#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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Thanks Hugh!

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of meeting Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at the River Cottage Autumn Fair.

Hugh is a real advocate for sustainability (just look at some of the great things he’s doing at River Cottage HQ) and of course is famous as being the mastermind behind Hugh’s Fish Fight.  So I wanted the chance to chat to him about the Wildlife Trusts’ marine work and in particular our concerns about Marine Conservation Zones.

Hugh agreed to support our campaign for 127 MCZs as you can see from the photo!  Thanks Hugh – we really appreciate it.

To find out more about our MCZs campaign follow the link here.  You can help too by signing up to be a Friend of your local MCZ here.

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Marine Conservation Zones at risk

The marine habitats and wildlife off our shores are facing a serious threat, with the long-awaited network of marine protected areas, promised by Government for 2012, being in danger of failing before it has even got off the ground.

After years of pressure from NGOs, and with huge public support, the Marine and Coastal Access Act of 2009 promised a coherent network of protected areas – desparately needed to help our seas recover from years of neglect – around the coasts by 2012.  Now 127 marine sites around England’s coast, including 30 in South East England and 7 around Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, have been recommended by sea users and stakeholders to become Marine Conservation Zones next year.

The recommendations are the result of two years of consultation, costing millions of pounds, with more than one million stakeholders involved including fishermen, conservationists and businesses. This has been the first ‘Big Society’ experiment where local stakeholders have decided together which areas of the sea should be protected, but will the Government listen to its own Big Society or retreat from its localism agenda and centralise decision making? 

There is serious concern that Government’s Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee) will recommend to Government that only a fraction of the 127 recommended sites are designated. This could result in just a handful of scattered sites that would not fulfill the Government’s own guidance, which the stakeholders have worked so hard to adhere to, and leave vulnerable and precious areas unprotected.

Jolyon Chesworth, Marine Conservation Manager at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, says:  

“A huge amount of work has been done to get a broad agreement on this network of sites needed for the health and future productivity of our marine environment.  Now, however, in the final stages the Government has lost its direction and is proposing to over-ride the recommendations of local stakeholders and cut the 127 sites down to an unrealistic 30, in contradiction with the aims of the Marine and Coastal Access Act and the thousands of pages of its own guidance.”

Referring to what this may mean for our local seas, Jolyon continues, “Sea Users have worked tirelessly in the South East and around the Solent to understand the complex process and guidance required by the Government to come up with recommended Marine Conservation Zones that meet the criteria. The work has resulted in a very positive set of 30 recommended sites which have a lot of broad support. Seven of these sites are around Hants and Wight, including Bembridge, which has more examples of species and habitats than any other site in the South East, including rare seaweeds, spoonworms and seahorses, Utopia, home to sponge and coral gardens and northern areas of the Isle of Wight coast, home to the best examples of seagrass in the region. 

To suggest that only 7 of the 30 sites in the South East may actually go ahead makes a mockery of the hard work of the local sea users, contradicts the official guidance and most importantly will not adequately protect the habitats and species that exist here.

With Wildlife Trusts all around the UK, we are lobbying hard for the successful completion of a process that will make a real difference to the conservation of our seas. We need to demonstrate the weight of public support for Marine Conservation Zones to Government. This is a once in a lifetime chance.  We can’t afford to let it slip away.” 

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is urging people to write to Richard Benyon and ask for Government to create the proposed network of 127 MCZs in England. It has produced some guidance on writing to the Minister, which can be found at www.wildlifetrusts.org/saveourmczs

Please sign our petition http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/petitionfish

Write to your MP and the Minister http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/saveourmczs

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.