A group of former high-ranking officials and current academics have written a letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Liz Truss, to warn that leaving the EU would be damaging for the environment.
The group includes former high-ranking professionals from Natural England, English Nature, the Environment Agency, the National Trust and the RSB, as well as academics from the University of Cambridge and University College London. They begin their open letter by explaining that membership of the EU has been "hugely positive" on the "quality of Britain's beaches, our water and rivers, our air and many of our rarest birds, plants and animals and their habitats."
The letter continues to say: "As individuals who have spent much of our working lives seeking to deliver a greener Britain, we know from experience that EU coordination, legislation and policy has been critical to improving the UK’s environmental quality." The group point out that environmental progress has been achieved by Member States working with each other, and this needs to continue.
Finally, the group warns that the so-called 'Brexit' would be damaging to the environment. "There are many issues which will decide voting intentions at the forthcoming referendum, but on this issue which is so central to the British quality of life, the case is clear: We will better able to protect the quality of Britain’s environment if we stay in Europe."
Roadshow results
Throughout January, Cedrec has has been visiting cities across the UK, updating delegates on environmental changes in legislation over the past year as well as looking forward to the changes yet to come. At every event, we carried out a poll of environmental professionals to discover if they wanted to stay in the EU or to leave it. The vote results in all 10 cities indicated that environmental professionals would prefer to stay in the EU!
What do you think the impact on the environment will be if the UK leaves the EU? Let us know on twitter @cedrec_news, and remember to use #Cedrec2016.
