UK Parliament home

This petition was submitted during the 2019 to 2024 Parliament

View other petitions from this Parliament

Closed Keep all widespread species of amphibian and reptile in S5 & 8 of the WCA 1981

Closed on

Keep all of our widespread species of amphibian and reptile from Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Do not change the criteria that will result in the detriment to reptiles and amphibians.

Improve the legal protection for reptiles and amphibians in the UK.

Changing criteria to protect endangered species only is a move in the wrong direction. All reptile and amphibian species need more protection from human activity as populations are struggling.

We have seen a decline in all species for decades. If these changes go ahead, we could see species getting locally wiped out. Also a potential disease risk as people could sell and transport species.

We don’t want them all to become endangered in the first place. Prevention is the best cure

7,131 signatures

Show on a map

10,000

Petition progress

View all updates for this petition, with the most recent first.

  • Petition closed

  • Related activity

    UK biodiversity report published by MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee

    The Environmental Audit Committee has published its report on 'Biodiversity in the UK: bloom or bust', which calls for the Government to conserve and restore UK biodiversity and ecosystems.
     
    The report is published amid grave concern that of the G7 countries, the UK has the lowest level of biodiversity remaining.
     
    The MPs on the Committee found that existing Government policy and targets were inadequate to address plummeting biodiversity loss. This is made worse by nature policy not being joined up across Government, nor is nature protection consistently factored into policy making.
     
    Some key recommendations made by the Committee include:
    - The Government must establish a timetable to put management plans and monitoring in place for all Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), with different categories of destructive bottom trawling banned or restricted. More MPAs should be established as 'no-take' zones
    - In the next Spending Review, greater funding must be given to Natural England which reflects its responsibilities and tasks.
    - The Government should commission a review identifying and tracking public expenditure harmful to biodiversity. Once identified, Ministers must act to remove harmful subsidies and re-direct money to nature conservation and recovery.
    - Tree planting should not occur on peat soils
    - Education on biodiversity must increase: a Natural History GCSE should be introduced and investment in skills should be increased for chartered ecology and associated disciplines.
     
    Read an interactive summary of the report:
    https://houseofcommons.shorthandstories.com/uk-biodiversity-bloom-or-bust/index.html
     

    What happens next?

    The Government now must respond to the Committee's report, which was published on 30 June 2021, within two months. The Committee will publish the Government’s response here: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/environmental-audit-committee/
     

    What is the Environmental Audit Committee?

    The Environmental Audit Committee is a cross-party group of non-Government MPs who look into how Government policies and departments contribute to environmental protection and sustainable development.
      
    Follow the Committee on Twitter for updates on its work:
    https://twitter.com/CommonsEAC
     
    The Environmental Audit Committee is a select committee. Find out how Select Committees work:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2RDuDs44c

  • Petition published

    This petition can now be signed.

    If this petition gets 10,000 signatures, government will respond to it.

    If this petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.

    This petition will stay open until 29 December 2021.