Chris Packham has led a march of “school strikers” to Buckingham Palace, urging the royal family to commit to rewilding their estates ahead of the Cop26 climate summit.
The TV naturalist and eco campaigner was joined by around 100 school pupils on Saturday in delivering a petition signed by more than 100,000 people.
The procession of youngsters and parents, many wearing headdresses of leaves and flowers, marched across Green Park to the palace, waving banners to the sound of a brass band.
In a rare move, a 14-year-old child named Simeon was allowed behind the palace gates to deliver the petition to staff.
Speaking outside the palace on Saturday, Mr Packham said: “Frankly, my conscience is not clear.
“On my watch as an environmentalist and conservationist I have failed these young people, I have failed to act quickly and broadly enough to prevent the crisis that we find ourselves in.
“The world that they are likely to inherit – unless we act urgently, properly, and quickly now – will not be as pleasant as the one I inherited when I was their age. And that’s not something I want to take to my grave.”
The march to the royal residence in London represents the latest push in the campaign calling on the royals to rewild their estates.
More than 100 celebrities, scientists and public figures had previously signed an open letter saying the UK’s status as one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries undermines its claims of environmental leadership – and the morale and wellbeing of its citizens.
The royal family is “perfectly positioned” to help make major improvements, they argued, describing rewilding as a “unique and historic opportunity to radically address the degraded state of nature on these islands.”
Wild Card, the group behind the campaign, appeared optimistic that the royal family had received the petition on Saturday with an open mind.
“We’ve never seen the gates of Buckingham Palace open for anyone but the royals before but they did just now to receive our petition,” the group said on Twitter. “We are so hopeful that this means the royal family are open to building a nature rich future for our children and for future generations.”
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The petition described the act of rewilding landscapes damaged by humans as “a fantastic way to boost wildlife and fight climate change – because restored land like forests and peatlands absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere really effectively”.
It added: “The royals have a history of supporting environmental causes, so it’s time they matched their words with actions – by restoring their land to its natural form.”
The benefits of rewilding swathes of the UK were acknowledged by the prime minister in his Manchester speech this week, who somewhat adapted the slogan plastered across his party’s annual conference to declare the UK should “build back beaver”.
Speaking just weeks ahead of Cop26, where it is hoped that world leaders will commit to concrete steps to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises, the prime minister said: “We are going to rewild parts of the country and we are going to consecrate a total of 30 per cent to nature.
“We are planting tens of millions of trees, otters are returning to rivers from which they have been absent for decades. Beavers that have not been seen on some rivers since Tudor times, massacred for their pelts, are now back – and if that isn’t conservatism, I don’t know what is.”
Additional reporting by PA
