Kabul: Pen Farthing

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord Clark of Windermere

Wednesday 2nd February 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

In these frenzied days and this feeding frenzy, small things can be perceived as very large things. In the cold light of day, in the months to come, when people look back at this question that has been occupying nearly 10 minutes of this House’s time, we may wonder whether we lost a sense of proportion.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, it is clear, I think, that the Minister is saying that the Prime Minister did not know anything about this. Did his department issue an email or not? I am not asking whether the Prime Minister did it, but did someone in his department in No. 10 issue an email relating to this incident?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

I do not know what emails were sent. Millions of emails would have been sent. I can say that there was no email from the Prime Minister’s department, as the noble Lord called it, that authorised in any way this evacuation. That authorisation never came from the Prime Minister. I never said that he did not know about it; I am sure that, like everyone, he would have seen it on the news, but he was not involved in the decision and did not weigh in in any way at all.

Peat

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord Clark of Windermere

Tuesday 18th January 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My noble friend raises an important point, and she is right that there are insufficient amounts of suitable replacement materials. However, there is clearly scope for making better use of what is otherwise garden and vegetable waste. There are high-quality peat-free alternatives that are effective and price-competitive, including a growing material formulated with wood fibre, bark or coir, all currently available in garden centres.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab)]

My Lords, as the Minister knows, 3% of the earth is covered with peatlands, but they account for a third of the store of carbon. It is imperative that this carbon is not disturbed. We have a huge amount here in the United Kingdom. Can the Government commit to reducing to a minimum the amount of carbon from peat bogs?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con)]

My Lords, I absolutely make that commitment, and that is one reason why we are moving with renewed vigour on banning the use of peat in horticulture. Additionally, our England peat strategy lays out ambitious plans to restore degraded peatlands on a scale we have not done before in this country, with plans leading up to 2050 involving hundreds of thousands of hectares being repaired, for all the reasons that the noble Lord has identified.

Pandemics and Environmental Degradation

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord Clark of Windermere

Wednesday 24th February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the noble Lord makes an extremely important point. I agree with him; the environment is not a niche concern. Everything we have, everything we are, everything we do comes from the natural world. As we destroy the natural world, ultimately we destroy ourselves. That seems an obvious thing to say but, unfortunately, it still needs to be said. A recognition of that fact runs through all departments of the UK Government. This is, as I said, a top international and domestic priority for us.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, we are increasingly reminded of the link between animal diseases and human health. Currently, I think of bird flu in Russia and a question over the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic itself. Do the Government intend to raise this very real problem at the COP 26 meeting under their presidency this November?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

I can absolutely provide that reassurance—not just through the COP 26, which we are hosting, but via the biodiversity convention and the G7. The noble Lord makes an important point: 60% of infectious diseases are caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites that are transmitted between humans and animals. Numerous reports confirm the link between environmental degradation and the emergence of zoonotic pathogens—Hendra virus in Australia, Nipah virus, Ebola, Zika, yellow fever, Dengue, SARS, MERS, Covid-19 and many others besides—so this is a crucial issue.

Trees

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord Clark of Windermere

Tuesday 23rd February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clark of Windermere]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to balance (1) carbon sequestration, and (2) biodiversity, in their plans to plant 30,000 hectares of trees annually.

[The Minister of State, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park) (Con) [V]]

My Lords, trees are an essential part of our nation’s biodiversity, and existing native woodlands are recognised as priority habitats. Tree planting is a nature-based solution that can expand habitats and help to address the twin challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss. Through our £640 million nature for climate fund, we will ensure that trees are grown, selected, planted and managed appropriately to provide multiple benefits for the climate, nature, people and the economy in supporting a green recovery.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]]

While the Government’s plans to increase tree planting are laudable, they must not be at the expense of destroying peatlands, which capture much more carbon than my beloved trees. More carbon is stored in our peatlands than in all the forests of France, Germany and the UK put together. Can the Minister give me an assurance that the Forestry Commission will neither be forced by government targets to plant upland peat bogs, which are our national equivalent of rainforests in terms of carbon capture, nor have to grant-aid private landowners to do so?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

I can absolutely provide the noble Lord with that assurance. In recognition of the importance of peatlands, we are aligning our various strategies, including the England tree strategy and the peat strategy, and we hope that, combined, they will set out a long-term approach to fulfilling our international biodiversity commitments and 25-year environment plan, in addition to restoring and protecting our peatland and expanding tree cover. It is essential that we plant trees in the right place. Deep peatlands are absolutely not the right place for tree planting, and we recognise that.

Trees

Debate between Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park and Lord Clark of Windermere

Monday 25th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

My Lords, the England tree strategy is designed to make sense of the Government’s commitment to identify the steps we will have to take in order to deliver on it and identify the funding streams. The priorities will be clearly set out in the England tree strategy, but, fundamentally, we will favour a mixed approach. However, we also favour an approach that recognises the biosecurity needs of this country and the fact that there are tree diseases queuing up at the border on the continent, waiting to cross the water and do damage to our trees.

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I support the Government’s tree planting scheme, bearing in mind that trees that are planted in upland areas will need a growth period of 30 years-plus in order to sequester carbon effectively. How will the Government ensure that the species that are planted will be capable of surviving in a warmer climate 30 years ahead?

[Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park (Con) [V]]

The noble Lord makes an important point, but, as I have said, the England tree strategy will take a very long-term view. It will provide a vision for what our treescape should look like up to 2050 and probably beyond, even though the steps that it will identify relate to this Parliament. We need to and will be taking a very long-term view.