88com reports the amount of land in England effectively protected for nature has plummeted to just 2.93%, according to newly released data, raising alarm among environmental experts. This stark figure casts doubt on the UK government’s commitment to conserve 30% of the country’s land for nature by 2030, a pledge made four years ago under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Environmental campaigners are urgently calling for a “rapid rescue package” to restore nature, as government officials prepare to attend CoP16, the international summit on biodiversity. The event, set to take place in Colombia later this month, will see UK delegates urging global counterparts to stick to ambitious nature conservation targets. However, domestic progress on this front is faltering.

The Guardian reports the UK government is planning to appoint a special envoy for nature for the first time, as the foreign secretary, David Lammy, seeks to put the UK at the centre of global efforts to tackle the world’s ecological crises, the Guardian has learned.

Labour will also appoint a new climate envoy, after the Tories abolished the post over a year ago, a move that dismayed foreign governments and climate campaigners.

The Independent reports ministers must lead the way by making “ecocide” a crime in the UK, a leading green figure has urged. Ecocide – which literally means “killing the environment” – refers to acts of serious and intentional harm against the natural world that cause either widespread or long-lasting damage.

A growing movement calling for ecocide to be treated as an international offence akin to genocide or crimes against humanity has been backed by senior figures ranging from Greta Thunberg to the Pope.

The Guardian reports adders, slow worms, water voles, mountain hares, pine martens and red squirrels are among the species experts have warned could be affected, after unexpected changes to the government’s review process that will raise the bar on how rare and under threat an animal needs to be to gain legal safeguards.

The changes, which have not been widely heralded by the government, could benefit property developers and infrastructure projects such as road-building, which currently have to take account of rare species found within the proposed development areas, and sometimes have to be changed or moved as a result.

The Independent reports the government’s long-awaited environment bill contains too many usages of the term “biodiversity”, where “nature” could be used instead as it is a “sexier word … with more public traction”, the House of Lords has heard.

According to Conservative former minister Lord Blencathra, the term “nature” commands greater understanding than “biodiversity”, and people can more readily relate to it. 

BBC News reports a committee of MPs has lambasted the UK government’s approach to nature, saying it is failing to stem huge losses of plants and species. Their report says that the UK has the lowest remaining levels of biodiversity among the world’s richer nations.

The MPs say the government spends far more on exploiting the natural environment than it does conserving it. They’re calling for legally binding targets for nature similar to the UK’s climate laws.