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Media enquiries can be sent to media@wcl.org.uk

Press releases are one channel for our members to raise awareness of joint sector issues. The latest press releases can be read here.

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Government must act now or fail nature and the nation

Published on: 13 January 2026

New report shows that this Government risks becoming the first to break the law by missing legally binding targets to restore nature. Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL), and 20 members including the RSPB, National Trust, and The Wildlife Trusts are urging the Prime Minister to act now to put nature’s recovery back on track following the latest analysis by the Government’s watchdog.

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Farm payments must pay for added nature value, not business-as-usual

Published on: 8 January 2026

Today at the Oxford Farming Conference, the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, will announce the re-opening of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and her commitment to implementing the recommendations made in the Batters review.

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Partial backtrack on biodiversity carveout but nature still loses out

Published on: 16 December 2025

The Government has announced a new exemption to England’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) rules, excluding developments under 0.2 hectares from the policy. While this is less damaging than earlier proposals to exempt all sites under 1 hectare, Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL) warns the move still risks hollowing-out one of the most important nature protection policies in a generation.

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Serious failures for SSSIs spell scandal for England’s nature laws

Published on: 4 December 2025

Today the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) have released their latest review of the implementation of protected site laws in England (read here). Overall it shows a regime in serious failure: only a third of SSSIs are in favourable condition, deterioration is increasing, monitoring and enforcement have withered, and Government is nowhere near meeting its legal nature commitments.

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Business-as-usual is failing wildlife. New Biodiversity Indicators show disappointing decline

Published on: 2 December 2025

Today statistics on the UK Biodiversity Indicators were released. They show broadly a trend of decline in the long-term and short-term. For species, only 2 indicators are improving in the long term and none in the short term.

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There must be no further drift, dither, or dilution in delivery of the improved EIP

Published on: 1 December 2025

On Monday 1st December the Government will announce the latest Environmental Improvement Plan. Announcements include £500m for Landscape Recovery projects to be invested over at least a 20-year period.

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80+ organisations write to Government to say that small site BNG exemptions would collapse England’s nature market

Published on: 17 November 2025

Today a coalition of over 80 leading conservation charities, land managers, ecological consultancies and rural businesses has written to the Secretary of State warning that proposed exemptions for small sites under England’s Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regime would seriously damage the UK’s only national compliance market for nature.

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Lack of wildlife crime convictions opening the door to other serious crimes

Published on: 10 November 2025

Wildlife and Countryside Link's latest report on Wildlife Crime shines a light on the low level of convictions for such crimes, and also reveals the connection between wildlife crime and other serious and violent crimes against people

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The future of environmental justice? 40+ NGOs write to PM for assurance that the UK will uphold the Aarhus Convention

Published on: 4 November 2025

Today, over 40 of the biggest environmental NGOs and several King’s Counsel Barristers have written to the Prime Minister to ask that the UK Government reaffirm its commitment to the Aarhus Convention and reject any move to weaken the public’s right to defend the environment in court.

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Mercury fillings are taking a bite out of British wildlife and river health

Published on: 30 October 2025

Nature groups are warning that mercury fillings should be banned across Great Britain.

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