EXPERTS have responded to bleak report on the state of wildlife.

Gareth Parry, Director of Conservation at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust said:

“The 2019 State of Nature report shows that our wildlife is continuing to

disappear. One in seven of the species found in the UK are now at risk of extinction, but alarmingly many other species are becoming less common. The report tells a story of nature slowly becoming dominated by the small number of species that thrive alongside humans. This reflects what we are seeing in Gloucestershire.”

“Stories about wildlife in trouble are now common, but these declines are not happening elsewhere, they are having a direct impact in Gloucestershire too. Unless we make significant changes and make them now, the next generation will inherit a poorer natural world. Continued loss of wildlife will have a profound impact on our economy and way of life.”

The State of Nature report highlights the many pressures on wildlife, nearly all of which are the result of human activities. The biggest impacts are from intensive agriculture, climate change, pollution and urbanisation.

The report shows that although there is no quick fix, levels of public concern for nature are high, with local and national government quite rightly declaring climate and biodiversity emergencies, including across Gloucestershire. It is vital that this momentum leads to real change that halts wildlife declines and begins to restore what has been lost. This is one of the defining challenges of our time.

Earlier this year, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust released its Manifesto for a Wilder

Gloucestershire, outlining the seven changes needed to put nature into recovery in

Gloucestershire. The Manifesto states what Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust will do, but it

also includes actions that politicians, local leaders and members of the public can take.

Wildlife declines are not inevitable, they are caused by the choices of people, but nature

can recover if it is given a chance.

In response to the report, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust is asking people to download the

Manifesto from their website and sign their petition calling for a stronger Environment Act