Thatcher would see need to save our planet, argues Gove

MARGARET THATCHER, the late Tory prime minister, would have backed the modern-day Government’s “moral need” to save the planet, Michael Gove will say today.

The Environment Secretary will say the Government will publish a successor to the 2008 Climate Change Act to turn the UK into a global leader in tackling climate change.

Mr Gove will say: “There is a moral need to act – because, as Margaret Thatcher reminded us – we do not have a freehold on this planet, it is not ours to dispose of as we wish. We are partners in the great chain of evolution with the rest of nature, and endowed as we are with reason we therefore have the responsibility to steward and protect.”

In a speech in west London, he will set out hopes for 2020 to be the year of global action on climate change and on cleaning up the oceans.

He will add: “Time is running out to make the difference we need; to repair the damage we as a species have done to the planet we have plundered. Nature is in retreat – we have seen a catastrophic loss of biodiversity across the globe as a result of man’s actions.”

In the 20th century the oceans rose about 15cm (6in) and the rate of increase has since quickened. Just since 2000, levels have risen around 6cm (2.4in), based on a global-average rise of 3.2mm (1.3in) a year.

He will say: “The scale of action required may be daunting, but the need to act is imperative. There is a political need to act – because we cannot leave this planet to the next generation more polluted, more dangerous, denuded of its natural riches and increasingly inhospitable to all life.

“There is an economic need to act – because unless we restore our natural capital then we will have depleted soils incapable of yielding harvests or sustaining livestock, we will have oceans with more plastic than fish, we will have dried up or contaminated water sources and we will have severe weather events endangering lives and livelihoods.”