The Wildlife Trusts charity, which includes Surrey Wildlife Trust, has launched a campaign calling for Brits to help save the UK’s wild plants and animals.
The campaign, called #WilderFuture, is fighting for the introduction of Nature Recovery Networks which will aim to create a joined-up system of places across the country where wild plants and animals can live.
The charity hopes to get one in four people involved in the campaign.
Sue Young, Head of Planning and Development at the Wildlife Trusts, said: “We know that biodiversity in the UK has decreased dramatically and we also know that nature is really beneficial to people’s mental health and physical well-being. We hope to get as many people as possible involved in the campaign.”
The campaign came as the UN released a report estimating that one million species across the globe would be threatened with extinction within decades and that the current global extinction rate is tens to hundreds of times higher than the average over the past ten million years.
In the UK alone, the Wildlife Trusts has estimated that 97 per cent of lowland meadow and 80 per cent of heathland have vanished in the past hundred years, along with the wildlife they supported.
The Kingston University Biodiversity Action Group (KUBAG) is one of many groups already working to conserve wildlife in their local area.
Sivi Sivanesan, Biodiversity and Landscape Manager at KUBAG, said: “I think that their campaign is wonderful. If they can get to the point where they can get one in four people actively taking part, then I think it will make a difference.
“Right now, it’s easy for governments to side-line work to protect biodiversity. While there are laws in place to protect a lot of our habitats and species, these are often broken, or ignored.”
KUBAG arrange eel, riverfly and bat monitoring and training; wildlife surveying and beekeeping as just some of the ways of helping local wildlife.
To find out more about #WilderFuture visit www.wildlifetrusts.org/wilder-future.
