#DefendNature

Across Europe, including here in the UK, crucial nature laws protect our most precious wildlife. Together these ‘Nature Directives’ protect a network of wild places stretching across Europe. For over 30 years they have protected some of our best loved and most iconic landscapes. Some 800 of the UK’s special habitats – like the ancient woodland and heathland in the New Forest, the migratory birds in the Solent and Southampton Water and the iconic chalkstream habitats of the River Itchen – benefit from the protections they offer.

At Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, we’ve found that these nature laws are essential in for example, stopping damaging developments like the proposals to build a new container port at Dibden Bay near Southampton, which threatened breeding habitat for coastal birds, and in protecting species from near-extinction like the otter.

It’s not just wildlife that depends on this legislation – we do too, for cleaner rivers and seas, for the vital habitats that support pollinating insects and for the natural places we can enjoy and spend time in. Without these laws our world would be a much poorer place.

Right now European Leaders are reviewing the Directives and asking people to give their opinion on them. There is concern among many charities that the review could be hijacked and protection for nature could be weakened under the guise of helping economic growth.

However a strong natural environment is the foundation for a functioning economy. It’s estimated that the network of wild areas these laws protect creates some €200-300bn worth of economic benefits per year to local economies. What’s more, undermining the protections for nature will just create more uncertainty over things like investment and development.

Moreover, the laws protect wildlife while encouraging ways of people and nature to live together in and around some of our most iconic landscapes. They’re good for wildlife, people and the economy.

Some two thirds of the UK’s species have declined over the last half century from loss of habitat already – and now climate change is threatening the survival of those that are left. So it’s vital that as many of us as possible say that we feel strongly about this and don’t want to see these laws weakened.

The Wildlife Trusts have joined 100 other charities and environmental organisations across the UK to help people respond to the consultation in support of the Nature Directives. This is to help send a clear and consistent message to the European Commission that people feel strongly about this, wherever they live. 

We can’t let them roll back years of progress – to let them know your views visit: www.wildlifetrusts.org/defendnature before 24th July. 

Please share this campaign with your friends and family. Use #defendnature, #naturealert and our campaign link: http://wtru.st/defendnature

> Read our ‘It’s Our Nature: You can help protect Europe’s laws for wildlife‘ report to find out more.

> Read our blog – Joan Edwards looks at what the Nature Directives do for people and wildlife here in the UK.

> Read the joint media release

> Read more background on the consultation from the European Commisson

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The outlook for wildlife post-election

Now that the new Government has taken office, wildlife charities like Hampshire & Isle Wight Wildlife Trust are assessing what the future holds for wildlife in the UK.

Environmental and wildlife issues have been noticeably absent from recent political debate. Most of our decision-makers’ focus is on the economy – despite the clear links between helping nature and helping ourselves; Natural England estimated that more wildlife in our towns and cities could save the NHS £2.1bn a year through improving our mental and physical wellbeing.

In the run-up to the election, and with the help of thousands of our supporters, we asked every political party to commit to protecting nature. Together with over 20 other charities and our supporters, we called for a new ‘Nature & Wellbeing Act’ to protect and restore nature for wildlife and for people. Along with the other political parties, the Conservatives adopted some of our recommendations in their manifesto, including:

• Work with the Natural Capital Committee (England’s independent body advising the Government on sustainable use of England’s forests, rivers, atmosphere, land, wildlife and oceans) to put an economic value on the environment – and introduce a 25 year plan for restoring nature and biodiversity;
• Improve people’s access to the outdoors by providing free, comprehensive maps of all open-access green space – and launching an ambitious programme of pocket parks (small areas of inviting public space where people can enjoy relief from the hustle and bustle of city streets);
• Complete the network of Marine Protected Areas around the UK.

We will be among those organisations and supporters looking forward to seeing these pledges implemented, although we hope this isn’t all this government will do for our wildlife.  The government’s wider plans will become clearer over the coming weeks.

This week’s Queen’s Speech gave us some clues of what to expect. We welcome the commitment to take climate change seriously at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of the year. Climate change continues to pose a major threat to both wildlife and people, as well as the economy.  It is essential that firm action is taken to prevent biodiversity loss – and we’d like to see further investment in nature to mitigate the impacts and costs of climate change.

