NHS should spend millions on nature-for-health plan, say wildlife groups

NHS England should spend millions of pounds on using nature to prevent illness and help people recover from health problems, according to a coalition of wildlife groups representing millions of people.

In a report to be launched on Tuesday by broadcaster and naturalist Steve Backshall, the 26 nature organisations call for 1% of NHS England’s £1.8bn public health budget to be spent on helping people access green spaces and the coastline to tackle obesity and mental illness.

The proposal is one of 10 laid out by the groups, which include the RSPB, National Trust and Wildlife Trusts, on how the government should halt and reverse the decline of the UK’s birds, butterflies and natural environment.

It was prompted by the finding that one in three species in the UK have halved in number in the past half century.

The Response for Nature report calls for a long-term vision for protecting nature and making it richer on land and at sea by 2040, to offset the harm done by decades of intensified farming and new building developments. It warns that the environment department, which has already suffered some of the steepest cuts in Whitehall, will not be able to do that alone.

“Action can’t be simply hived off to a single, hard-pressed department in Whitehall. It must run as a matter of course through every department, from Defra to the Treasury,” said Backshall. “Every department needs to understand that restoring nature will be a key solution to some of our most pressing social, environmental and economic problems.”

The call for a restoration of nature is shared among four versions of the report, one each for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with different specific solutions tailored to each nation.

In the short-term, the groups said the government must have a plan to ensure it meets its international commitment of effectively managing a sixth of land for nature by 2020. Ministers should also fight to protect two key pieces of EU legislation, the Habitats Directive and Birds Directive, which are both currently being reviewed, they said.

The groups call for measures such as volunteering on nature reserves, taking care of wildlife and going on walks in green spaces to be part of the NHS’s armoury.

“By 2018, 1% of the public health budget should be invested in using the preventative and restorative value of nature to provide cost effective health solutions,” said the English and Welsh editions of the report.

Neither the wildlife groups or NHS England could put a figure on what the current percentage of spending is on such green health measures. The Response for Nature coalition claimed it was currently “a tiny fraction of the NHS budget”.

The reports come ahead of a government meeting on Wednesday to discuss its 25-year plan for restoring biodiversity in the UK.

The Department for Environment, Rural Affairs and Agriculture (Defra) will have to save an extra £83m in 2015-16, or nearly 4% of its £2.1bn budget, under plans announced by George Osborne in the summer.

Martin Harper, RSPB conservation director, said: “There are some big decisions being made over the coming months about public spending, the future of nature laws and development on land and at sea. These decisions must not erode the basis of nature protection.”

Environment Minister Rory Stewart said: “Safeguarding our precious natural environment is vital for our health, well-being and our economy. “That’s why this week we will bring together some of the smartest people from government, environmental organisations and businesses to develop environmental improvement plans.

“We will work with these groups over the coming months. The aim is to create an environment which is the envy of the world.”