From championing a robust Local Nature Recovery Strategy, combating climate change to ensuring equitable access to green spaces, we envision a West Midlands where nature flourishes, communities thrive, and all residents reap the benefits of a sustainable tomorrow. We invite all mayoral candidates to embrace this visionary agenda and pave the way for a brighter, greener future for generations to come.
1. Embrace Nature: Lead the charge in delivering and championing a bold Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). This strategy should safeguard irreplaceable habitats and be embedded in Local Plans to ensure nature’s resilience in the face of climate change.
2. More Nature, Better Standards: It’s time to push for a Biodiversity Net Gain standard of at least 20% across our whole region. All seven constituent local authorities. By exceeding the current benchmark of 10%, you’ll raise the bar for nature’s recovery, setting a strong example for others to follow and creating healthier ecosystems for all.
3. Building Nature’s Safe Havens: Prioritise green infrastructure and nature-based solutions in your urban planning efforts, including trees and wetlands, parks and hedgerows, building communities that thrive alongside nature. By doing so, you will not only enhance biodiversity but also combat climate change by creating resilient, sustainable spaces.
4. Flow and Grow for Nature: You need to restore our waterways to good ecological health and boost our blue-green spaces. By adopting integrated water management practices and expanding our tree canopy cover with native species sourced and grown locally, especially through the establishment of community tree nurseries, you’ll not only enhance biodiversity and public spaces but also mitigate the effects of climate change.
5. Nature for Everyone: It’s essential to ensure equitable access to nature for all residents. By establishing an Access to Nature Standard, you’ll promote physical and mental well-being while nurturing a sense of environmental stewardship in our communities. Let’s make sure everyone can benefit from the beauty and serenity of green spaces.
We and our members extend this invitation to mayoral candidates across the West Midlands, urging them to seize this moment for positive change for nature and climate. By embracing the five key priorities outlined above, we have the unparalleled opportunity to cultivate a region where nature thrives, communities flourish, and environmental stewardship reigns. We look forward to each candidate’s commitment to championing these initiatives for all residents. Time is of the essence. Between 2 May and the start of a new decade in 2030, there are only 2,070 days. We must make them count to achieve 30% of land for nature by 2030. Let us embark on this journey towards a West Midlands that embodies harmony between humanity and the natural world.
Gina Rowe, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Landscape Recovery Development Manager, said, ‘2024 will be a vital year for wildlife, and nature’s recovery will be the only way to solve the interlinked climate and ecological emergencies. Having a nature rich environment is essential for human health and well-being, for restoring the planet’s life support systems and to support the amazing range of wildlife species which underpin our existence and enjoyment of life. We benefit from nature in every aspect of our lives. We need to help our elected leaders to truly embed protection and restoration of nature in their decision making and plans, so we can stop and reverse the severe decline in nature we have seen in the region over the last 100 years.’
Dr Delia Garratt, Birmingham and Black Country Wildlife Trust Chief Executive Officer, said, ‘We hope all mayoral candidates will join our vision for a West Midlands with more green and wild spaces where nature thrives, and where everyone has an equal opportunity to access nature in their daily lives. It is only together that we can solve the climate and nature emergencies we face, and achieve a wilder future for all’.
Martin Randall, RSPB Operations Director for Central and Eastern England, expressed that, ‘Given their power to affect change on the ground, we need our locally elected leaders to put nature’s recovery at the top of their agendas. With many areas of the West Midlands amongst the most affected by green deprivation in the UK, the successful candidate in May’s WMCA mayoral election will have a real opportunity to tackle some of the environmental challenges across the region in order to deliver a greener, cleaner and wildlife-rich West Midlands, and in doing so benefit local communities, nature, and the climate’.
Chris Crean, West Midlands Friends of the Earth Regional Campaigner, stated, ‘This is our third West Midlands Metro Mayor Election and the region needs to move from rhetoric to action if we are going to take the region on the essential journey of putting the solutions to our twin emergencies of Climate and Nature into action over the next very important four years’.
Ben Green, Woodland Trust External Affairs Officer, added, ‘Mayoral candidates, unite with us in championing nature’s cause! Let’s create a West Midlands where trees and woods flourish, biodiversity thrives, and every resident finds solace in nature’s embrace. Time is short, but our resolve is strong. Let’s make every day count towards a greener future’.