The government has committed to an in/out EU referendum, the negotiations for which could throw further doubt over the vital nature protection laws that the European Commission is already reviewing. We’d also want reassurances that the government pledge to reduce regulation for businesses won’t weaken key protections for and responsibilities to wildlife.

Broadly we hope to see nature truly placed at the heart of decision-making, giving it the prominence it deserves; however there is also a risk that we may see some damaging wildlife and flooding policies, like those that earned the last government a ‘red card’ for poor environmental performance from the Environmental Audit Committee.

Today’s news coverage that David Cameron still hasn’t appointed a minister for the natural environment doesn’t signal any great priority for this critical area which is highly disappointing.

The Wildlife Trusts are among the many wildlife charities awaiting the government’s legislative plans with anticipation. We are ready to make the case for protecting nature – for wildlife, and for people.

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Forestry Panel report … like a curate’s egg – good in parts

The Independent Forestry Panel published its interim report today.  Whilst I can’t see this commanding anything like the level of media coverage that the proposed forests sell-off did, it is nevertheless an important milestone.

In our national press release, Paul Wilkinson, Head of Living Landscape for the Wildlife Trusts emphasises the importance of the value of our woods, saying:  If the Budget recognised the full range and scale of benefits our natural environment provided there would be no question of the Treasury pressing for forest sales, or reducing the investment it made in the Public Forest Estate.  We have to bust the myth that it is a burden on the state once and for all.

The report does gives some comfort that the Panel have recognised the intrinsic value of trees and woodlands.  It acknowledges that the “value of the wide ranging public benefits provided by the Public Forest Estate – including access and nature conservation – far exceeds that of the timber alone”.  

Managing the public forest estate is relatively cheap:  the net annual cost to the Treasury is under £20m.  However, the business model is based on timber production and not on the wider benefits provided by woodlands and forests.  The National Ecosystem Assessment  estimates the total value of social and environmental benefits of woodland in the UK alone as £1.2 billion per annum. 

New Forest woodland

Frustratingly, the report seems to have conflated and confused the positive elements of trees and woods with the harmful elements of some aspects of plantation forestry culture.  Generic references throughout the document to the value of trees and woods to biodiversity do not differentiate between the richness of ancient woodlands and the relative dearth of wildlife in densely packed plantations.

Our response to the Call for Views pointed out the need to prioritise the restoration of open habitats such as heathlands and grasslands in places where plantations had damaged biodiversity – such as in the New Forest. There is limited acknowledgement of this point by the Panel:  “In our final report we will explore how much habitat restoration and improvement should be taking place on the public forest estate, and where, within the context of the wider landscape, it should happen.  This needs to include the costs involved as well as the benefits.”  I hope this is more than a sop.  

I am also disappointed that the Panel has yet to visit the New Forest which is the largest tract of semi-natural habitat in southern Britain, rich in heaths, bogs, meadows, streams and wetlands – as well as ancient woods and forestry plantations.  The report makes no mention of the New Forest apart from showing it on the map of England’s “woodland”.   As the New Forest National Park Authority stated several months ago: ”It is vital that any changes resulting from the Government’s proposals for forests in Englandcontinue to safeguard the special qualities of this much-loved landscape including the ancient commoning system that sustains it.”  Understanding the complexity and importance of the New Forest is a vital task for the Panel.  I hope they honour their promise to visit next year.

We have long promoted the importance of having a state owned and funded public forest estate.  The report appears to acknowledge this by stating that it wants “the ownership of the Public Forest Estate in England to be secured for the future”.  We now need to make sure the Treasury accepts that the PFE represents good value for money whilst at the same time ensuring its business model is fit for purpose and not skewed to any one use.

The Wildlife Trusts have been pressing the Panel to articulate the numerous and substantial benefits drawn from our woodlands.  Enhancing wildlife is not a luxury for our nation – it is an essential.  Woodlands are just one part of the natural environment and a vital part of the ecological network we need for the future.   Taking the right approach to England’s public forest estate could help us to redress the vast declines in wildlife during the twentieth century.

