Shropshire Wildlife Trust calls on Government to be world leader on climate at COP27

It has been a bleak countdown to the international climate conference, COP27, which started in Egypt yesterday. In the 12 months since COP26, the global and national mood has flipped from cautious optimism to fear and division.

In the UK alone, we’ve seen the following since COP26:

- Temperatures over 40˚C recorded for the first time ever. Habitats became hostile places for wildlife, animals suffered heat stress and retreated wherever they could to shaded, wooded or damp areas. Swifts fell out of the sky, trees shed leaves, bumblebees were grounded.

- Dangerous fires on heath, grassland and farmland – equal to 30,000 football pitches have been burnt so far this year. Some of our most precious habitats such as heathlands were destroyed; wildlife was unable to escape includingsilver studded blue butterflies, adders and the young of ground-nesting birds such as nightjar.

- Drought across much of the UK, with the driest July on record in south-east England. Rivers ran dry leaving dead fish and amphibians, and grey herons, otters, water voles and kingfishers struggling to find food. Ponds and lakes dried-up and plants died – the subsequent lack of nectar affected insects. Staff at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust were able to walk across a lake bed at Potteric Carr nature reserve.

Kathryn Brown, director of climate change and evidence for The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“It’s vital that the Prime Minister shows climate leadership by championing nature’s recovery at COP27. The climate and nature crises are two sides of the same coin – we must restore nature because natural habitats have a critical role to play in storing carbon and helping us adapt to the inevitable consequences of climate change. At the same time, climate change is one of the biggest threats to nature at a time when it is already in freefall globally; the latest assessment reveals we have lost 70% of our biodiversity since 1970.

“The UK must do more than simply turn up to COP27. We need assurances that the Government will rapidly increase efforts to protect at least 30% of land and sea by 2030 and strengthen environmental protections at home. Government’s failure to publish nature recovery targets this week – breaking the Environment Act – does little to reassure us they are acting to address the magnitude of the challenge we face.

“How can we expect other countries to prioritise nature in tackling climate change if we aren’t doing the same ourselves?”

Richard Grindle, chief executive of Shropshire Wildlife Trust, says:

“Last month the UN made it clear that without urgent action to reduce emissions we will not keep global warming below 1.5 degrees.  Our new Prime Minister has said that there can be no long-term prosperity without action on climate change and no energy security without investment in renewables.

"It will not be easy, but with the political will it can still be done.  And by protecting and restoring our habitats here in Shropshire, and looking after the soil, we ae not just bringing nature back also playing a vital role in capturing and storing carbon."