Wilder Future
Brown Hare Lepus europaeus in Ox-eye Daisies © David Tipling/2020VISION
Will you speak up for me? Act now to ensure Dorset's wildlife is protected
Wilder Future
Dorset's wildlife needs your help. We believe we need a new law – an Environment Act - to improve protection for our country’s wildlife. But not all politicians are convinced and to make sure the law not only protects wildlife but also helps it recover, we need everyone on board.
We need politicians to support a strong Environment Act, because a country with more wildlife is better for people and better for business!
We will be working with other Wildlife Trusts to make sure this is a priority, but we need your help to make sure all our local MPs are on board!
We are asking our supporters to personally talk to their MPs - at a surgery, meeting or event - about why they want an Environment Act and what they want to see it cover. This could be anything from tackling climate change, to reducing plastic in the seas, to ensuring barn owls have suitable habitats to live in. (Sadly barn owls have declined 66% across the UK since the 30s.)
Simply click on the arrows below to find out more about the campaign.
The campaign for a wilder future starts here
Critically, we need the Environment Act to give us:
Nature Targets: binding targets for nature's recovery that politicians must ultimately achieve and regularly report on progress towards e.g. safer air to breathe in our cities or a halt to the decline in species.
A Nature Recovery Network: a joined-up network of habitats that provide enough space for wildlife to recover and for people to thrive. Find out what a nature recovery network is here.
A Nature Watchdog: an independent body to help people challenge when and if, bad decisions that harm wildlife and our natural environment are made by Government and councils.
Find out more about what the Wildlife Trusts will be doing nationally by clicking here.
How would an Environment Act help wildlife in Dorset?
- Improve people’s access to nature, especially in towns and cities
- Create new wild areas and wildlife corridors across the county - essential for wildlife to survive and thrive
- Keep Dorset's existing wildlife sites safe from harm
- Protect Dorset's wildlife habitats under the sea
- Stop Dorset's soils washing away into rivers and the sea - thereby providing good flood defences naturally
- Improve air quality, especially in Poole, Dorchester and Bournemouth
- Stop poisoning Dorset's rivers and streams with chemicals
- Reduce emissions that are contributing to climate change
- Protect people’s rights to a healthy natural environment
- Avoid the loss of environmental protection laws after Brexit.
Why do we need to act fast?
We need wildlife. Our natural world is valuable in its own right and is the foundation of our wellbeing - we depend on it and it depends on us. Without a healthy natural world the survival of humanity is at stake. By creating more space for nature, we can create a better world for people and wildlife.
Wildlife is in trouble. From rivers and woodlands, to birds and flowers, our natural world is struggling. Over half the species assessed in the State of Nature report have suffered since the 1970s, with many of our much-loved animals struggling. In Dorset climate change is affecting our wildlife, species like the comma butterfly and Dartford warbler have done well, but species like dormice have not been so lucky and numbers are declining fast.
Across the UK, wildlife is struggling:
- 66% decline in the number of barn owls since the 1930s
- 95% decline in the number of basking shark in UK waters since 1950s
- 90% decline in the number of water voles since the 1990s.
Wildlife needs us. We can make a difference. A new and ambitious Environment Act can help reverse the trend of missing wildlife, setting out a plan for nature's recovery and creating a healthier natural world for us all.
How can we create a wilder future for Dorset?
Take action now, click here to sign up and contact your MP to ask for a meeting, to make sure wildlife and wild places are on the Government's agenda. Find out more about our wider campaign here.
You can watch a video from one of our supporters here (Part One) and here (Part Two) who is working to highlight issues of declining species on Portland.
Find out what DWT is doing to combat climate change here.
