Like many councils, South Cambridgeshire DC has formally recognised that, as well as a climate emergency, we are facing an ecological emergency. As the UN Global Assessment report made clear two years ago, nature is declining dangerously at rates unprecedented in human history with grave impacts on people around the world.

Our largely rural district, encircling the City of Cambridge and part of one of the fastest growing areas in the country, is part of this picture of nature decline. Land here is high value, both because it is good agricultural land and also because of its location in this key part of the UK economy. This is perhaps one of the reasons our district has one of the smallest areas of land managed for nature in the UK, relative to our size.