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In a video message, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has publicly weighed in with full support for Zero Hour’s #UnitedForNature campaign.
Hugh – a chef, celebrity and champion for the environment – has announced he backs the campaign that calls on PM Rishi Sunak to set a new, strong and legally binding target to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030.
‘Across our beloved British countryside, in our towns and in our cities, nature is degrading fast. Far from being a green and pleasant land, shockingly, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.
‘We need to send the UK government a clear signal that nature restoration must happen—and must happen now. If we can stand united for nature, working to bring about real change, all is not lost.
‘We’re calling on the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, to set a new, strong and legally binding nature target to reverse nature loss by 2030.
‘Help us send a powerful message to the prime minister—a message he can’t ignore. Please sign Zero Hour’s United For Nature petition and—together—we can put nature on the path to recovery.’
HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL
Chef, celebrity and champion for the environment
Campaign group Zero Hour is behind the cross-party Climate & Ecology Bill—which has passed its committee stage in the House of Lords—and is anticipated to be introduced with all-party support in the House of Commons in January 2023.
The United For Nature campaign is pushing for the UK government to focus on the Bill’s nature target—and deliver a legally binding nature target as part of the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
‘Given the delay in the publication of the targets required by the Environment Act 2021, this is the moment to publish a truly world-leading nature restoration target.’
DR AMY MCDONNELL
Zero Hour director
COP15, currently coming to an end in Montreal, has been termed ‘nature’s last chance’. To achieve real change, Zero Hour’s United For Nature campaign is calling for more than pledges and promises.
The campaign—supported by the Wildlife Trusts, the Rivers Trust and UK Youth For Nature—is calling on the government to demonstrate true leadership by locking the UK’s ‘nature positive’ ambition at COP15 into national legislation.
‘Our United For Nature campaign is clear that action is now well overdue. It requires not only halting nature loss, but a reversal of nature’s destruction across our nation. With a public petition gaining thousands of signatures, the #UnitedForNature campaign will put nature at the heart of climate action.’
OLIVER SIDORCZUK
Zero Hour campaign manager
Zero Hour comprises a group of scientists and experienced campaigners, some of whom were involved in the ‘Big Ask’ Campaign that led to the Climate Change Act 2008.
The campaign is calling for urgent action on the climate and nature emergencies—primarily through the Climate & Ecology (CE) Bill.
The Bill has been developed with world-leading experts such as Prof. EJ Milner Gulland (University of Oxford), Prof. Kevin Anderson (University of Manchester) and Prof. Tim Jackson (University of Surrey).
The CE Bill was first introduced into Parliament by Caroline Lucas MP in September 2020 and is now backed by a cross-party group of 160 parliamentarians.
On 18 October Zero Hour released the Net Zero: The Ambition Gap report, in which leading scientists evidenced the scale of ambition needed for the UK’s Net Zero Strategy to ‘keep 1.5C alive’.
On 01 November, MPs and Peers helped launch the first ever cross-party, all-nations Nature & Climate Declaration in the Commons—which was debated by MPs on 09 November.
Zero Hour’s campaign for a nature target is #UnitedForNature The call to action for this parallel campaign is to sign an e-petition calling for a 2030 nature loss reversal target to be locked in law.
This target is in line with the UK government’s COP15 ambition and its plan for Britain to build a ‘nature positive’ future.
A new target would ensure that the UK halts and reverses its overall contribution to the degradation and loss of nature in the UK and overseas by increasing the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations, habitats and ecosystems so that by 2030, and measured against a baseline of 2020, nature is visibly and measurably on the path of recovery.
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