This report is a stark reminder that the government has yet again failed to deliver on its promises. This is the fourth State of Nature report, each intricately cataloguing the deterioration of our natural world, yet progress continues time after time to falter. Over this time, the UK government has launched countless reports, plans and targets all in the name of halting nature’s decline. But this report shows that nature is still in freefall with a 19% decline in species’ abundance across the UK since the 70s (and 32% when looking just at England), compared to a 13% decline in 2019.  

The UK government has failed to meet national and international targets for nature again and again. The UK has missed 17 out of 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets set by the UN in 2010 and at the current rate will also fail to meet their own ‘world leading’ legally binding nature targets, according to the Office for Environmental Protection. The government also committed last year as part of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to protect and restore 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, but we currently sit at a measly 3.11% of land and 8% of English seas protected and in good condition, with only 6 years to go. England is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with only 41% biodiversity intactness, substantially lower than the global average of 77%. This should be sending alarm bells ringing in every politician's mind, but it evidently has not so far.  

We recently saw our government try to water down an existing environmental policy, Nutrient Neutrality, that protects our most important rivers and estuaries for wildlife from additional pollution from new developments. This failed attempt to appease developers at nature’s expense hopefully served as a reminder of the public’s overwhelming desire for the government to do more for nature, not less. We need to make it clear that we, the voters, care about nature and fundamentally that we all need nature to survive and create healthy, vibrant places for generations to come. 

Fortunately, the State of Nature 2023 report also points to what’s already working to turn nature’s fortunes around. The report shows that across more than 1,200 invertebrate species, protected areas contain higher species richness, with an average of 30 more species found per km2 when compared to unprotected areas. We know that protected areas work and are critical as the backbone for nature’s recovery.  This is why we recently launched our new campaign calling for new legal protections for our chalk streams, our riverine equivalent of the Amazon rainforest due to their global rarity and biological richness.  

Landscape-scale recovery is championed by the report as central to nature’s recovery, with our local Solent Seascape project highlighted as how partners should work together to benefit multiple species and habitats. We need to think big if we are to reach our 30% goal for restoring nature across land and sea. This means we need to transform how we manage our farmland, which covers over 70% of our counties, working with farmers to integrate regenerative and sustainable land uses. We also need to invest in nature-based solutions to our biggest challenges, such as climate change, clean water or air, weaving nature into the landscape for everyone to reap the health and wellbeing benefits. We know what we need to do to put nature back into recovery, in many cases we are already doing it, but we need the Government on nature’s side. 

In ways, we are now in a very similar position to 2019 when the last State of Nature was published, we are expecting a general election in the next year or so, and we continually see nature and climate at the top of issues people care about – even if the government forgets it. But with every wasted year we are at risk of losing more species and creating more irreversible damage to the ecosystems that support them, and us. The State of Nature 2023 report might paint a gloomy picture, but we must use it as the strongest call to action yet. We, as wildlife’s advocates, need to use this vital report to continue to hold our governments accountable to their promises and actions. You can start by telling your MP today that they can change the state of nature for the better, by standing up for chalk streams as a start.