Wildlife Trust in £1.5m drive to halt decline of species

A conservation charity has unveiled a plan to reverse biodiversity loss in the region by the end of the decade.

The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire has committed to protecting some of the region’s most special sites while bringing others into better condition and helping landowners create wildlife-friendly habitats.

The organisation hopes to finance these efforts by raising £1.5m over the next five years, which will also fund scientific research to monitor species declines.

Trust chief executive Brian Eversham said: “The world has changed a lot since the start of the decade and funding the protection of nature has got a lot harder.

“We could scale back our ambitions to reflect this new reality – but nature urgently needs our help so we have chosen instead to do more for nature and reach further into communities for support.

“This means we need to raise more money – we calculate that we need another £1.5million over the coming years to ensure this vital work can happen. It’s a big ask of individuals, businesses and other groups – but when I go out into our communities, meet people on reserves and at events, I am always struck by how much people in our three counties love and value wildlife-rich outdoor spaces.

“Investing in the local environment does not bring the financial dividends of stocks and shares – instead it gives us special places, supports a healthy countryside full of life, and will enrich the lives of generations to come.

“From the ancient woodlands of South Cambridgeshire, the globally important peatland landscape of the Fens, the wildflower rich chalk downlands of Bedfordshire and the wetlands of Northamptonshire, the nature of this region is worth fighting for, and that’s the ambition we have laid out in this plan.”

The report Our Wilder Future: A Plan for Nature Recovery in Beds, Cambs and Northants – 2030 commits the trust to investing in more community outreach work, running education events on nature reserves and encouraging community groups to take action to protect nature.

According to the trust, there has been a 19 per cent decline in wildlife in the UK since 1970 and nearly one in six species is threatened with extinction from Great Britain.

For more information, visit wildlifebcn.org/wilderfuturefund.