Welcome to the Green Alliance podcast. We are the charity and think tank that is all about achieving ambitious leadership for the environment.

In this episode, we'll be bringing you the highlights from one of our recent online events.

We were delighted to welcome right on George Eustace MP,

Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

at an event on Monday the 20th of July.

The sector estate began by delivering a speech

on the UK's environmental ambitions.

I'd like to begin by thanking all of those

who've been working hard to protect and enhance our environment over the past few months.

It's great to see sites open to the public again, but I'm also conscious that this crisis has had financial impacts on many organisations,

impacts on membership and that you face real pressures in keeping nature reserves and parks open.

The impacts of this pandemic will be felt deeply for many years, but the experience has also led people to appreciate the difference that nature makes to our lives in a new way.

There is an increased awareness of the link between our own health and

that of the planet. Studies across the spectrum from health to financial risk remind us it is in our

best interest to look after nature. We know that a connection with nature contributes to well-being

and improve mental health. So starting this autumn,

we'll be investing a further £4 million in a two-year pilot to bring green prescribing

to four urban and rural areas that have been hit the hardest by the coronavirus. And then we

want to scale that project up. When we destroy nature, we undermine our very foundations. Every country

faces a choice as they map out their recovery. Store up problems by sticking with the status

quo or get back on our feet by building back better and greener. In our own country, nature has been in decline for decades.

The last breeding populations of Kentish blovers were lost in 1928. Between 1932 and

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