Your support for wetlands reaches Westminster

A captive Whitehall-winged duck at Slimbridge
A captive Whitehall-winged duck at Slimbridge

Some of you signed a petition to Save Our Waters earlier this year. Part of the result of that petition was a document called Water Matters which suggests what steps the Government could take to improve the health of our rivers, wetlands and coasts. Steps include a national plan for wetland restoration, increasing inspection rates for water pollution and more sustainable drainage systems.

Your support through the petition helped Water Matters to get the Government’s attention. WWT London Wetland Centre’s local MP Zac Goldsmith hosted a launch at the Houses of Parliament at which the Environment Secretary Liz Truss (who also happens to be WWT Welney’s local MP) responded to the document and to questions. You can read her speech here.

Water Matters was well received by the Environment Secretary and it will now be fed into the Government’s forthcoming 25 year plan for nature.

Water Matters was produced by a group of experts chaired by WWT and including 16 NGOs like WWF, Wildlife Trusts and RSPB. It’s one of a number of cross-NGO projects WWT works on. In this case we chair the group given our expertise in water issues, while in other areas like agriculture and Europe we contribute to groups that other NGOs chair. This cross-working helps NGOs to share expertise and also to present a concise case to Government.

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