Page 14 - Wildlife News Dec 2017

People & wildlife

An act for nature

The Wildlife Trusts are calling for an Environment Act: an ambitious piece of framework
legislation that would give our wildlife a unique opportunity to recover

Amwell reserve/matthew roberts I magine taking a train journey through Everything This doesn’t have to be a dream. We
the countryside in 25 years’ time. From we value have a chance to act now, together, and give
the window, you see red kites gliding derives from wildlife a real chance to recover. If we’re
across beautiful farmland and woods. Bees nature ambitious enough, we really could be the
are buzzing in the vibrant field margins first generation to leave the environment in
and thriving hedgerows. shoals of tuna – they’re a regular a better state than we inherited it.
You whizz past a vast wetland teeming occurrence now. A wildlife-rich world is important for its
with egrets, herons and, although you When you arrive in the bustling city, own sake, but we also know it is the
don’t see them, water voles. There are no the air you breathe is just as clean as it is foundation of our society and economy.
stories about flooding in the news – the in the countryside. Above the urban Ultimately everything we eat and drink; the
recent heavy rainfall has been locked into hubbub, blackbirds, robins and air we breathe; our fuel, clothes and shelter
the landscape, caught upstream. dunnocks are singing loudly. You stroll derives from the natural world. So does
Last week, when you went to the over a river: earlier this morning, an otter everything we value: our health, wellbeing
seaside on holiday, the beach was pristine: swam beneath this bridge, a fat brown and possessions.
no plastic bottles, rockpools full of life. trout in its mouth. In a park across the Yet, we have taken it for granted; mined
Seabirds were fishing just offshore. The street, schoolchildren are having a lesson the natural world mercilessly. Isn’t it time for
fish’n’chip shop was doing a roaring trade in the shade of the trees. They look us to enter a new era in our relationship
selling local catch – since the seas have happy and focused. with nature?
been recovering, both people and wildlife Acts of Parliament are an expression of
have benefited. Whales, dolphins, vast what a nation values. Acts have ushered in

14 Wildlife news / December 2017