The BBC and Independent report more than 50 wildlife experts, politicians and celebrities have signed a letter to Boris Johnson demanding tougher action on nature loss. The UK prime minister’s father, Stanley, is among signatories calling on the UK to become the first country to set legally binding targets for nature recovery.

The government has pledged to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030. The letter calls for this ambition to be enshrined in law. 

iNEWS reports Boris Johnson is facing pressure to “deliver on his promises” to reverse the startling decline in UK nature by writing into law binding biodiversity targets. Mr Johnson has promised to protect at least 30 per cent of UK land for nature by the end of the decade, a move the government has claimed will “put nature and biodiversity on a road to recovery by 2030”.  But conservation groups say this ambition must be written into law, pointing out the current wording of the Environment Bill will not force action to improve nature in England until 2038.

The Government have today announced nature projects which tackle climate change, create and restore habitats, or improve water quality could soon benefit from a new £10 million fund to help them both benefit the environment and attract private sector investment, the Government has announced today (10 February).

The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund will provide grants of up to £100,000 to environmental groups, local authorities, businesses and other organisations to help them develop nature projects in England to a point where they can attract private investment. 

BBC News, and Sky News report progress towards protecting the UK’s environment has been “painfully slow”, a government spending watchdog has warned. The Public Accounts Committee pointed out that ministers had first pledged a decade ago to improve the natural environment within a generation. But it complained of serious delays in tackling “critical” issues like air pollution, water quality and wildlife loss. 

The Independent reports a national push by the government and numerous wildlife and environment organisations to restore the natural world across England has been launched, aiming to tackle biodiversity loss, climate change and people’s isolation from the natural world. But it comes as some of the same environment groups supporting the initiative have warned that public funding for green recovery projects is already 10 times oversubscribed. 

INEWS reports the Government must funnel more funding into nature schemes if it wants to save thousands of jobs in the sector and keep key green targets within reach. That is the message from the UK’s leading environmental charities, including the National Trust, Woodland Trust, Wildlife and Countryside Link and The Wildlife Trusts. They were among the green groups to pen a letter to the Chancellor, calling for Rishi Sunak to plough more cash into the Green Recovery Challenge Fund.