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PRESS RELEASE - 09 March 2011

RSPB calls upon people in Berkshire to join ambitious new campaign for wildlife

Today, the RSPB is calling upon people in Berkshire to participate in the most ambitious campaign in the charity’s 122 year history, in an effort to end the continuing threat to wildlife in the UK and across the world.

The campaign, called ‘Stepping Up for Nature’, aims to set out a roadmap to meet a new target to address the decline in biodiversity by 2020. The EU set the target after the world failed to meet the previous deadline of 2010.

Everyone can play their part and the campaign encourages individuals, businesses and Government to ‘step up’ to help save wildlife.

Over the past year, people in Berkshire have been taking action in a variety of ways, by participating in garden wildlife surveys, giving their time and money to support conservation work, or signing petitions, such as the RSPB’s Letter to the Future.

The petition calls upon the Government to continue to invest in the environment and not cut funding for essential conservation work. It will be handed in to Number 10, Downing Street today to launch the new campaign. To date, more than 355,000 people have signed the letter, including 1043 from Berkshire.

Chris Corrigan, RSPB Regional Director for South East England, said: “Thanks to the support of people in Berkshire, we have been able to carry out vital work and seen some real conservation successes.

“But our collective failure to meet the 2010 target to halt biodiversity loss, both in the UK and globally, means that we cannot sit back and relax. Now more than ever before, we need to strengthen our efforts, with more people and organisations stepping up and participating in as many ways as possible.”

The need for urgent and ongoing action is clear. Farmland bird populations have fallen by half since 1970, some of our best loved native birds including cuckoos, house sparrows and nightingales are in sharp decline and once widespread species like Corncrakes, Turtle Doves and Cirl Buntings are desperately clinging on in small pockets.

The greater horseshoe bat is now one of the UK’s rarest species, just a few populations of the once widespread high brown fritillary butterfly remain, eel populations have crashed by 95 per cent and one in five wild flowers is threatened with extinction.

The face of our countryside has changed dramatically. Eighty per cent of lowland heathland has disappeared, 100 hectares of saltmarsh are being lost each year, almost three quarters of rivers in England and Wales are failing European standards and in 60 years we have lost 95 per cent of our wildflower meadows.

Across the world our rainforest continues to be destroyed, the global temperature is rising and marine life is under constant threat from overfishing.

Mr Corrigan added: “When you look at the list of problems, the challenge ahead of us seems huge. But we have a multitude of solutions at our disposal, and the potential to take millions of steps for nature every day between now and 2020, if everyone plays their part.

“From schoolchildren creating a wildlife garden in the corner of their playground to farmers making their land more wildlife-friendly, and from local communities speaking out against damaging developments to politicians making decisions that safeguard the environment we all depend upon, everyone in Berkshire can get involved and have an impact.”

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: “The natural environment is one of the areas where the Big Society can really make an impact. The RSPB is the Big Society in action, harnessing the passion, commitment and expertise of its one million members to achieve significant results for the natural environment, and I wish them every success in the most ambitious campaign in their 122 year history.

“By all working together – Government, business, communities and individuals – we can make a real difference to our country by reducing the loss of our many species and habitats.”