’ administrations have committed to protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030.But the heads of some of the UK’s largest conservation groups have come together to urge UK general election candidates from all parties to do more.Hilary McGrady, the National Trust’s director general, said of the 2030 target to halt nature loss: “Six years from that deadline, the UK is still one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth.”But, she added, if the next government acted “promptly and energetically” the decline could be reversed.“We feel passionately that the nature crisis is of such an extent that none of the political parties as it stands at the moment are taking the challenge seriously and so we are here to really ask them to think about that and show us their response,” she told the BBC.

    Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said they had been frustrated by “lacklustre efforts” to meet the legal targets set.Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB, said: “We need all political parties to tackle the nature and climate crisis as one.”Whilst in government, the Conservatives committed to leaving the environment in a better state than it was and introduced Environmental Improvement Plan targets to reverse nature decline.On Friday, Labour launched a new countryside protection plan, which includes a range of policies which it says will tackle nature decline.The party says it will create more “nature-rich habitats”, including wetlands and peat bogs, as well as finding private finance to establish three new national forests in England.

    It also intends to set up a tree-planting taskforce to grow millions more trees across the UK.It will also introduce a new Community Right to Buy to help groups transform derelict land into new green spaces.

    "No detailed budgeting has yet been produced for the parties’ plans to protect UK wildlife.Plaid Cymru said an increase in public investment would be “essential for managing land, restoring habitats, and supporting nature policies”.

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