Natural Capital (England and Wales)

Roger Williams Excerpts

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD)]

I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr Stuart) on securing this evening’s debate. I thank the right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman) for speaking so knowledgeably about this issue; she was responsible for seeing much of what we are discussing tonight come to fruition.

The coalition agreement stated:

“The Government believes that we need to protect the environment for future generations, make our economy more environmentally sustainable, and improve our quality of life and well-being.”

Following on from that, the Government published the White Paper, “The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature”, a recommendation from which led to the setting up of the natural capital committee to provide independent advice to the Government on these important matters.

It was done against the background of a previous century in which the world population had increased by 50%; there was a fortyfold increase in industrial output; and an increase of 16 times in the amount of energy used, greatly increasing emissions from sulphur and carbon. The natural capital was obviously put at risk by such a great increase in activity, and no policies were in place to ensure that it could be sustained and maintained.

Let me draw a comparison between us getting to grips with the concept of natural capital now and what happened at the first Rio conference when the issue of sustainability was first put forward. It was difficult at that time to get people to understand what was really meant by that concept, and I think we are still wrestling a little with it at the moment. Sometimes the interpretation of sustainability is used to promote a particular argument or project that we might wish to advance.

I was in a little chapel in Bryn Pont in Pontfaen in my constituency last night, where the Breconshire young farmers were having their harvest festival. They took the service themselves, being wonderfully able people. As I listened, I was thinking that, because of their role in land management and land ownership, they will be the people on whom much of this responsibility will fall. I wondered how they would grasp this concept of natural capital.

I am sure that the people in the committee who wrote the report are very able and that they followed fully the academic rigour and, indeed, the financial accuracy necessary for such reports. However, I think that the committee has a little way to go when it comes to explaining the subject to other people. It will be advising the Government on policy, but unless people understand and can align themselves with that policy, it will be extraordinarily difficult for them to deal with it. For example, the report offers the following:

“Definition of natural capital asset: Define the component of natural capital under consideration, the temporal and spatial scales being considered and the relationship between the natural capital asset and the services it provides, directly or in conjunction with other assets”.

I am not sure how that can be translated into user-friendly language. What I am sure of is that a great deal of work will be required to enable people to associate themselves with the project.

We have been given an example of the way in which natural capital can be used to assess the effect of a particular development, and then to offset it by replicating an environment or ecosystem that may have been damaged by that development. I think that the concept has a great deal to offer. I know that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is particularly interested in using offsetting to allow economic development to take place in areas where it has been problematic in the past, and I attended a debate in Westminster Hall during which the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles)—who is responsible for planning—spoke about developments in national parks and how they could be facilitated. However, I think that we must approach the process with considerable caution, because it is sometimes almost impossible to replicate ecosystems that have been damaged by development. It may work in some instances, but in others the environment will be so pristine that it will be impossible to replicate it elsewhere.

Mention has been made of the value of children and young people who have experience of the countryside and take part in activities there. On Saturday night I attended the first showing in Wales of a film called “Project Wild Thing”, which explained how we could encourage young people and give them opportunities to make the most of their experience in the countryside. There is also a National Trust programme entitled “50 things to do before you are 11¾”. I shall be sending a copy to my grandson, who has already undertaken one or two of the recommended activities. If we ensure that our natural capital can be maintained, it will greatly benefit the development and health of our children.

[Joan Walley]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is important for all Members to do their utmost to arrange screenings of “Project Wild Thing”, which was launched by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the House of Commons last week?

[Roger Williams]

I certainly do. It is a very inspiring film. People will interpret it in many different ways, but I am sure that every way in which it is interpreted, and implemented, will enable children to benefit from it.

I think that the development of the concept of natural capital will be of considerable use to the Government when they are setting policy. However, one Member said that while it was some use if implemented nationally, it would be of greater use if implemented internationally.

Some 12 of the 13 recommendations in the Committee’s first report are process recommendations—they are about the way this should be approached—but the 13th recommendation is about agriculture. It recommends that the common agricultural policy should be radically reformed and that as much of the pillar 1 money as possible should be moved to pillar 2. I think that many of us would agree with that, but it depends on what the pillar 2 projects are. Also, it would be entirely inappropriate for policies to be implemented in this country while we have a single market that would put our farmers at a disadvantage to those on the continent.

There is a graph in the report showing the wheat yields in this country. They have increased from about 1 tonne an acre to about 3 tonnes or more. Sadly, however— and chillingly in some respects—there have been reductions in wheat yields in this country in the last two years. For those two years we will be net importers of wheat, whereas we have been a wheat exporter in the past.

We talk about farmers delivering public services. I think the greatest service the farming community can deliver is a sustainable supply of food at an affordable price. There is therefore a balance to be struck between food being produced by farming and the protection of the environment.

This concept will be very useful and very informative for the Government in delivering their policies, but we need to show that the public understand the concept as well, and are able to engage with it.