Fuelling declines

Scientists are trilling at the prospect of fast growing fuel crops covering a fifth of our farmland and helping to hit targets for renewable energy generation, The Times reports.

Miscanthus grass, an Asian species, and coppiced willow trees will provide one third of green energy sources by 2020 they predict – good for the targets and good, they claim, for insects too.

But will they be good for birds?

A recent report for the RSPB and others, found that without safeguards, covering large areas of farmland with these tall crops could cause as much harm to wildlife as the switch from spring to autumn sowing and the replacement of hay with silage 35 years ago.
 
Farmland bird numbers plunged as a result of these, and other, widely used forms of agricultural intensification. And, despite the creation of green farming schemes since then, populations of many farmland species are still in decline.

Substantial subsidies are being made available to farmers keen to plant miscanthus and willow. But there has been almost no research on the impact of miscanthus on wildlife, which means large swathes of land could be swallowed up before we know what might happen as a result.

Bioenergy crops should be grown in a way that is sympathetic to wildlife. Why? Because these crops are being grown to help the environment and it would be a terrible own goal if they ended up damaging wildlife and landscapes instead.

If harm is done, bioenergy initiatives could hit the same buffers that wind energy projects have, setting back a promising technology in the fight against climate change.

Click here for the Times report

And here for more on the report for the RSPB