The Secretary of State must achieve the objective in
subsection (2)
(“the
objective”).
A
bill
to
Require the Secretary of State to achieve the nature target for the United Kingdom; and for connected purposes.
B e it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
The Secretary of State must achieve the objective in
subsection (2)
(“the
objective”).
The objective is to ensure that the United Kingdom halts and reverses its
overall contribution to the degradation and loss of nature in the United
Kingdom and overseas by—
increasing the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species,
populations, habitats and ecosystems so that by 2030, and measured
against a baseline of 2020, nature is visibly and measurably on the
path of recovery, and
fulfilling its obligations under the UNCBD and its protocols and the
commitments set out in the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature,
(“the nature target”).
The Secretary of State may fulfil the duty in
subsection (1)
by acting on matters
of devolved legislative competence subject to
section 2
.
The target in
section 1
applies to matters of devolved legislative competence
if the condition in
subsection (2)
is met.
That condition is—
in relation to Scotland, that the Scottish Parliament has passed a motion
of the form “That this Parliament agrees to the nature target in section
1 of the Ecology Act 2022”;
in relation to Wales, that Senedd Cymru has passed a motion of the
form “That the Senedd agrees to the nature target in section 1 of the
Ecology Act 2022”;
in relation to Northern Ireland, that the Northern Ireland Assembly
has passed a motion of the form “That this Assembly agrees to the
nature target in section 1 of the Ecology Act 2022”.
There is to be paid out of money provided by Parliament—
any expenditure incurred under or by virtue of this Act, and
any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable under any
other Act out of money so provided.
In this Act—
“
nature” includes (a) the abundance, diversity and distribution of animal,
plant, fungal and microbial life, (b) the extent and condition of habitats,
and (c) the health and integrity of ecosystems;
“
ecosystems” includes natural and managed ecosystems and the air, soils,
water and abundance and diversity of organisms of which they are
composed;
“
UNCBD and its protocols” means the United Nations Convention on
Biological Diversity, which entered into force on 29 December 1993,
and all subsequent agreements and protocols arising from it;
“
the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature” means the agreement of the United
Nations Summit on Biodiversity of 28 September 2020.
This Act extends to England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
This Act comes into force on the day on which it is passed.
This Act may be cited as the Ecology Act 2022.
A
bill
to
Require the Secretary of State to achieve the nature target for the United Kingdom; and for connected purposes.
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