The People’s Plan for Nature

If you are interested in environmental issues, it’s hard to know how to keep up with the mass of information that is available. If you are only going to read one thing this year then you should consider reading the People’s Plan for Nature. This report has been drawn up by a hundred ordinary citizens of the UK.

The People’s Plan for Nature is part of the Save Our Wild Isles Project which is a partnership between the WWF, the RSPB and the National Trust. A major TV series narrated by David Attenborough was broadcast in early 2023. The concept behind the People’s Plan for Nature is based on the idea of citizens assemblies: if you get a representative group of citizens together (in this case 100), provide them with the necessary knowledge and facilitate debate, you will get good decisions that represent the views of the community.

The People’s Plan for Nature has 26 Calls to Action which are the most urgent and influential actions that need to be taken now to protect and restore nature. These actions cover generic issues such as policy making and the use of evidence as well as areas like marine protection, waterways management, farming, food production and consumption and local access to nature.

Most of the Calls to Action are directed towards the Government as they have the power to drive political, regulatory and legislative change. A few Calls to Action are directed specifically to local government, charities, businesses or farmers.

Here are a few examples of the Calls for Action:

● All commercial and policy decisions should take into account the impacts on nature. This would mean National Governments, Local Government, Food Businesses & Charities and NGOs should build an ‘Impact on Nature Assessment’ into their tendering and procurement processes, with scores allocated based on how well nature is valued and protected by the applicant.

● The current subsidy arrangements for farming should be completely overhauled to provide incentives to farmers who farm sustainably and commit to rewilding land which is non-productive, whilst penalising those who harm the environment by not farming sustainably

● Finally here is one to really think about. There needs to be a national conversation across the UK to explore, advise and encourage people on the need to change their diet. This would educate people on the impact of our food choices on nature and our health. Ultimately, the aim would be for the majority of people to significantly change their diet to a more plant based diet and to reduce meat, dairy and fish consumption by at least 25% by 2030.

No one is going to agree with every Call To Action but the People’s Plan for Nature shows when you present the evidence to a random group of citizens they are clear we need to move bolder and faster to restore nature.

(peoplesplanfornature.org)