We can make a difference if we stand together

AFTER months fighting to improve the government's Planning & Infrastructure Bill, it is now expected to pass into law.

- By ERIN MCDAID

Whilst the Bill, minus amendments that would have limited the worst outcomes for nature becoming law will likely lead to short-term wins for developers at the expense of urgent nature recovery; history has shown that setbacks often trigger a positive response. Time and again, when nature has been threatened, society has fought back harder to protect it. We may have lost the battle but we're not about to roll over and accept overall defeat.

As we regroup and prepare to come out fighting again, the value that so many folk place upon nature, and the growing understanding of just how much nature underpins our lives is hugely motivating. Knowing that so many people value nature gives us hope that the political winds will change.

Just days after the Bill moved towards Royal Assent, the government published its much-anticipated Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). This contains encouraging signals of support for nature recovery, suggesting that not all in government believe that nature is impeding development. However, whilst the plan was being launched, the Prime Minister continued to push the false narrative that nature is holding back growth in a speechundermining his own government's promise in the EIP to restore nature and address pollution.