This week the new UK Government comes under scrutiny on the international stage when it demonstrates how it intends to meet global commitments to reverse nature loss back home. UK progress is non-existent – actually regressing since global targets were set two years ago – and this will be a challenge for new ministers at this first stock-take.

The occasion is the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 16) to the Convention on Biological Diversity which runs from Monday 21^st October to Friday 1^st November 2024 in Colombia. The upcoming summit will be the first opportunity for the world to measure progress towards the global nature goals agreed in December 2022.

The Wildlife Trust has published Local to Global – the Global Biodiversity Framework and what the UK needs to do to implement it which outlines the steps UK Government must take to reverse nature loss and meet global targets.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, (who is attending COP16 in Colombia) says:

“Two years ago nearly 200 countries came together to agree a global biodiversity framework. At the time it was enthusiastically championed by the UK – but we’ve yet to see progress on halting, let alone reversing, nature loss. It’s vital that the UK gets stuck into reducing river pollution, protecting more land for nature and halving the use of pesticides, to name a few – otherwise this country will fail its targets and completely undermine the international agreement.

“There’s a colossal job to do in the next five years and we urgently need to see a radical approach to rebuilding our natural infrastructure fast. The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world whose degradation is so acute it is known to be causing big losses to UK GDP. So it’s brilliant to see that the new Government has signalled it takes the situation seriously and regards nature loss as a global security issue and is conducting a rapid review of its Environmental Improvement Plan.

“Meanwhile there are things the Government could do right now. They could ban the sale of peat, allow wild beaver reintroductions and introduce Wildbelt to put more land aside for nature recovery. Communities are already suffering from the effects of climate change – we’re experiencing extreme weather and floods – yet authorities are still reaching for short-term hard engineering solutions instead of rewilding floodplains to soak up water. The new UK Government must announce bold action for nature at home on the international stage.”

The Convention on Biological Diversity is a vitally important global treaty. The world’s biodiversity is fast decreasing and action is urgently needed to prevent ecological collapse. The 2021 Dasgupta Review of The Economics of Biodiversity, commissioned by HM Treasury, warned that “our unsustainable engagement with nature is endangering the prosperity of current and future generations.”

Despite often being a key player on the international stage for both climate and biodiversity, including spearheading the Leaders Pledge for Nature in 2020, the UK has not backed this up with implementation at home. The UK’s international environmental leadership threatens to be undermined by the fact that the UK Government is on track to meet only four of its 40 individual domestic environmental targets and remains one of the most nature-depleted countries on the planet.

The goals and targets in the Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed at the last Conference of the Parties (COP 15) in December 2022, focus on bending the curve of nature loss, rather than just halting its decline. The Wildlife Trusts’ report looks where implementation is urgently needed to ensure nature’s recovery by the end of: the decade under the three target headings of reducing threats to biodiversity; meeting people’s needs through sustainable use and benefit-sharing; and tools and solutions for implementation and mainstreaming.