terrible things in society. we are seeing some of the worst of it now. this generation coming through with the terrible attitudes towards women, all sorts of awful incidents. frankly, kids are telling me this stuff is blighting their lives. dame rachel de souza, stuff is blighting their lives. dame rachel de souza, thank stuff is blighting their lives. dame rachel de souza, thank you - stuff is blighting their lives. dame rachel de souza, thank you for i rachel de souza, thank you for talking to me today. children s commissionerfor talking to me today. children s commissioner for england. talking to me today. children s commissionerfor england. let s go back to the story we brought you a couple of minutes ago. the uk government s blueprint for how to boost wildlife habitats. let s talk now with tonyjuniper, the chair of nature england, who is at the government s launch of the new envioromental improvement plan at camley street natural park in kings cross. i guess this is exactly th
at westminster, increasingly publicly on the front page of some of the conservative supporting newspapers, with some conservative mps suggesting tax cuts are essential if this is going to boost growth. i think the chances of those calls being heeded in the budget in march are slim to none. rishi sunak and the chancellor jeremy hunt has proven to be quite stubborn when it comes to sticking to their plan. there is a debate about strategy, the labour party saying the government s growth plan is not good enough, but they have a better one that would be based on green growth instead. what i think you will hear from ministers today is a message that there is a short term challenge, the longer term prospect is better, but they will caveat that by saying longer term prospects are only better in the short term if the short term plan
coincidently natural england is launching a new green framework which will help local authorities do more of what is going on here, the work done by the wildlife trusts over many years, trying to make that more systematic, building it into local plans and mainstreaming this nature recovery idea across all the government. this is notjust an environment issue but about infrastructure and planning and about how not only can we find benefits of declining birds and insects but also benefits for people, too. this plan really is i think a great basis for doing all of that over the years ahead. i5 think a great basis for doing all of that over the years ahead. is there enou:h that over the years ahead. is there enough money that over the years ahead. is there enough money behind that over the years ahead. is there enough money behind it that over the years ahead. is there enough money behind it to - that over the years ahead. is there enough money behind it to make l that over the years
to do something to change that? yes, that is right. to do something to change that? yes, that is right, this to do something to change that? yes that is right, this country is now regarded as one of the most nature depleted countries on planet earth. this is the result of many decades andindeed this is the result of many decades and indeed centuries of decline of the natural environment, arising from industrialisation, from intensive agriculture, urbanisation and fragmentation of natural habitat. so what we face now is a very steep hill in moving towards not only the conservation of what is left but also the recovery of a lot of what has gone. that is what the plan today is all about. we had some really stretching targets in this country, reflecting targets that have been adopted globally as well. what we see today in this document is the steps they are going to take over the next five years towards meeting these really big goals for 2030, including halting the decline of nature an
the government has revealed its blueprint for how to clean up air and water, boost nature and reduce waste in england by 2030. under the 25 year environmental plan, everyone will live within 15 minutes walk of a green space or water. habitats for wildlife will be expanded and there will be 25 new or enlarged national nature reserves. more money will go to protecting rare wildlife, such as hedgehogs and red squirrels. our climate editor told me more about the ambitions of this plan. the overall ambition is to halt and reverse the decline of nature and today, rishi sunak said he believed today s plan will ensure that. a very ambitious target the government has set itself there. the announcement of policies we got today, and your listed most of them, new work on wildlife habitats, 2000 square miles of wildlife habitats, new and expanded national nature reserves, efforts to make water use