Today South West Bedfordshire MP, Andrew Selous, marked Earth Hour 2024 by celebrating the government’s progress on nature. He also called for the introduction of food waste reporting requirements for large businesses.
In particular, he welcomed the government’s pledge to protect 30% of land and sea biodiversity by 2030, the continued strengthening of Marine Protected Areas around the UK and its overseas territories, and the new Environmental Land Management schemes.
Andrew Selous, Member of Parliament for South West Bedfordshire, commented:
“I have always been an environment conscious MP and want to take what our forebears have given to us, protect and restore it, and pass it onto future generations to enjoy. Looking after our green and pleasant land and the wildlife which occupy it is a honourable mission I and my fellow colleagues in Parliament champion.
“For Earth Hour 2024, I am proud to both continue to call for further action, but also celebrate what our government has achieved. In particular, our pledge to halt species decline and to protect 30% of biodiversity at both land and sea by 2030. Additionally, successive governments have worked with our Overseas Territories to strengthen Marine Protected Areas as part of our Blue Belt programme which now protects an area of ocean larger than India, ensuring penguins, fish, whales and seabirds can survive and thrive. This is alongside strengthening protections for different MPAs around the UK too.
“We are also empowering our farmers and harnessing our recent freedoms through the Environmental Land Management scheme to promote sustainable farming practices and protect local nature. Farmers are the stewards of our rolling hills and countryside. They deserve to be empowered and paid to protect and look after our country’s native wildlife.
“And we must make sure that the food our farmers are growing does not then go to waste. That is why I am calling on the government to introduce food waste reporting requirements for large businesses. We need to know what waste is being created so that we can reduce it