Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conclusions of the report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds A lost decade for nature, published on 14 September; and what steps they are taking to address the conclusion that "the UK will need to show precisely how it plans to fill the gap between rhetoric and reality in its own backyard".

In 2019, the UK Government published its assessment of progress with the goals and targets set under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In common with the RSPB’s assessment, this highlighted ongoing declines in biodiversity in the UK, and despite progress, a clear need to do more. Both reports point to success stories on which we can build, and the UK Government is determined to do just that.

Domestic biodiversity is a devolved matter in the UK. In England, our 25 Year Environment Plan marked a step change in ambition for wildlife and the natural environment. We are already taking steps to meet this ambition in our own backyard and in support of wider global efforts.

We have brought forward the first Environment Bill in over 20 years with ambitious measures to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age, including restoring and enhancing nature. The Bill will set the framework for establishing long-term, legally-binding environmental targets, for air quality, for water, for waste and at least one target on biodiversity. We are investing in restoring nature, for example through our £640m Nature for Climate fund to restore peatland and plant new woodland. We are developing a new Environmental Land Management scheme that will reward farmers and land managers for delivering environmental public goods. The UK is also at the forefront of marine protection with 357 Marine Protected Areas protecting 25% of UK waters, and we are examining ways to pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas.

Biodiversity loss is a global problem that requires a global solution. Our international spending on biodiversity has been growing and was over £200 million per year as of 2017/18. We are playing a leading role in developing an ambitious post-2020 global framework under the CBD and putting nature at the heart of our COP26 Presidency, paving the way for transformative action to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss holistically.