Conservationists, business leaders, landowners, celebrities and academics from across the South West have today signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to commit to addressing the decline of wildlife in the region.
The call follows the publication of last month's landmark "State of Nature" – authored by a coalition of wildlife charities – which documented serious declines in a wide range of species.
Tony Richardson, regional director for RSPB in the South West, said: "The report is a wake-up call. The declines it describes are truly shocking and we need clear leadership and collective action to start to restore what has been lost."
The letter to David Cameron outlines three immediate actions for the Government to take – accelerating marine protection areas, guaranteeing support for "high nature value" farming and giving clear guidance to Local Enterprise Partnerships to invest in our "natural capital".
It describes the region as one that "trades on the relative quality of our natural environment" and states that the "well-being and prosperity of people and nature are intimately linked".
Mr Richardson added: "Although wildlife is at the heart of this, it's critical to remember that here in the Westcountry so much of our economy and our quality of life are dependent on the state of our environment. To ignore such a relentless decline is simply wrong....Leadership counts."
Among the signatories is Dr Matt Lobley, co-director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research at the University of Exeter. "The very many high nature value farms across the South West are at the heart of so many of our special places, like Dartmoor and Exmoor, but they can't do their business without help from the Common Agricultural Policy," he said. "In the South West is so many food, tourism and other rural businesses depend on this key strength, and can do so much better if we get nature properly factored into a rural renaissance."