Now is the Time to Act for a Wilder Future.

 

Activists and candidates from North Staffs Green Party have given their support to a manifesto for giving the county a wilder future published by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

 

A spokesperson said: “the crisis facing humanity due to our neglect of the environment is growing more serious every year, we need to act now before it is too late”.

 

The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust manifesto calls on candidates to support five pledges during the campaign and to follow up on them if elected.

 

These are: creating a Nature Recovery Network with adequate funding to address issues such as species loss and the destruction of natural habitats; developing local solutions to the climate crisis; supporting access to nature as a way of boosting health and wellbeing; protecting wild places from destruction and promoting sustainable development and supporting innovative approaches to developing the green economy.

 

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust write in their manifesto that the next decade will be ‘crucial’ to the future of nature in the county, going on to say it could be a time of ‘renewal, of rewilding our lives’, but only ‘if we act now and act together’.

 

North Staffs Green Party have been actively engaged with protecting wild spaces across the county, including taking a leading role in the campaign to protect Cannock Chase.

 

In a statement launching the party’s campaign for the Staffordshire County Council elections Coordinator Jade Taylor said the party would be speaking out on: “the threat of loss to our local green spaces like Keele Golf Course, the increase of regular flooding, poorly built and maintained houses, the expected troubles HS2 will bring to our rural villages”.

 

Included in the actions Staffordshire Wildlife Trust recommend as necessary for nature in the county to recover by 2030 are, protecting 30% of the land in Staffordshire for nature; using local woodland to capture carbon and ensuring all new housing, commercial and infrastructure developments are designed to promote biodiversity and create nature rich spaces.

 

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust write: “people and communities benefit from thriving, accessible nature on their doorsteps as part of a Natural Health Service. Reconnecting with wild, green places improves the wellbeing and resilience of all”.

 

A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said: “protecting the environment is at the heart of everything our party stands for, as is making access to nature something that everybody is able to enjoy as a right,” adding that “we are determined to support the things Staffordshire Wildlife Trust are calling for at the election and long afterwards”.

 

Read about the policies Green councillors in Staffordshire would campaign for in the manifesto for the county [1] and what they say about protecting green spaces in their personal statements [2]

 

[1] : https://northstaffordshiregreenparty.blogspot.com/2021/04/manifesto-2021.html

[2] https://northstaffordshiregreenparty.blogspot.com/2021/04/election-candidates-2021.html