I have been thinking about where the environmental leaders of tomorrow will come from.
I had a lovely morning on Saturday celebrating the role that one such leader - Adrian Darby - has played as Chairman and President of Plantlife over the last 18 years. He's made a huge contribution to nature conservation over the years (including time spent as Treasurer and Chair of the RSPB Council).
I'll always have a soft spot for Adrian - not just because he was on the interview panel when I landed my job as Conservation Director of Plantlife in 1999. He was a great mentor to me and others at Plantlife. He loves his plants (especially arable flowers) and always brings intelligence and humour to any debate.
But perhaps his greatest achievement has been highlighting the need to protect wildflower meadows.
Appropriately, therefore, we were at the Lugg Meadows in Herefordshire - where 18 hectares were dedicated to Adrian. These flood meadows are the largest known surviving example of Lammas Meadow – areas of common land that date back to medieval times.
Just 5% of the original meadows remain - a fact that is heart-breaking whle walking through the meadows in the summer, when they are at their best - oozing colour and full of life.
I was with the kids and I was reminded of something that Chris Rose had said the day before at a conference: we are losing contact with nature partly because of our lifestyle which shelters us from the wild. But this is compounded by a diminishing resource. There is simply less wildlife-rich habitat for you to bump into. Young people these days (did I really say that?) will have to be pretty smart to find their way to the patches of flower-rich grassland which remain. So, how can they grow to love it if they never have contact with it?
This is why I have always been keen on advocating the right for every child to have contact with the natural world as part of their formal education. Others, such as Tony Juniper, have advocated introducing natural history GSCE.
This is also why I am disappointed that successive governments, whilst agreeing with the principle, have not done enough to encourage out of classroom learning.
Unfortunately, the Natural Environment White Paper, while saying all the right words, fails to provide the guarantees that I think are necessary. This was a missed opportunity. The RSPB and others will continue to provide high quality field teaching opportunities, but many schools simply cannot afford taking kids on school trips. We had calculated that just £27m was needed to subsidise all children eligible for free-school meals to be given an annual opportunity to have contact with nature.
I know, there is no money, but surely it is worth looking again as this is such as tiny sum of money to invest in finding tomorrow's environmental leaders.
And now we know what the UK Government wants to achieve for wildlife. A clear set of measurable targets by which we can judge how well they are doing. Am very pleased.
I know, the money may not be in place yet, and there appears to be a general feeling that voluntary approaches will suffice, but these targets/measurable outcomes/impact measures - whatever you want to call them - do matter. These will tell us over time whether the Government is any good at saving nature.
From that White Paper...
"By 2020 we want to achieve an overall improvement in the status of our wildlife." OK that souds good, but what exactly do you mean?
"Over time, we plan to have 90% of priority wildlife habitats in recovering or favourable condition." Right, that includes all types of sites including local wildlife sites, so that sounds pretty good.
"We will work to achieve more, bigger, better and less-fragmented areas for wildlife, including no net loss of priority habitat and an increase of at least 200,000 ha in the overall extent of priority habitats." Did all government departments really agree to this expansion target - am impressed!
"At least 50% of SSSIs will be in favourable condition, while maintaining at least 95% in favourable or recovering condition." Hmm - a tiny improvement on the high point of 44.51% in favourable condition in November 2008, and maintenance of the original 95%. Here's hoping that they still want to get the other half of our finest wildlife sites into good condition.
"And, in line with commitments made at Nagoya, at least 17% of England will be managed effectively in order to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services." This is larger area than our current designated sites and reserves, plus local wildlife sites, but less than the area of our protected landscapes. As it’s for active management, it is quite ambitious (but then it is a Nagoya commitment).
"At least 15% of degraded ecosystems that are important for climate change mitigation and adaptation will be restored." This sounds as though it could be useful, but I've no idea how they plan to measure it.
And, as for saving species? Oh, nothing. Yet. Maybe in the England Biodiversity Strategy in a couple of weeks.
But the picture is emerging and this feels like an ambition worth fighting for.
Caroline Spelman has made a video for us, encouraging us all to read the Government’s shiny new Natural Environment White Paper. It’s only a couple of minutes long and it looks as if our intrepid Secretary of State endured a rather blustery day on the North York Moors on the day it was filmed.
It’s almost three months to the day since Mrs Spelman helped us to launch our Stepping Up for Nature campaign. Has Mrs Spelman stepped up? Well, the NEWP suggests that she is keen to do so, but her real challenge will be to encourage her Cabinet colleagues, especially Eric Pickles at CLG, to deliver on Defra’s ambitions. Or, at the very least, to make sure that Defra’s efforts to safeguard wildlife and the environment aren’t derailed by other departments.
Thanks to Mrs Spelman for recording this message for us, and for risking a bad hair day on our behalf! I know how it feels – every day is a bad hair day for me...
PS Here's a little piece that I did for Farming Today.
It's World Oceans' Day today - a time to celebrate the wonders of life above and beneath the waves.
But, before you get too comfortable sipping your coffee and dreaming of your summer holiday at the coast, here's a stat to wake you up: 300,000 seabirds are still being killed every year through longline fisheries.
