“We can only hope that any future government will be continually alert and that the warnings of many top scientists about the necessity for full and extensive tests on any form of pesticide, or spray, for dealing with plants will be heeded.” – Maxwell Knight (The Frightened Face of Nature – 1964).

Post Brexit, we must all be extra vigilant over the coming years and ensure that the earth’s natural capital remains on the Agenda and isn’t lost during trade negotiations. Of course, it’s important for Britain’s GDP that we bridge the gap and mitigate potential trading losses – but some things remain priceless; nature and biodiversity are not for sale – our only goal is to halt biodiversity loss and protect the globe’s natural capital.

We squirmed yesterday as the pound plunged after the Leave vote – the business world reacted harshly and sent sterling to its lowest point in thirty years; however, are city traders kept awake at night when news breaks that we have lost more than half the globe’s wildlife in less than forty years? (source ZSL/WWF Living Planet Report 2014).

The pound will recover – our wildlife and biodiversity may not.

Natural capital is essential to everything we do; it’s essential to our health and – even though the city traders wouldn’t consider this between sips of Bollinger – it’s essential to our economy too.

“The fight starts now,” according to Friends of the Earth “to make sure that the UK doesn’t water-down environmental safeguards we’ve inherited from the European Union.” Discover more about their campaign here

Or read more about The Birds and Habitats Directives (as we will not be subject to directives such as these as a non-EU country).

Simon King

#Nature