The State of Nature - the UK in figures

21-24 Apr 2023 - Scientists for XR, alongside 100K protestors, participated to The Big One in front of parliament for 4 days.

Set against this global ecological emergency, how is the UK doing?

  • The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, ranking 228th out of the 240 countries in the Biodiversity Intactness Index. BBC Newsround (2021)

  •  41% of our plant and animal species have declined in abundance since 1970, and this decline is accelerating. The State of Nature Partnership (2019)

  • 1 in 4 of British mammals are now threatened with extinction in the UK. These include water voles, hedgehogs, the hazel dormouse, and wildcats. The Mammal Society (2020)

  • 31% of Great Britain’s amphibian and reptile species are threatened with risk of extinction. Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (2021)

  • The abundance of farmland birds (such as corn buntings, starlings and turtle doves) has halved due to changes in farming practices. DEFRA (2021)

  • The abundance of key pollinator insects has declined 30% since the 1980s. Joint Nature Conservation Committee (2022), DEFRA (2022)

  • 1225 ancient woodlands are under threat - 981 have been permanently lost or damaged since 2000. Woodland Trust (2021)

  • We’ve allowed the loss of 90% of our wetland habitats in the last 100 years. The Wildlife Trusts (2018-22)

  • All English rivers are polluted, only 14% are rated healthy for animals and plants. BBC News (2020)

  • Only 38% of protected, biodiversity-rich Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are in a healthy state and well managed. UK Government (2021)

  • 6 of the 10 most economically important fish stocks in the UK are overfished or  at a critical level. Oceana (2021)

And yet

  • The Government has only protected 5% of England, against its own target of 30% by 2030. RSPB England (2021)

  • In committing (again) to nature restoration targets at COP15, the government ignored the advice of Natural England that it needed to protect three times its target area to meet COP commitments. The Guardian (2023)

  • The UK has failed to reach 17 out of 20 UN biodiversity targets agreed on 10 years ago and in six areas the UK has actually gone backwards. RSPB (2020)

  • DEFRA continues to approve the use of specific pesticides widely banned because of their impact on bees, against the advice of their own scientific advisors. The Pesticide Collaboration (2022)

  • The Government’s EU Retained Law Act will scrap over 570 environmental protection laws unless new legislation replaces these in the next year. Wildlife and Countryside Link (2022)

  • There is a huge gap between the Government’s environmental rhetoric and the reality of years of underfunding. Funding for environmental protection services provided by the government’s Environment Agency (EA) has been cut by 50% over the past decade. Public sector investment in conservation has fallen in real terms by 33% in five years, according to the 2020 biodiversity indicators report. The Independent (2022); The Guardian (2020)

  • More than 90% of Britain’s offshore marine protected areas are still being bottom-trawled and dredged. The Guardian (2022)

  • The government has only met 4 out of 15 of the UK Marine Strategy’s indicators of healthy oceans. Wildlife and Countryside Link (2019)

This page’s banner image represents Global Bio Stripes: https://findingnature.org.uk/ - Data: LPI 2022. Living Planet Index https://stats.livingplanetindex.org/