June 2025
There were surfers alongside Morris Dancers. Birdwatchers side-by-side with bug enthusiasts. Teenagers carried banners alongside pensioners, and farmers walked peacefully with Extinction Rebellion activists. The Restore Nature Now march, a year ago, brought up to 100,000 people to the streets united by one message: politicians must put short-termism aside and heal our wounded natural world.
We marched in febrile pre-election atmosphere, when the whole country was considering who to trust. As thousands chanted and sang, it was hard not to be hopeful that good, green sense would win. Surely the demands to reverse nature’s decline were reasonable? Funding for wildlife-friendly farming, the right to a healthy environment, 30% of the land and sea managed for nature, and new rules to make polluters pay. Who could deny the sense in that?
Weeks later, a new Government swept in with big promises for nature. The Labour Party manifesto pledged to meet the promise of restoring nature, where other Governments had failed. So, twelve months on, how are they doing?
The Government have a lot, lot more to do to reverse the decline of wildlife by 2030 and avoid a date with us in court.
Wildlife-friendly farming must be the mainstay. There’s no way to restore wildlife unless the farmers who manage 70% of our land create more habitats and reduce their chronic water pollution. This shouldn’t mean locking in more costs and expensive produce either - it should mean reversing the degradation of soil and coexisting with wildlife while securing greater food and ecosystem stability for our future. The Environment Secretary did well to mostly maintain the farming budget in a tough Spending Review, but it’s only half of what’s needed, especially in the harsh economic circumstances farmers face. The pause on the Sustainable Farming Incentive payment was a big blow, but does it signal a shift to more strategic use of funds, alongside better enforcement of the law? We must hope so.
In land- and sea-management there have been promising signs. The puffin-positive news around the closure of sandeel fisheries and proposed restrictions on bottom-trawling are extremely welcome. The ban on neonicotinoid pesticides and new rules for releasing beavers are great too. Yet proposals in the Planning Bill to replace wildlife protection laws with souped-up offsetting payments are a massive risk. But now, Ministers say they are considering changes that would guarantee environmental results. Will we at last see cross-Government collaboration with the Housing Department playing its part for nature? The alternative would be disastrous for nature.
As for guaranteeing a healthy environment and making polluters pay, progress is woeful. People continue to die premature deaths and suffer the privations of polluted, nature-deprived lives. Rampant corporate damage to the environment is continuing. Yet surely the solutions offer a chance to relieve pressure on the NHS, create a fairer society, contribute to nature and climate targets and draw on private funds when public money is lacking?
When we planned Restore Nature Now with Chris Packham and hundreds of nature groups, we wondered what the response would be. The fact that it became the biggest ever march for nature is testament to the strength of public feeling. Since then, anti-nature rhetoric from the highest levels of Government has felt like a body-blow to the hopes of everyone who gathered in Westminster that day.
Yet there are signs that the Government has started to realise that not only do most people not want growth at the expense of green, but that trashing our Critical Natural Infrastructure would be counterproductive - and more costly in the long run. There’s still a chance for the Government to kickstart the most important national, natural renewal for decades, supporting its clean growth mission with a thriving natural world. So, while there’s still time; we’ll say it again… Come on Keir Starmer, Restore Nature Now before it’s too late.
Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link
Alice Hardiman, director of campaigns at the RSPB
Matthew Browne, head of public affairs at The Wildlife Trusts
Liz Pendleton of Extinction Rebellion
The opinions expressed in this blog are the authors' and not necessarily those of the wider Link membership.
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