That's the new global estimate from a study, which will be published in the science journal Endangered Species Research later this morning (8 June, 11.00am BST). It was carried out by scientists from the RSPB and BirdLife International.
Since the 1980s, scientists have linked global declines of albatrosses and other seabirds with ‘incidental catch’ in longline fisheries. Adult and juvenile birds become snared on hooks attached to the lines, which can be over a hundred kilometres long, and are dragged underwater to a premature death.
As a result, 17 of 22 albatross species are threatened with extinction.
We've been working on this issue for years. And some brilliant people from the RSPB and BirdLife International’s Global Seabird Programme have started to have an impact on this terrible waste of life. We've been calling on regional fisheries management organisations and industry to protect seabirds through the use of simple, cost-effective mitigation measures that have been proven to reduce the threat of bycatch. We have also been working to be part of the solution. We've set up the Albatross Task Force which works directly with fishermen around the world to encourage them to catch fish rather than seabirds.
And through this combination of advocacy and training of fishermen, we've been begun to see amazing results.
Some fisheries have enforced strict regulations, resulting in substantial bycatch reductions in recent years. Seabird deaths around South Georgia have declined by 99% since regulations were enforced. South Africa achieved a drop of 85% bycatch in its foreign-licensed fleet in 2008, when a cap was placed on the number of seabird deaths permitted. More recently, in April 2011, Brazil passed a law requiring the use of stringent seabird bycatch measures in their domestic tuna longline fleets.
And that is the silver lining to the cloud presented by this problem - we know how to fix it. It requires hard graft, sufficient funds and a dollop of political will. But if anyone can end bycatch from longlining, it is this dedicated team of conservationists.
The UK Government’s Natural Environment White Paper has been launched, and, overall, it is pretty good!
Congratulations to Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, and her ministerial team.
The Government has clearly listened to the concerns millions of people in this country have about the state of our wildlife and green spaces. The aims laid out in this paper could steer us towards a future where farmland birds are no longer in decline, heathland and wetlands are no longer under threat, and some of our most threatened species are no longer teetering on the brink.
We are working through the 70+ pages and 92 recommendations. But, our initial assessment is that 5 of our 7 tests have been met. Here are the highlights and the two low-ish lights.
HIGHLIGHTS
1. Defra ministers clearly do get it - "most people rightly believe in the innate value of nature and our strong moral repsonsibility to protect it".
2. They have the right ambition and are prepared to set and report against measurable outcomes (for habitats, protected areas and land outside of protected areas). More detail will emerge when the England Biodiversity Strategy is published later in the month but this is a promising start.
3. Most existing legislative commitments (including for water and the marine environment) get an airing. International responsibilities under the Nagoya agreement are also clearly acknowledged.
4. There are two clear proposals which should help deliver more wildlife close to where people live. Local Nature Partnerships will be set up and supported along with a series of Nature Improvement Areas. These will be based on a pioneering approach to conservation which brings together farmers, charities, communities and public bodies to make a real change across a whole landscape. This is something the RSPB, through our Futurescapes programme, have been working towards for a long time. It would see an end to the unconnected patchwork of environmental measures in our countryside which limits our potential to restore the natural environment.
5. This is a White Paper on behalf of all of government and it was great to see ministers Greg Clarke and Norman Baker from DCLG and DfT respectively on the panel at the launch today. There are some new initiatives including the establishment of a Natural Capital Committee which will report to the Chancellor and the value of nature will be considered in all relevant impact this assessments. This may sound a little dry and policy-wonkish - but if they get this right, then it could help ensure nature is at heart of decision-making. I don't expect this to be plain-sailing, and as I blogged today, there are already some existing problems, but the intent is admirable.
LOW(-ISH)LIGHTS
6. Alas, there is no clear funding strategy for delivering the ambitions for wildlife. But that is not surprising - there is no money! The Government will need to be brave enough to intervene with the right mix of regulation and incentives whenever progress on wildlife and habitats is stalling. And, existing subsidies will need to be worked harder for wildlife. For example, we know that the Entry Level Scheme is not delivering on its potential and ministers have an immediate opportunity to fix this through the Government’s review of the effectiveness of Environmental Stewardship.
7. It was disappointing to see that the Government has chosen not to seize the opportunity to introduce new legislation tackling environmental damage caused by horticultural peat use. The RSPB proposed a simple levy of £1 on a bag of peat based compost, and this idea has found support from within the growing media industry, the garden retail sector and amongst professional gardeners. But instead the Government will be continuing with a voluntary approach to phasing out peat use which has so far failed to achieve its desired outcome. There is simply no need to dig up carbon rich peatland habitats across Europe in order to grow flowers and vegetables in our nurseries, greenhouses and gardens. While this is a missed opportunity, we are slightly heartened that the proposed task force will be chaired by Alan Knight - a good man who previously tried to crack this issue when working for B&Q. We will be delighted to work with him but to encourage industry and consumers to make the switch to decent peat-free alternatives which are proven to deliver the results gardeners demand.
But, enough for now, I must go back to reading it. If I find any more gems, I'll let you know. Or if you do, let me know!