Publications
Browse a selection of our publications here, including our annual reports and accounts, independent and partnership publications, as well as policy and position statements. Use the buttons below to jump to a collection:
Annual Impact Reports
This annual report gives an overview of our impact in the year 1 April 2019 - 31 March 2020, including key statistics, stories and highlights - from the area of land we manage and influence for wildlife, to measuring the impact of volunteering on peoples' mental health.
Annual Reports and Accounts
The Wildlife Trusts Publications
Let Nature Help - COP26 Edition
Climate action needs nature. Nature needs climate action. Neither will succeed if we don’t prepare for a changing world.
What's the damage?
A Wildlife Trust report on why current plans for HS2 will cost nature too much, resulting in local extinctions and loss of valuable habitat.
Every Child Wild
A Wildlife Trusts report on why we believe every child has the right to be wild. With fewer than 10% of children playing in natural areas, we explore why time spent in nature is important, and what we're doing about it.
Celebrating the Landfill Communities Fund
This 2014 report is a recognition of the immensely valuable role the Landfill Communities Fund has played, and continues to contribute towards, achieving practical nature conservation on the ground across the UK. It showcases some of the vitally important work the Fund has supported, from creating new reedbeds in the Great Fen, to conducting detailed surveys of the seabed in Dorset.
The Rothschild List: 1915-2015
In order to assess what has happened to the places on Rothschild’s List over the past century The Wildlife Trusts set out to collect as much information as we could using desktop research to measure the current state of the 284 Rothschild Reserves. Read our conclusions in the 2015 review.
Partnership Publications
The State of Nature Report
The 2019 State of Nature report was produced by a partnership of over 70 organisations involved in the recording, researching and conservation of nature in the UK and its Overseas Territories. It is the third report of its kind published, with the first having been published in 2013 and the second in 2016.
Jordans Farm Partnership Impact Report
Our partnership with Jordans Cereals helps the farmers who grow their oats to farm in harmony with nature. Our impact report shows how Wildlife Trust advisors have been helping the farmers achieve this.
The Nature and Wellbeing Act
In 2016 The Wildlife Trusts, along with the RSPB and partners, called for a Nature & Wellbeing Act, that would set the world's first legally binding targets for nature's recovery in a generation. Over 9,000 people contacted their MPs about the Act before Parliament was dissolved ahead of the 2015 General Election.
This document sets out the purpose of the act and its impacts on the country's health and economy. It includes examples of how we and our partners put the ideas of the Act into practice to make a difference today.
The Green Wildlife Guide for Boaters
Published in 2017 to advise boaters on how to get the best experience out of their wildlife encounters by acting responsibly and cautiously to minimize the risk of disturbance while keeping participants and their boats safe.
Nature Positive Local Plans
This 2015 report outlines the findings of an investigation conducted by the RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts into the effectiveness of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). In cases where this is failing our natural environment, a series of recommendations are suggested for the role the planning system should play in the protection, and restoration of our wild places.
Policies and Position Statements
This report, for the first time, calls for people’s access to nature to be set in law. Planning – a new way forward: how the planning system can help our health, nature and climate, comes at a critical time for the Government’s Planning White Paper and the recently announced “pause” on planning reform. The newly named Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has a huge opportunity to ensure the planning system improves lives by levelling up access to nature.
The Wildlife Trusts are calling for the creation of national networks for nature’s recovery. These will need to be spatially planned so that action can be targeted to where it will be most effective to form an ecologically coherent, resilient network of sites that will enable nature to recover and thrive. The Handbook draws on the expertise from across The Wildlife Trusts movement in planning and implementing networks for nature.
A Living Landscape
This report outlines The Wildlife Trusts' approach to landscape-scale nature conservation in the UK. It looks a range of Wildlife Trust projects and explores the barriers and opportunities for large-scale habitat restoration.
Published in 2006, and updated in 2009 to include summaries of more the 100 Wildlife Trust Living Landscape schemes around the UK.
The case for more Marine Conservation Zones
In this 2016 report, The Wildlife Trusts set out their case for an interconnected network of Marine Conservation Zones. The report highlights the importance of protected marine areas, not only for the recovery of fragmented habitats, but for the longevity of our living seas.
Local Authority Services and Biodiversity
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006 introduced a biodiversity duty on local authorities in England and Wales to conserve biodiversity. This document provides an introduction to the duty, highlighting the benefits of and opportunities. It draws on existing good practice to be a source of inspiration for local authorities to consider new and additional ways of integrating biodiversity conservation throughout their activities.
Population, Resource Use & Consumption
Read the Wildlife Trusts analysis and position statement on Population, Resource Use & Consumption in the UK.
Read our proposals for a Nature Recovery Network
Towards a Wilder Britain
Read 'Towards a Wilder Britain' our proposals for a Nature Recovery Network of joined-up habitats to help wildlife and people to thrive.
What next for Farming? report
What next for farming
Read our recommendations for a future agriculture policy after the UK leaves the EU. Published in January 2018.
From 2015-17 the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex carried out research on behalf of The Wildlife Trusts, to:
■ Study the mental wellbeing of volunteers on Wildlife Trust projects
■ Collect information from projects across The Wildlife Trusts to evaluate their impact on people’s health and wellbeing
■ Review the scientific literature, to investigate whether nature-rich environments had any specific impacts on people’s health and wellbeing
The findings are particularly important for people who live with a mental health condition. The research showed that nature volunteering had the most significant impact on those with low levels of mental wellbeing at the start of the project.
An evaluation of the health and wellbeing impacts of volunteering for 12 weeks with Wildlife Trusts found:
- 60% reported becoming more physically active
- New volunteers trebled the number of days they were physically active
- 83% improved their mental wellbeing
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