Author Archives: Richard Benwell

Saving our Natural Environment

By Richard Benwell | Tue 15th February 2022 - 9:25 am

The climate and ecological emergencies are among the greatest challenges of our time.

The Federal Policy Committee’s Natural Environment Working Group is developing new policy proposals to help make sure that the Liberal Democrat plan for protecting and restoring nature is agenda-setting and ambitious. We would love to hear your ideas.

First of all, we want to hear what our long term vision for nature should be. We have a policy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, but what is the equivalent for nature? What is the most ambitious pathway possible for reducing our impact on nature internationally, restoring the natural environment in England, and ensuring that individuals and communities can benefit from a healthy environment?

Farming and land management will be key to delivery. Now that we have left the EU, we will need to develop a nature-friendly replacement for the Common Agricultural Policy that recognises the huge changes and challenges that farmers are facing, and genuinely supports a fast and effective transition to sustainable farming. We want a scheme that gives our hard-pressed farmers and rural communities the support and prosperity they deserve, whilst also making farming work for nature.

We also want to put our fishing communities on a sustainable financial and environmental footing. Like farming, we have the opportunity to replace the Common Fisheries Policy with a new approach which benefits coastal communities and our seas, not just the big trawlers with the deepest pockets.