“Sir Bevan’s reference to Rachel Carson’s hugely acclaimed book ‘Silent Spring’ is particularly poignant when today we are facing a ‘silent summer’ on environmental issues from the contenders for the Tory Party leadership. Jo Lewis, director of policy for the Soil Association, said: “This is a dire warning from the head of the UK Environment Agency setting out why it is critical that we act now to reverse the devastating decline of nature and restore biodiversity – or face the consequences for humanity. The work is widely credited with sparking the modern-day environmental movement. Sir James quoted Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring, which catalogued the destruction of whole ecosystems in the US through indiscriminate spraying of synthetic pesticides. The report was launched by Sir James Bevan, the EA’s chief executive, at an event hosted by Green Alliance in London on Tuesday. Sir James Bevan quoted the seminal environmental text Silent Spring when he launched the Working with Nature report (PA) (PA Wire) Shaun Spiers, executive director of environmental policy thinktank Green Alliance, said: “As people are sweltering in extreme summer heat and worry about the coming winter of unaffordable energy bills, tackling the climate and nature crisis should be central to this leadership race. No candidate has put the environment at the forefront of their campaign, and several seem intent on turning the clock back.
In September 2020, it pledged to protect 30% of the UK’s land by 2030, meaning an extra 400,000 hectares should be helping support the recovery of nature.īut environmentalists fear existing targets could be diluted or dropped by his successor, with the pool of candidates largely silent on the climate crisis, or threatening to roll back current plans. It states the amount of land used for grazing animals needs to drop by 26% to 36%, with up to one-fifth of existing agricultural land given over to projects to reduce emissions and sequester carbon.īoris Johnson’s Government introduced an ambitious target to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035, and strategies such as the Tree Action Plan, which aims to treble tree planting by 2024.
The EA calls for “landscape scale” interventions to reach the UK’s net zero goals and create a society that is resilient to climate change, including 30,000 extra hectares a year for tree planting. In its report, Working With Nature, the EA explains the link between the disappearance of these habitats and the clean water, flood protection and carbon sequestration humans need to survive.
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