WILDLIFE PRESERVATION CALL

The Green Group on Oxfordshire County Council will be pushing for the County to take more effective action on wildlife preservation, at the County meeting later this month.

Councillor David Williams, leader of the Green Group on the County Council, explains:

“One estimate for UK wildlife decline since 1970 is about a 58% reduction. The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust has said this report is valid for our area, in terms of their observations. The County Council should also be concerned at the recent report by the World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Index that 50% of wildlife has gone from the planet over the last 45 years.  Clearly this includes substantial numbers of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish disappearing from the Oxfordshire ecosystem since 1970.

“The County Council has already shown its concern with bee colony collapse and is pledged to support the species with a programme designed to assist bee communities to prosper. However the WWF Living Index Research suggests a deeper and even more serious concern across a wide spectrum of creatures that constitute our local Oxfordshire Wildlife. The Green Party wants the County to call on its Wildlife Officers to prepare a report for consideration at a future time by Cabinet to illustrate what may be done to reverse the decline in wildlife population numbers here in Oxfordshire.”