Debbie Tann, Chief Executive of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, was amongst those attending the London rally, concerned about the devastating statistics of nature's decline published in the State of Nature 2023 report and at the lack of UK Government action to bring wildlife back.

Debbie gave the following speech at the rally:

"25 years ago, I stood in front of a packed village hall and told the audience we had lost 97% of our wildflower meadows. I hoped they would be as shocked and upset as me. After all I am an Ecologist and I care about this stuff. 

To my dismay someone shouted out. Well, we’ve still got 3% left - isn’t that enough? I learned a valuable lesson that day. Just giving out facts doesn’t always change minds.  

So, I became a do-er. I have spent my career in nature conservation delivering change on the ground, learning what works, and showcasing the results. I lead one of the Wildlife Trusts and we are fantastic at delivering conservation.  

We buy land, lots of it. We rewild, restore and repair ecosystems. We re-naturalise  rivers. We replant sea grass meadows. We bring back missing species. We educate, build partnerships, deliver nature-based climate solutions.  

We can show that conservation works. We have many successes to show for our efforts - like the return of the otter to every English county, after they had been wiped out to near extinction 60 years ago. But still, only a tiny percentage of our land and sea is able to support thriving wildlife. Less than 4% is in good condition for nature.

Designated areas, nature reserves and conservation projects are impacted by what happens all around them. Our conservation efforts are hampered because these sites are too small and isolated. Many of them are becoming polluted, damaged by recreational pressure, and hemmed in by development. 

This is why we nature needs more space, and why we pushed for the goal of 30% of land and sea for nature’s recovery by 2030.  

And it's good news that 30x30 has been adopted by 188 countries under the Global Biodiversity Framework. 

But will it be delivered?

12 years ago, I worked here at Defra. I helped write the Natural Environment White Paper. An important document. I had huge hopes then as the UK Government at the time committed to landscape scale nature restoration and the Lawton principles of bigger better more joined up. The 2010 Aichi Biodiversity Targets had just been set as well.

But 17 out of those 20 targets were missed. The White Paper delivered a few pilot projects but little else. And here we are in 2023. The latest State of Nature report showing that nature’s decline continues to get worse. 

Defra will say – we have “world leading targets”.  The Environment Act. The Environmental Improvement Plan.  The Plan for Water. Environmental Schemes for Farmers. But these are just documents, like the many that came before them. Implementation – the doing – is what matters. 

Farmers need proper support to transition to nature-positive land management, like agro-ecology or regenerative farming. Polluting industries need to pay for the damage they do. We need rapid investment in nature recovery to meet 30x30. We need missing species back – especially those that build ecosystem health like beavers.    

Restoring nature is not a party-political wedge issue, or part of a culture war, to be painted as a ‘cost’ we can’t afford. It’s far more important than that. We need to restore nature now."