The Charter for Rivers is launched in Parliament
The Charter for Rivers, launched in parliament this week and backed by over 70 organisations, highlight the threats to our rivers and draws attention to the actions the government must take to restore our rivers to health by 2030.
On Monday 3rd July 2023, River Action hosted a Parliamentary Reception for the launch of the Charter for Rivers. The Charter, which is supported by over 70 organisations including: WWF, National Trust, The Rivers Trust, Soil Association and British Rowing, highlights the holistic issues impacting our rivers and the urgent actions political leaders must take in order to save our waterways.
Hosted by River Action’s CEO James Wallace – with guest speakers including Philip Dunne MP, Campaigner Angela Jones and Baroness Jenny Jones – the message was clear: the threats impacting our rivers are cross-cutting across all political parties and, in order to rescue Britain’s rivers, we must urgently shift beyond a culture of blame and work towards solution-focused action.
The event was a huge success. We were overwhelmed with the support and turn-out and it was wonderful to have MPs, NGOs and campaigners together to tackle the crisis facing our rivers. Tonight proved that collaboration is key if we want to see the huge shift in strategic priorities needed to put in place solutions that will restore our rivers to health.
Over the next few months, we will be campaigning to put healthy rivers at the top of every election candidate’s and voter’s priorities. With our parliamentary launch, public events, national media coverage and submission to No 10, we will spread the word that our rivers – and therefore our future – are under threat and it’s high time that current and future governments (of whichever colour) must commit to resolving this freshwater emergency.
