Agreed as Target 3 in the new Global Biodiversity Framework, the 30×30 agenda to protect 30% of the land and sea for nature by 2030 could be an opportunity to halt and reverse the decline of wildlife. Richard Benwell reviews the UK’s progress, and discusses the need to reform National Parks and AONBs and improve the condition of England’s protected sites.
SSSIs should represent the very best of our wildlife sites, but many are now shadows of their former glory owing to decades of neglect. Today, just 38% of those in England are in favourable condition, a score that has scarcely changed in ten years (Office for Environmental Protection 2023).