As we mark International Day for Biological Diversity 2025, we are reminded once again that time is not on nature’s side. The ‘State of Nature’ report outlined the sobering reality that the UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. It provided evidence of the true scale of UK nature loss, which is not only a threat to biodiversity, but a threat to food security, our health and our ability to deliver climate goals. Global biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate, and despite decades of warnings from scientists and conservationists, progress remains slow and insufficient. But there is still hope—if we choose to act decisively.
In 2022, the global community came together to adopt the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a landmark agreement under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. This framework was hailed as the “Paris moment” for biodiversity, setting out 23 targets to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Now, in 2025, the challenge is no longer about negotiation, its implementation.
Implementing the Global Biodiversity Framework: Turning targets into law
The GBF provides us with a clear blueprint. But frameworks alone don’t restore ecosystems or protect species. They require governments to deliver, via legislation, polices and action.
The Government should embed the GBF targets directly into the Environment Improvement Plan as part of its rapid review, and ensure broader environmental legislation is aligned with these targets. This is not only a moral obligation, but essential if we are to halt and reverse nature loss. We urgently need bold, joined-up, science-led legislation: we need the Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill.
All 23 targets in the GBF are essential, and the UK Government should support every one of them. But four targets stand out as particularly critical and align directly with the objectives of the CAN Bill:
Target 8: Integrating climate and nature
Reduce climate change impacts on biodiversity by integrating nature-based solutions and enhancing ecosystem resilience.
Target 14: Biodiversity in all decision making
Integrate biodiversity values into policies, regulations, planning, and development processes, ensuring that nature is factored into decisions at every level of government.
Target 16: Cutting the UK’s global footprint
Reduce the global biodiversity footprint of production and consumption. This is especially vital for a high-consumption country like the UK, which must take responsibility for its overseas environmental impacts.
Target 22: Public participation in decision making
Ensure inclusive, equitable, and effective participation in biodiversity decision-making, and access to information by empowering the public to hold decision-makers to account.
The Climate and Nature Bill: A blueprint for a just transition
While the Environment Act 2021 was a step forward, we must go further. We need to lock the science into law, via the CAN Bill, and deliver the framework needed for a whole-of-government response to the dual climate and nature crisis.
The CAN Bill would:
- Place a legal duty on the UK government to halt and reverse its overall contribution to nature loss.
- Align UK law with both the Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework.
- Establish a Citizens’ Assembly, ensuring the public have a say in a fair way forward.
Passing the CAN Bill would put an end to the UK’s ‘do as I say, not as I do’ climate and nature diplomacy while providing the necessary framework to implement the GBF targets. But time is running out. We only have five years left to meet our 2030 targets, and we lack the tools to reach them. If the Government is serious about leading global action it must give time to debate and vote on the CAN Bill in this parliamentary session, before it’s too late.
Nature cannot wait
Nature is not a “nice-to-have”—it’s all we have. It gives us the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink. It protects us from climate catastrophe and underpins our health, our economy, and our future. And yet, the UK remains one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. We don’t have the laws we need to restore our natural world, or to stop the harm we continue to cause, both here and across global ecosystems. The science is clear: we cannot tackle the climate crisis without restoring nature, and we cannot restore nature without systemic change.
This International Day for Biological Diversity, let’s demand more than promises and call for REAL Change. Let’s demand action rooted in science, action backed by strong laws, proper funding, and real accountability. The Global Biodiversity Framework gives us the map. The Climate and Nature Bill gives us the vehicle. The direction is clear. Now we need the leadership to match.
Sign the open letter to Keir Starmer to urge the Government to deliver REAL CHANGE for climate and nature—and give the CAN Bill time to be debated and voted on this parliamentary session
