Town council declares ‘ecological emergency’

FROME Town Council has declared an ‘ecological emergency’ in a bid to ensure it is doing all it can to protect and enhance biodiversity in the town.  

The ‘ecological emergency’ will sit alongside the council’s ‘climate emergency’ – which they declared in 2018 – and the two issues will be addressed together by the council in its updated ‘Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy’. 

“The issues are incredibly interlinked and deserve the same level of attention and urgency,” said Frome Town Council’s resilience officer, Nikki Brain, at a meeting last week, who highlighted that over the last 50 years, human activity has wiped out almost 60% of species on earth. 

The plight of UK species was highlighted at the meeting, with the resilience officer drawing attention to the 2019 ‘State of Nature’ report that says 41% of all UK species have declined since the 70s, with 26% of the UK’s mammals at a “very real risk” of becoming extinct. The report also says that a third of the wild bees and hoverfly species have sustained losses, likely due to pesticides, habitat loss and climate change; and that 97% of the UK’s wildflower meadows have been lost in the last century. 

“We are a nation of nature lovers and access to wild spaces is critical to people’s health and wellbeing,” explained the council’s resilience officer, in a report to councillors, “but beyond that biodiversity is also the steward of our life support systems. Without pollinators, healthy soil, and flourishing ecosystems, the very fundamental systems humans rely on for survival are at threat of collapse.” 

“That’s absolutely horrendous when you stop and think about,” said cllr Rob Collett, who described the current ecology crisis “dire. Things that I used to take for granted as a young man have disappeared completely.”  

Cllr Collett also encouraged the council to be seen to be taking action about the ‘ecological emergency’, and warned against just using “soundbites”. 

In a bid to combat the ‘ecological emergency’, the town council has suggested it could expand its Wild about Frome project to increase biodiversity; increase tree and hedgerow planting as part of its Wild about Trees project; have more diverse and bee-friendly planting in its parks and green spaces; and encourage more pollinators in all its town centre planters.  

At the meeting councillors agreed to set up a Climate and Ecological Emergency steering group that meets quarterly to review progress of the council’s target for carbon neutrality by 2030 and the actions needed to achieve this, alongside developing its ecological emergency work.  

Members of the group will include Frome Town Council staff and councillors, with the aim of widening membership to others in the community with relevant expertise.