As a Trust we are focusing on three main priorities. Firstly, we need to make more space for nature, to give our struggling wildlife the chance to recover. With the ambition of seeing 30% of our land and sea managed for nature by 2030, we’ll create, connect and restore a diverse range of abundantly wild places, forming healthy nature recovery networks across the region.
Secondly, we need to inspire and resource people to take action for wildlife. The science shows that if just one person in every four takes action for wildlife, this can be enough to change the minds and behaviour of the majority, which will help to put nature in recovery.
Thirdly, we want to restore and create good quality habitat to draw down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, reduce local flooding and pollution while promoting an abundance of biodiversity across our region. Our vision is to see 1000 hectares of habitat across Avon restored, providing nature-based solutions to the climate crisis.
These priorities have always been embedded in our work, but we recognise that the nature of the emergencies that face us means we need to act with ever more urgency, helping to bring about the sea-change that’s needed across society. Connectivity is key. We need to connect people, empowering them to rewild their own communities; we must connect landowners and government, creating real change on the ground; and we have to connect habitats, enabling nature to thrive on a landscape scale.
Chief Executive of Avon Wildlife Trust, Ian Barrett, said: “If we act now, there's still time to reverse the wildlife declines that are undermining our planet’s natural life support systems. This strategy outlines the steps we are planning to take to achieve that here in Avon, following the announcement of an Ecological Emergency by councils across the region. Over the next decade, we intend to put these changes in place to ensure that the communities and wildlife in this part of the world can survive and thrive."