This September, the very first Wild Summit took place in Bristol – a new national gathering to supercharge UK nature recovery that brought together people from across the nature and climate movement to focus on urgent environmental goals.
NatureSpace Senior Technical Officer Frances Bennett shares her experience of the day…
I had an excellent day at the first ever Wild Summit in Bristol earlier this month! Really wonderful to be at an event with our partners, Newt Conservation Partnership, Freshwater Habitats Trust and Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. The day included lots of thought-provoking debate and speeches from the industry’s leading professionals, alongside workshops, educational talks, and of course, a fascinating range of stands to explore.
Unsurprisingly, the Summit’s question of ‘how can we achieve 30% of UK land and sea protected for nature by 2030?’ generated lots of interesting discussion — It’s an incredibly ambitious target: at present, according to Hilary McGrady (Director General of the National Trust), only 6% of land in the UK, and less than 3% of land in England(1), is effectively protected for nature. Meanwhile, according to Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall (chef and environmental campaigner) only 14% of rivers in England are in “good” ecological health, and not one single river in the UK passes the full clean chemical test.(2)
Over 1,200 people turned out to explore the complex and vital issue of nature conservation in the UK, and I came away struck by the incredible passion of the people in the industry. In a time where misinformed media rhetoric demonises nature as an antagonist to economic growth, the day served as an excellent reminder, not only that nature underpins our lives, but that we are nature: it’s not something that we can live without.
Healthy, functioning ecosystems don’t just support wildlife – they strengthen our economy, safeguard food security, and promote both physical and mental wellbeing. The overall message from the day was clear: we are in a state of ecological emergency in the UK, and both personal and economic health will suffer if we don’t find solutions, fast. Indeed, the Green Finance Institute estimated a 12% loss to GDP if nature depletion continues.(3)
People crave connection to nature, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to access it. Over 40% of people lack access to quality green spaces (1), and I heard multiple first-hand accounts of people who went swimming in their local river or lake and got sick as a result. Speakers from the housing development sector were clear that now, they can’t sell homes without green spaces. Far from the ‘builders vs blockers’ rhetoric that we see on the news, industry leaders reiterated that nature and development can go hand-in-hand. We need both.
That’s why I’m so proud of our District Licensing Scheme. We deliver positive outcomes for nature and development. Our conservation strategy pools development impacts and compensates strategically, off-site, at scale. The power of this approach has been demonstrated by the Newt Conservation Partnership’s monitoring, which consistently shows outstanding conservation outcomes for great crested newts.
Frances Bennett, Senior Technical Officer
