Biodiversity

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer Excerpts

Wednesday 28th July 2010 Lords Chamber

Tabled By

[Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will halt the decline in biodiversity in the United Kingdom; and what resources will be allocated to that work.

[Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer]

My Lords, I start by offering heartfelt thanks to all noble Lords who feel strongly enough about the great importance of biodiversity to stay and speak in this debate as the last business on the last day before our Summer Recess. I know how much we all look forward to heading off for the summer, as it is a great chance to get out and about and see some of the wonderful species that might be mentioned today, whether peregrine falcons on the cliffs or horseshoe bats. I find it just as much of a thrill to see some of the less rare but no less exciting species such as swallows, sundews in upland bogs capturing flies or just peacock butterflies on the buddleia. I declare an interest as a vice-president of Wildlife and Countryside Link, a member of various wildlife trusts and the Marine Conservation Society and a vice-president of the Council for National Parks.

For several years I have felt very gloomy about the outlook for many species, as no doubt have many of your Lordships. However, I am tempted to feel a bit more cheerful today given the amount of activity that is now going on, so I shall start with reasons to be optimistic. First, it is the International Year of Biodiversity, in which the United Nations has agreed to create the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. That is certainly needed given the extent of the biodiversity crisis, the evidence for which was presented in the third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook, which made pretty gloomy reading. Although my Question concerns the UK, and the rest of my speech will concentrate on that, I would like the Minister to mention what preparations the UK is making for the meeting in Japan in October and what sort of contribution it will make.

As I say, I shall concentrate on the UK. My second reason for being optimistic is that this week we saw the publication of the discussion paper preceding the White Paper on the natural environment. I am pleased that our Government have chosen to make this a very early priority. The emphasis given to biodiversity in the White Paper will be extremely important and will lay the ground plan of work for years to come.

The third reason for feeling optimistic is Sir John Lawton’s report Making Space for Nature, which the previous Government commissioned. This Government will continue to take on board what Sir John’s final report says. His update in March reported that to achieve a coherent and resilient ecological network we will need to look beyond existing designated sites and take account of landscape designations, local wildlife sites and green spaces.

There are terrific examples of partnership work to build on. I give as an example the Great Fen, a collaboration between Natural England, the Environment Agency, the local wildlife trust and the district council, which joins two national nature reserves and creates more than 3,700 hectares of wildlife habitat. That will bring multiple benefits, not just in biodiversity but in water quality and recreation for local communities. There are multiple benefits from thriving biodiversity, as other things are kept healthy. That lesson runs through a lot of the recently produced work.

That leads me to my fourth reason to be optimistic: the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity study published on 13 July. This is a major international initiative that draws attention to the global economic benefits of biodiversity and highlights the growing financial costs of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. It provides scientific and economic evidence of what many of us previously had only a hunch about. Incidentally, one interesting thing that the report highlights is that more than 50 per cent of chief executive officers in Latin America and 45 per cent of CEOs in Africa believe that declines in biodiversity are a challenge to business growth. In contrast, only 20 per cent of CEOs in Europe feel that it is an issue. There is some education of the business sector still to do here.

My final reason for optimism is the report of the European Environment Agency, which talks about the important opportunity to address the shortcomings in the agriculture sector that further CAP reform will offer in terms of biodiversity.

I move on to reasons to be pessimistic. The first relates to history. There have been plenty of efforts by many Governments to legislate in this area. There is the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000—I am glad that the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, will speak in this debate, because she and I worked hard to put the biodiversity duty into Part III of that Act—and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. I should be grateful if the Minister mentioned something about how implementation of that Act is going, especially the designation of MPAs.

The second big reason to be pessimistic relates to the biodiversity indicators published in May, which show that there is still plenty of bad news around, especially for farmland and woodland birds. That relates partly to farming practices. For example, the switch from spring-sown to autumn-sown cereals resulted in a dramatic reduction in skylark chicks. There have been further losses of habitat, including ancient woodland, which is irreplaceable. The Woodland Trust estimates that in the past 10 years we have lost nearly 500 acres of ancient woodland and that 400 hectares—roughly 800 acres—in some 200 woods are still under threat. We have lost further ground in terms of the butterfly population. The results are very mixed. We have made a few gains, so it is not all bad news. However, we do not seem to gain much ground, despite the fact that resources were put into this area. Against a background of cuts in funding, that looks pretty difficult. However, it is not always bad news. At one time, cuts meant that verges were not trimmed so much; the effect on wild flowers, insects and small mammals was almost instantaneous.

Too much tidiness is partly to blame. Gardens are often sterile paved areas, with all the fallen wood cleared and buildings with no nooks and crannies. The old Christmas card favourite of a robin nesting in a rusty watering can would not be easy to find any more. Municipal tidiness is also an issue. Canalised streams and rivers, with their habitat-free concrete sides, are very bad for biodiversity and a very poor way to deal with heavy rainfall, because flood waters sweep through canalisations. I am glad that the Environment Agency, among others, is doing much to reverse this work, to the benefit of biodiversity and flood management. Nottingham City Council is an interesting example. It has created wildflower meadows in an effort not only to improve biodiversity but to reduce the carbon footprint and address flooding issues by absorbing more water run-off.

My final two points concern education. If our next generation does not understand the value of biodiversity, it will not protect it. The Countryside Alliance has just published a strong suggestion for the Government with many reasons why the education of our next generation is falling short. There are not enough school trips and not enough use of the outdoor classroom. We must address that and I would be glad of the Minister’s comments.

My final point concerns public involvement for everyone. This week, we have the Big Butterfly Count, organised by Butterfly Conservation and sponsored by Marks & Spencer, which gives us all a chance to get out and count butterflies. We had the RSPB bird count earlier in the year, while Pond Conservation has the Million Ponds Project, which is going well. A pond, no matter how small, is an exciting example of something that individuals, schools and local authorities can all create.

I ask the Minister how we can begin to improve biodiversity against a background of cuts. My first move in the recess will be to visit the newly opened Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, which is a hub for all us amateurs who would like to know and contribute more. That will be tremendously exciting.