UK risks ‘major embarrassment on global stage’ at UN biodiversity summit
The IndependentThe government is risking “major embarrassment on the world stage” at the UN’s forthcoming biodiversity summit when it kicks off in Montreal, Canada, next week, campaigners have warned. Despite being one of the world’s most ecologically bereft countries, the UK government is risking scrapping “over a thousand” laws that protect the environment, including those which protect wild places and wildlife, and ensure minimum standards for water quality and pollution. According to environmental law charity Client Earth, the bill means the UK “could fall into legal chaos and its climate and biodiversity targets could be blunted”. According to previous research by scientists at institutions including the Natural History Museum in London, the UK has “led the world” in destroying the natural environment, with centuries of agricultural expansion, massive road- and rail-building programmes, overfishing, the enormous impacts of the industrial revolution, and destruction of forests and other wildernesses, all taking a heavy toll on the once abundant wildlife on our island.
History of this topic
Global wildlife population declines by nearly three-quarters in half a century
The Independent
UK at risk of missing legally binding target to protect biodiversity – report
The Independent
Freshwater creatures recovering despite sewage pollution, study finds
The Independent
Stanley Johnson: To save Britain’s wildlife, MPs must kill the Brexit Bill
The Independent
Global wildlife populations plummet since 1970
The Independent
EU: 2022 must see action on oceans, biodiversity, plastics
Associated Press
Rewild and protect land to ensure climate and nature crises are tackled together, scientists urge ahead of Cop26
The Independent
50 countries pledge to protect at least 30% of world’s land and oceans by 2030
The Independent
‘Nature is in crisis right now’: UK’s biodiversity loss highlighted in ‘damning’ government report
The Independent
Biodiversity crisis: World leaders pledge to ‘reverse’ destruction of natural world by 2030
The Independent
Climate crisis: New UK laws will clampdown on illegal deforestation in supply chains
The Independent
Extinction Rebellion are right to be angry. The Environment Bill fails to live up to the environmental crisis we're in
The IndependentDiscover Related