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Yet again the Government fail on their pledge to be the greenest …

Today’s Autumn statement by the Chancellor George Osborne amounts to a direct attack on nature and quality of life. 

Amongst the doom and gloom about the poor state of our economy were some astonishingly feeble assertions that environmental protection is placing unreasonable burdens on business and hence stifling economic growth.  

Declaring:  “we will make sure that gold plating of EU rules on things like Habitats aren’t placing ridiculous costs on British businesses,”  the Chancellor is clearly so desperate to kick start the economy he is willing to relax protection of some our most iconic landscapes.  In Hampshire this includes the New Forest, the Solent Coast, the north east Hampshire heathlands and the River Itchen.  On the Isle of Wight this includes much of the spectacular and unique coastline.

Spring in the New Forest

Today’s announcement of a Review of the implementation of the Habitats and Birds Directives is designed to “tackle blockages for developments where compliance is particularly complex or has large impacts”.  This is not only unbelievably short-sighted, it betrays the huge economic value of these natural areas. 

This is just the latest apparent u-turn on their pledge to be the ‘greenest Government ever’.  The Coalition made a promising start with the Natural Environment White Paper and the National Ecosystems Assessment – both recognising the fundamental importance of nature as crucial in underpinning the economy.  Sadly, it has all gone downhill from there.

A few weeks ago it was weakening of planning rules in the National Planning Policy Framework – then the backtracking on their pledge to designated Marine Conservation Zones.  The Government’s narrow-minded focus on the economy is risking the very things that underpin quality of life.

Does this Government want to go down in history as the Government that kick-started nature’s recovery or as the Government that tore down the long fought for protection for England’s richest wildlife sites?

The New Economics Foundation make a strong case for the need for a fundamentally different economic model that takes into account the depletion of natural resources.  Economic growth should not be achieved at the cost of our natural life support systems.  Risking our most iconic and beautiful natural areas surely cannot be part of a sustainable plan for Britain’s future.

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Also see:

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/2011/11/29/wildlife-trusts-lose-patience-over-new-attack-nature

http://www.thisishampshire.net/news/9397508.Wildlife_sites____under_threat___/

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Biodiversity – an economic resource worth looking after

The UN Biodiversity Conference in Nagoya has just concluded.  Two weeks of intense negotiation have led to what is being heralded as a “historic new treaty” to safeguard biodiversity.

This tenth meeting of the signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity followed the disastrous failing of the target agreed previously – that was to “halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010”.  Clearly this target was not met and so there was considerable pressure on the Nagoya meeting to come up with a new, tough and meaningful agreement.

Has it done that?  It is rather difficult to tell at this stage, but we are told that governments have agreed a new strategic plan which includes targets to address biodiversity loss by 2020 (sounds familiar?). 

Reef Scene by Dave Peake

More encouragingly there appears to be a commitment to increase land-based protected areas and national parks to 17 per cent of the Earth’s surface from 12.5 per cent now, and to raise the percentage of marine protected areas from 1 per cent currently to 10 per cent.

What is intriguing though is a protocol agreed on the last day of the conference, on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources (ABS).  This lays down basic ground rules on how nations cooperate in obtaining genetic resources from animals to plants and fungi.  It will outline how benefits – for example, from when a plant’s genetics are turned into a commercial product, such as medicine – will be shared with countries and communities who conserved and managed that resource, in some cases for millennia.  

Most of the reports focus on this element as a “sea change in the global understanding of the multi-trillion dollar importance of biodiversity and forests, freshwaters and other ecosystems to the global economy and to national economies, and in particular for the “GDP of the poor”.

It seems as if the economic value of biodiversity has been the thing which has finally caught the attention of world governments.  It is clearly not enough that biodiversity has its own intrinsic value for people and our spiritual wellbeing.  The fact that wildlife is worth money – and that world leaders have recognised that – has made the case for its protection.  The case has been largely made by The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), an initiative hosted by UNEP, requested by G8 environment ministers.

