The next general election will be one of the most important moments for nature in a lifetime.
We’ve launched our largest ever campaign, calling on Cornwall’s next MPs to fight for nature by supporting our five manifesto asks related to the future of Cornwall’s nature and climate.
The next government will be in power for most of the time between now and 2030, the date by which key environmental targets need to be met to tackle climate change and reverse the decline in nature. We hope that as many members of the public as possible across Cornwall will get behind our call to action by signing an open letter to keep Cornwall’s nature on the agenda.
Many well-known spokespeople for Cornwall have already signed the open letter and voiced their support for our manifesto asks, including contemporary artist Kurt Jackson and novelist Patrick Gale.
The asks include bringing back the UK’s lost wildlife, tackling river and coastal pollution, funding nature-friendly farming, tackling the climate emergency by protecting and restoring natural habitats and enabling healthy, nature-rich communities.
We are also organising six nature and climate hustings, one in each of Cornwall’s parliamentary constituencies. The hustings events will enable local people to learn about nature and climate issues, hear their candidates in the next general election speak on their planned approaches to them and ask questions about the things that matter to them.
Find out more about our election campaign: cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/general-election-2024-campaign
Make more space for nature
Figures suggest 21% of land in Cornwall is in positive management for nature. Whilst this is better than the national average it is not enough to reverse wildlife decline. The State of Nature Cornwall 2020 report found that 12% of species of principal importance are threatened with local extinction or complete loss, and nearly half of terrestrial mammal species and more than half of butterfly species are found in fewer places now than 30 years ago. Shockingly, the rate of species decline is not slowing; we will need to work together on bigger and bolder approaches if we are to reverse these trends.
Sign on the line
To support our campaign on behalf of Cornwall’s nature, please sign our open letter. Among the letter’s key asks are bringing back lost wildlife, tackling water pollution and putting nature at the heart of the community. We hope to secure at least 6,000 signatures to the open letter to demonstrate to politicians how much local people care about these issues.
Sign our open letter: cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/sign-open-letter
