The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) has urged local Conservative MPs to ensure that the nature and climate crises are at the heart of the debate during the party's leadership race.
In the month that the UK has experienced its hottest ever temperatures, BBOWT Chief Executive Estelle Bailey wrote to all 16 Conservative Members of Parliament for the three counties imploring them to challenge all candidates on the issues.
Ms Bailey reminded Members that while climate change threatens to devastate fragile wild habitats across the UK and species that depend on them, humans have already destroyed huge tracts of the natural world through agriculture, development and pollution. Numerous once-common species such as red squirrels, turtle doves and dormice are on the brink of extinction or have already vanished in many places.
She also pointed out that 75 per cent of UK adults consider climate change to be a serious problem, according to an ONS survey, and the issue is in the top three public concerns.