\n Rother District Council made the declaration at a full council meeting on December 15.\n<\/p>\n
\n It marks a formal commitment to boosting biodiversity and reversing the long-term decline in nature across the district.\n<\/p>\n
\n The declaration follows a notice of motion proposed by Cllr Sue Prochak MBE and seconded by Cllr Kathryn Field.\n<\/p>\n
\n The River Rother runs through the district (Image: Mark Duncan)\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Prochak said: “I am delighted that the council adopted the Notice of Motion.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are now committed to embedding nature’s recovery into all our strategic plans and decision-making processes in all our departments.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We\u2019ve pledged investment in nature-based climate solutions, setting clear recovery goals by 2030 across areas such as wildlife protection, planning, and community engagement.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The motion acknowledged the urgent need to address the declining state of nature.\n<\/p>\n
\n The council has declared a ‘nature emegency’ (Image: Roy Gray)\n<\/p>\n
\n It also noted the connection between the nature crisis and the climate emergency and the vital role of environmental protection in sustainable development.\n<\/p>\n
\n Under the new resolution, the council will develop clear strategic targets for nature recovery by 2030 and integrate them into its existing climate work.\n<\/p>\n
\n It will also collaborate with local communities, including underrepresented groups, to meet these targets, with progress monitored and reported through its Climate and Nature Emergency Steering Group.\n<\/p>\n
\n The council previously declared a ‘climate emergency’ in 2019 (Image: RDC)\n<\/p>\n
\n The council plans to build on previous environmental initiatives, including its carbon neutrality goal and recent tree-planting schemes.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Kathryn Field, portfolio holder for environment, said: “By declaring a nature emergency, Rother District Council has taken a decisive step towards reversing biodiversity loss and deepening its commitment to environmental resilience.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Rother District Council previously declared a climate emergency on September 16, 2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n At the time, it pledged to use its powers “to make Rother District carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions.”\n<\/p>\n
\n A view of Pevensey Bay (Image: Oast House Archive)\n<\/p>\n
\n The wider context reflects growing concerns about biodiversity loss across the UK.\n<\/p>\n
\n According to the 2019 State of Nature Report, 41 per cent of UK species are in decline, and one in ten is threatened with extinction.\n<\/p>\n
\n The report cited habitat loss as a main driver, with only five per cent of UK land managed for nature.\n<\/p>\n
\n In addition to the nature emergency declaration, the council passed two further motions to support the rights of rivers and trees on September 15, 2025.\n<\/p>\n
\n These are intended to enhance the protection of wildlife and natural habitats in the district.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rother District Council made the declaration at a full council meeting on December 15. It marks a formal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-341295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}