Environmental targets consultation

Bat Conservation Trust has responded to Defra’s environmental targets consultation which closes on the 27^th June 2022. While we welcome some aspects of what is being proposed there are some concerns about the lack of ambition and potential missed opportunity to maximise the benefit to wildlife and people. Some of our concerns are:

• Designated protected sites need better protection, better monitoring and better management, underpinned by a legal target to drive progress.
• The increase proposed for the long-term species abundance target and habitats target needs to be measured against the current baseline not an unknown one in the future.
• On extinction threat the target should aim to reduce the number of species classed as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable and near threatened and to eliminate human-induced extinctions of known threatened species in England by 30% by 2042.
• Woodland planting needs to be evidence based and include the need to consider possible impacts on protected and priority species.
• We would caution that domestic carbon credits targets should not overtake biodiversity gains, leading to fast-growing conifers being planted.

You can download our full consultation response HERE and would encourage others to respond to the consultation the details of which can be found CLICKING HERE.