In this straight talking essay, Adam Dyster, former adviser to the Labour Party and the National Trust, draws on a wealth of experience to argue why restoring nature must be a priority for the government, not just for its own sake, but to meet the government’s missions. He explains that nature’s degradation is increasingly having a direct harmful impact on people’s lives around the country, for example through the devastation of flooding and higher food prices.

He highlights the important role of the environment sector in doing more to demonstrate how reversing nature’s decline in the UK will benefit society, through better public health, new jobs and greater resilience to the impacts of climate change.

This is an independent essay written for Green Alliance by Adam Dyster. Adam formerly served as a political adviser to Steve Reed during his time as shadow secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, and prior to this worked as an adviser to the director general and chair of the National Trust.