British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to “build back beaver” in Britain’s countryside during a Conservative Party Conference speech in Manchester early Wednesday.
Johnson praised the United Kingdom’s efforts to improve the climate and combat global warming with the country’s reported rising numbers of animal species reentering their natural habitats across the country. The prime minister promised to “rewild” parts of Britain’s countryside and demanded to “build back beaver.”
“Vast, untouched water, hills and broadly forests,” the prime minister said. “We are going to rewild parts of the country, and consecrate a total of 30 percent to nature. We’re planting tens of millions of trees. Otters are returning to rivers to which they have been absent for decades.”
“Beavers that have not been seen on rivers since the Tudor times. Massacred for their pelts, are now back. If that isn’t conservatism, my friend, I don’t know what is. Build back beaver, I say. Build back beaver.”
“Build back beaver, I say, build back beaver.”
— Boris Johnson pic.twitter.com/KGsXQv3f2p
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) October 6, 2021
The U.K. government joined a global commitment to protect 30 percent of the country’s land and oceans by 2030, Business Green reported. Climate activists have argued that the nation will need to build more National Parks in order to fulfill Johnson’s “rewilding” promises. (RELATED: Boris Johnson Says G7 Countries Must ‘Build Back Better’ In A ‘Greener,’ ‘More Gender Neutral,’ And More ‘Feminine’ Way)
“Increasing numbers of rewinding projects around the country are boosting job numbers and building a nature-based economy will help rural economies thrive,” said Guy Shurbsole, a member of the campaign group Rewilding Britain, according to the outlet.
The prime minister said the country will invest in renewable energy projects, increase nuclear energy, and workers’ skills and shift its energy production to renewable sources by the end of the decade, Energy Live News reported. Johnson said these investments will bring down the cost of living.
Britain will reportedly implement an additional 4,000 clean, green buses, including some that run on hydrogen, according to the outlet. He touted the government’s plans to create a net zero carbon grid by 2035, though no official policy proposals have been laid out on creating a carbon-free energy source in the next 15 years, according to Business Green.
With Great Britain’s ongoing struggle with food shortages and a rising cost of living, Johnson said that he has the “guts” to improve the economy, according to Mirror. He defended his stance that Brexit was a vote to repair the economy saying that the country is headed towards a “high wage, low tax economy,” despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Britain is set to host the upcoming COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, where Johnson emphasized the importance of combating climate change on a global level.
“In just a few weeks, this country will host the summit of our generation in Glasgow, when the resolve of the world is put to the test. Can we keep alive the ambition of Paris to stop the planet heating by more than one and a half degrees? Well, government can’t do it alone, and taxpayers certainly can’t do it alone.”