Powys nature organisations have called on the county council to declare an "ecological emergency" when it meets later this month.

On September 23, a motion will be put before Powys County Council(PCC) backed by 13 different environmental organisations in the county, calling on the council to draw up an action plan to support biodiversity in the county.

In September 2020, PCC declared a 'climate emergency' and appointed a climate change officer to help guide policy on carbon reduction.

However, in an open letter to the council, the group of organisations now says tackling carbon reduction in isolation is not enough, and more has to be done to support the area's ecology.

"We are pleased that Powys County Council declared a Climate Emergency in September 2019 and subsequently appointed a Climate Change Officer, but we cannot tackle climate change in isolation to the nature crisis," said James Hitchcock, Chief Executive of Radnorshire Wildlife Trust.

"We need a declaration at a local level, to cover the local decisions and help set putting nature in to recovery at the heart of all decision making across Powys.

"We need to move from minimal box-ticking to a genuine determination to put biodiversity at the centre of decision-making and action by authorities and administrators at every level.

The letter calls on Powys County Council to appoint a Nature Recovery officer as a permanent position to support "the delivery of nature’s recovery" and to support the ongoing work of the Powys Nature Partnership, a group of nature organisations working to improve wildlife in the county.

They have also called for a budget is allocated to nature’s restoration and a specific action plan is drawn up to map the route to recovery, detailing milestones and targets.

Earlier this year, national concern was focussed on the River Wye in Radnorshire when an ongoing 'citizen science' project showed the river as being in poor health, despite having protected status as a Special Area of Conservation and Site Special Scientific Interest.

"In October, China will host the delayed COP15, or more correctly the Convention on Biological Diversity, billed as the biggest biodiversity conference in a decade," he added.

"At this conference world leaders will pledge to restore nature and work to a target of managing 30% of the land and 30% of the sea for nature by 2030. Currently around 5% of the land in the UK is in good condition for nature.

"We need these changes here in Wales. To make them we need a much better recognition and understanding of just how important nature is to our future lives and the longer-term prosperity of our communities. "

Powys County Councillor Jake Berriman, who is proposing the motion, says the issue is very different to the climate emergency motion in 2020.

"They're completely different things," he said.

"While the planet is warming, nature is falling away beyond our control. As Jeremy Clarkson, an unlikely champion for nature, put it recently, 'If nature goes, we all go,' which is quite a strong statement about our wild spaces and pollinators".

The motion will be discussed at full council on September 23.