• What We Stand For
  • Environment
    • The Natural Environment

The Natural Environment

As a nation we live beyond our environmental means: if everyone in the world consumed as much as we do in the UK we would need three planets to live on. 

Liberal Democrats want to enhance Britain’s Natural Environment to see clean water, healthy soils and sustainable food. Britain's countryside is breathtaking, and we are a nation rich in plants and wildlife and beautiful open spaces. 

We believe that the countryside is a valuable resource which must be protected both for the benefit of those who live there and of the nation as a whole, who should be able to enjoy what it has to offer. We therefore believe in a universal right to responsible, managed access. 

We want to promote schemes to enhance wildlife, such as a ‘Green National Grid’ which link up habitats of rare species. At sea we have plans for strengthened regulation to protect the marine environment including our overseas territories. We also want to promote policies that reconnect people with the natural environment through education, access to allotments and support for reserves and conservation projects.

Much of our countryside is looked after by farmers, yet many earn less than the minimum wage and so can no longer afford to steward the land. We want to reward and support the production of food with environmental good practice and encourage sustainable bio-energy.

New urgency must be instilled into the drive to adapt to the consequences of climate change, in particular by improving management of water resources and by enhancing flood defences through investment in infrastructure and better co-ordination of the responsible agencies. We will work with water companies to deliver long-term solutions to reduce impact and deliver sustainable secure supplies. We are also committed to supporting developing nations through an international leap-frog fund to dump dirty high carbon development by transferring renewable and low carbon technology to those countries which need it most.