England’s plan to end a freefall in wildlife within five years is endangered by inadequate progress, internal government documents obtained by The Times reveal.
Halting the decline in species abundance by 2030 is a legally binding goal under the Environment Act 2021, likened in importance to the natural equivalent of Britain’s net zero target.
A review of statutory environment targets by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has evaluated progress on them all with a traffic-light scale of green, amber and red. The species abundance goal was ranked “amber/red”.
Numbers of woodland birds including bullfinches are also declining
ALAMY
Woodland birds such as bullfinches, butterflies and farmland birds such as yellowhammer are all shown to be declining according to the department’s data. Overall, 11 of 29 “biodiversity indicators” show continued decline.
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