Nature’s Rights Bill [HL]

Baroness Hayman of Ullock Excerpts

Friday 3rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have contributed to today’s debate. The strength of feeling we have heard reflects a deep and widely shared concern for the state of our natural world. It also reflects the seriousness with which this House approaches questions of environmental protection, governance and accountability. I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, for bringing forward the Bill and for her long-standing commitment to the protection and restoration of nature. Whatever our differences on the legislative route, there is no doubt about the sincerity, intellectual rigour and energy that she and those supporting the drafting of the Bill have brought to this issue and these proposals.

As the noble Lord, Lord Frost, mentioned, we have heard some very thoughtful contributions on the philosophical and ethical foundations of recognising nature’s intrinsic worth. We have heard reflections on international examples, on local initiatives and on the growing public desire for stronger action to protect the environment. These are important perspectives, and the Government recognise the legitimacy of the concerns that underpin them. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, recognised the Government’s commitment to this when she referenced our manifesto and our environmental commitments specifically.

However, as many noble Lords have also made clear, the question before us is not whether we value nature, nor whether we must act urgently to protect and restore it. The question is whether the mechanism proposed in this Bill—recognising nature as a legal subject with enforceable rights—is the correct approach within the UK’s constitutional and legal framework. The Government’s position is that it is not.

We already have in place a comprehensive, outcomes-focused and legally binding framework for environmental protection through the Environment Act 2021 and the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025. I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey, that this Government are not rowing back on any of our commitments. These provide long-term statutory targets, strengthened duties on public authorities and independent oversight through the Office for Environmental Protection. Importantly, they require government to act, report and be held to account. Taken together, these measures will help us to restore nature, improve environmental quality, create a circular economy, protect environmental security and improve people’s access to nature.

The Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 ensures that nature’s recovery is a key priority, fundamental to the Government’s approach to economic growth. This Government are committed to delivering for nature, taking action to meet our Environment Act targets and to restore and protect our natural world. This is not a system that lacks ambition or enforceability; it is one of the most robust environmental governance frameworks in the world, which sets out our goals and targets, how we will achieve them and who is responsible for delivery, and it is designed to integrate environmental considerations across government, regulators and local authorities.

Achieving our environmental ambitions requires collective action from individuals, communities and organisations across all sectors, as referenced to by the noble Baroness, Lady Helic. We have sought views and advice from civil society, business, landowners and managers, and local government in developing the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, and we will work in partnership to achieve its goals and targets. We are also already strengthening nature recovery across government land by publishing a first-of-its-kind Government Estate Nature Plan, which improves co-ordination, evidence and delivery within our existing legal framework. This demonstrates that we can work together to accelerate nature recovery without creating new legal rights or legal personality for nature.

Introducing a parallel and overlapping rights-based system, as the Bill proposes, would create significant risks. It could duplicate or conflict with existing statutory duties. It could generate uncertainty for regulators, land managers, businesses and communities, and it could divert resources away from delivery and into litigation, procedural complexity and institutional restructuring.

The noble Baroness, Lady Smith, talked in particular about the impact on Wales and the challenges facing Wales. It is important to stress to noble Lords that the Bill has UK-wide ambition, but still preserves the devolved competence, which enables devolved Governments to make decisions around implementation.

We have also heard today about the serious legal and constitutional implications of recognising nature as a legal entity. Such a step, through the Bill’s proposed integrated rights framework, would require a fundamental reworking of long=established principles of administrative, property and planning law. It would introduce new enforcement bodies, including a nature guardianship council and nature rights tribunal, without clarity on how these would interact with existing regulators and courts. It could lead to a proliferation of claims brought on behalf of ecosystems or species. It is important to consider the whole system in the round, as demonstrated through our recently published land use framework, including considering wider, democratically determined priorities such as housing, infrastructure and economic development, and to utilise existing tools to assess their impacts on nature.

International examples of nature being recognised as a legal subject were cited in her introduction by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and they are important to consider. As the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, said, we need to be aware of alternative approaches. However, evidence and outcomes are mixed, and the interaction with relevant domestic legal systems and frameworks is complex. While I acknowledge that “rights of nature” is a concept that is legally recognised in some countries, the UK’s consistent position in international negotiations, alongside many other countries, has been to focus on environmental outcomes, such as halting biodiversity loss, restoring ecosystems and reducing pollution, rather than debating legal constructs whose practical implications remain uncertain.

The noble Baroness, Lady Miller, spent some time talking about the fact that there has been a marked rise in international and domestic litigation drawing on existing human rights, such as the right to life and the right to private and family life, and linking these to adverse environmental conditions. The Council of Europe has been particularly active on the issue in recent years and has been scoping a possible new instrument on this right, which could create a new right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, alongside other human rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights. So, I would like to clarify that the UK is open in principle to exploring a new instrument to enshrine the right. However, there is not yet consensus among member states on the type of instrument—whether it should be binding, for example—or the content, nature and scope of the right.

None of what we have just discussed diminishes the urgency of the challenge. The Government are clear-eyed about the pressures on nature. It underpins our security, prosperity and resilience, and understanding the threats we face from biodiversity loss is crucial to meeting them head-on. We are acting through the environmental improvement plan to restore habitats, improve water and air quality, strengthen resilience and invest significantly in nature recovery. This is a statutory, science-based and accountable framework, and it is the right one for our legal system.

Before closing, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, for her energy and determination on the need to bring in a close season for brown hares. I am sure we will hear from her again on this issue.

Finally, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, for bringing the Bill forward and for stimulating an important and thoughtful debate. But, as the noble Lord, Lord Frost, said, legislation must be workable, coherent and compatible with the UK’s legal framework. For these reasons, while we share the ambition that motivates the Bill, the Government cannot support it. We will continue to focus on delivering the environmental improvement plan. We want to meet our legally binding targets, so that we can ensure that nature in this country is protected, restored and valued for generations to come. I commend the House for the quality of today’s debate.