Farlington Marshes

Whilst I do not wholly subscribe to this attitute – after all the economy is actually dependent on the natural world – not the other way round! – it is nevertheless encouraging that the value of our natural capital is finally being recognised.  It is now up to us to keep pushing decision makers and policy makers to make sure that nature is properly accounted for – and that protecting and enhancing nature is invested in for the future.

Why nature matters 1

At the Trust we are all passionate about wildlife and we believe it’s important.

Fragrant Orchid by Ian Ralphs

But not everyone feels like this.  Not everyone cares that we’ve lost a staggering 97% of our wildflower meadows or that water vole populations have crashed by a similar amount.  Not everyone understands that our ecosystems are out of balance and don’t function properly, nor that much of our green space is only home to the generalist species and not the specialists.  The gradual loss of the quality of nature – in other words the rich diversity of wildlife and all its intricate glory – is almost unnoticeable to many people.  As long as there are pleasant green spaces with trees, and somewhere to get out for a walk or a picnic, that seems to be ok.  Well not for me.

For me, it matters that there is a rich diversity of wildlife to bring colour, buzz and excitement to the outdoors.  I love discovering the weird and the wonderful, I am not content with bland countryside.  Scarce species like the large marsh grasshopper and the grasshopper warbler, the brilliant emerald dragonfly and the golden samphire, the musk orchid and the stinking hellebore, the Devil’s bolete and the Bechstein’s bat, the cheese snail and the chestnut moth.  None of these can survive without their special habitats, which are now fragmented and scarce themselves.  It is therefore all the more important that we value the rare and the special, and do all we can to protect them.   Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against the commoner species – the sparrows and robins in my urban garden are the familiar faces that I see every day and they give me a huge amount of pleasure.  My point is that biodiversity overall is being eroded and that matters.

As George Monbiot said (much more eloquently than I could ever hope to): The global collapse of biodiversity hurts almost beyond endurance. The sense that the world is greying, its wealth of colour and surprise and wonder fading, is so painful that I can scarcely bear to write about it. Human welfare, as measured by the heart and the senses, is diminished.  As a child I watched chalk downlands, where rare orchids and wild strawberries, adonis blues and marbled whites, whitethroats and hobbies, flint pits and burial mounds had survived since the Neolithic, being wiped clean by ploughs, to produce grain that fed nothing but the subsidy mountains. Now I watch the remaining scraps of our collective memory erased to grow biofuels which produce more greenhouse gases than the petroleum they replace.

To justify why biodiversity is important, it is becoming necessary to put an economic value on nature.  That is fine, it does have a huge economic and social value (more on that topic later) but there is something intrinsically important about nature too, that is hard to put your finger on.  It matters, because I care about it.  I don’t want to live in a grey world without colour and wonder, fascination and interest, and neither do my children.

What is your favourite nature moment?

Join in our discussion to help show the government that nature is important and needs better protection…

Orange tip butterfly on cuckooflower by Ian Ralphs

Tell us what you love about nature, what your best wildlife encounter was, why nature is important to you… Get involved in the discussions by adding your comments below… Be inspired by what other people are saying…

Then – if you feel strongly about this – please tell the government too.  We want as many people as possible to fill in defra’s questionnaire [only 4 questions] to tell the government their views on the natural environment – and that we want better protection for wildlife and restoration of damaged ecosystems through the White Paper.

A white paper for the natural environment

It may sound rather dry, but the government’s commitment to produce a Natural Environment White Paper is possibly the most important development for nature conservation for a generation.

The Wildlife Trusts have been campaigning for several years for better protection for wildlife and, more importantly, a mechanism to help us restore ecosystems and habitats to reverse the huge declines in biodiversity.  The white paper could help us achieve our goal – but we all need to engage.

It is crucial that as many people as possible tell the government how important the natural environment is, and why it is urgent that we do a lot more to protect it.  Take part by answering these 4 questions and let the government know how you feel.  What is it about nature that matters to you?  How does it benefit your life?  What should be done to protect nature?  How could you get involved?

Take part in our online discussion with other Trust members and help create a wave of interest in the white paper – we could be the generation that stops the decline in biodiversity and sees ecosystems restored for the future!