Together for Nature
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Nature is in crisis around the world with species and habitats declining, ecosystem processes failing rapidly and people becoming disconnected from the natural world on which they depend. The intertwined crises of ecological collapse and climate breakdown, alongside continuing pollution, are already having a significant impact on people’s prosperity and wellbeing in many countries. We are only at the beginning of the most profound change to nature seen in our lifetimes.
There is an urgent need to understand the changes we are seeing and to use this knowledge to help nature recover. Action is still possible and this decade is a key period for nature conservation and recovery: achieving the new global 2030 targets agreed by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework), and tackling the impact of climate on nature will be key to our future wellbeing.
Nature conservation and recovery in the UK and globally
We have a long tradition of nature conservation in the UK based on a range of species protection measures, habitat conservation, and protected area designations and management. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has been at the heart of this work over the past thirty years and continues to play a key role at the UK and international levels. These approaches are the bedrock of how we can meet future challenges and enable nature recovery in terrestrial (rural and urban environments) and marine ecosystems, along with the development of greater public awareness and involvement in looking after the environment.
Alongside these ‘traditional’ approaches to nature conservation, developing concepts such as ecosystem services and natural capital, which are explicitly informed by social science and economic analyses, can begin to reveal the true value of nature and how we depend on it for our collective prosperity and wellbeing.
JNCC’s vision
‘Together for Nature’ outlines the areas of work that JNCC will undertake, focusing on our role in terrestrial and marine nature conservation and recovery, at the UK level, working with the UK Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies and inputting evidence and advice to global nature issues.
Our core approach, as a UK statutory body, is to work with the country nature conservation bodies (the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside (Northern Ireland), Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and NatureScot) to advise governments across the UK on nature conservation and recovery.
JNCC’s role is to help understand cross-UK impacts, advise on how they can be managed, and to enable the sharing of experience across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. We are a science-based organisation, using robust evidence, data and information to inform our analysis, judgement and advice.
The strategy presented here includes the development of new partnerships and the strengthening of JNCC’s facilitation and convening role to help ensure that our work is based on the best available science and has greater impact and profile in the years ahead.
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