Rural Affairs

Chapter 10: Restoring and maintaining wildlife diversity and the natural environment

The issues

  • Loss of wildlife habitats due to changes in agricultural practices (including intensification, with its greater mechanisation, fertiliser and pesticide use) and a general loss of biodiversity - for example numbers of farmland birds declined by 36% between 1970 and 1998.
  • The number of wildlife species has also been declining, particularly since the 1970s, and many species are now at risk of disappearing from this country.
  • Many of our important wildlife sites need restoration or enhanced management, for instance only about 60% of sites of special scientific interest are estimated at present to be in a favourable condition.
  • Wider impacts on the natural environment for example on water management from development and changing agricultural practice.
  • Over the longer term, climate change is likely to bring new challenges, and preparing to meet these will be an important preoccupation.

The future: what we want to see

  • Better protection for wildlife. Expanded agri-environment schemes and more promotion of best practices in agriculture will help reverse the long-term decline in farmland birds by 2020. 95% of nationally important wildlife sites will be brought into favourable condition by 2010, with increased funding both through English Nature and through agri-environment schemes, and through the new measures, in the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill to improve the management and protection of SSSIs.
  • A new strategy and targets for the 400 species and habitats identified in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan for priority action. There will be more rational policies on imported species; and heavier sanctions against wildlife crime. The need to preserve biodiversity will increasingly be accepted as automatically to be taken into account in both government and private sector decisions.
  • More sustainable water management and an approach which safeguards environmental capital.

Summary of measures

  • Government targets to reverse the decline in farmland birds by 2020 and to bring 95% of nationally important wildlife sites into favourable condition by 2010;

  • New national guidelines for the identification and management of local wildlife sites;

  • New planning guidance on nature conservation and biodiversity to ensure that they are better taken into account in local decisions;

  • A new biodiversity strategy for England to carry forward the action plans which have already been developed for species and habitats identified as particular priorities;

  • A new area-based Hill Farm Allowance Scheme.

  • Fundamental review of policy on alien and invasive species.

10.1. Introduction

10.2. Designated sites

10.3. Biodiversity Action Plans and species at risk

10.4. Integrating biodiversity into everybody's actions and decisions

10.5 Climate change

10.1. Introduction

10.1.1. Because the overwhelming majority of land in England has been actively managed - largely for farming - for hundreds of years, the pattern of habitats and species of wildlife that has emerged is especially sensitive to changes in the way that the countryside is used and managed. This has resulted over the centuries in a richer and more varied wildlife than climate and geography alone might have produced, but also in a vulnerability, well illustrated over the last 50 years. Changes in agricultural practices have been linked to a serious decline in farmland wildlife, exemplified by the 36% fall in the populations of farmland birds since 1970. One of the Government's Public Service Agreement targets is to reverse this decline.

10.1.2. Our aim over the next 10 years is to:

  • Provide better protection and management of the network of specially designated wildlife sites;
  • Achieve - or at least move significantly towards achieving - sustainable populations of species at risk;
  • Restore and enhance disappearing habitats.
What is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the amazing richness and variety of life. It includes all living things from the tiniest insect to the mightiest oak tree. Biodiversity is found everywhere, in window boxes and wild woods, roadsides and rain forests, snow fields and the sea shore. We, too, are part of biodiversity and depend on it for our quality of life. Our essential goods and services depend on the variety and variability of genes, species and habitats. They feed and clothe us and also provide housing, medicines and spiritual nourishment. Nor do we exist in isolation. Our interdependence with other species is essential to the healthiness of the planet as a whole and we should hand on to future generations an evironment no less rich than the one we inherited.

10.1.3. We will do this by promoting agricultural practices which enhance biodiversity; ensuring that the adverse effects on wildlife and its habitats of other necessary activities are avoided or minimised; making sure that everybody is conscious of their responsibilities towards maintaining biodiversity; pursuing action plans for priority species and habitats; and addressing future threats such as alien and invasive species and climate change.

The economic benefits of wildlife conservation
W ildlife conservation benefits rural economies in different ways:

Employment in nature conservation in England was estimated to total 8,000 full time equivalent jobs in 1991-92. Recent surveys by the RSPB estimate that the natural environment sector employs 1,400 people in South West England and a further 1,400 in North West England;

Expenditure by nature conservation organisations on goods and services provide jobs and incomes in local businesses. For example, more than £57 million is spent annually in managing the South West's natural environment, including over £1.2 million spent on managing heathlands in Dorset;

Agri-environment and woodland management schemes offer land managers opportunities to gain revenue and employment by managing wildlife habitats in the wider countryside. ESAs, Countryside Stewardship, organic farming and woodland management schemes such as the Wessex Coppice project have all been shown to benefit wildlife and support rural jobs and incomes.

Wildlife tourism brings also growing benefits to local economies. RSPB reserves in the UK are estimated to bring additional visitor spending of at least £11m to local economies each year, supporting more than 300 FTE tourism jobs. A recent survey of visitors to six sites on the North Norfolk coast found that people attracted to the area mainly by its birds and wildlife spend more than £6m annually in the local economy.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.2. Designated sites

10.2.1. At the heart of our policy to conserve and enhance wildlife is the network of nationally designated wildlife sites, the sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). But biodiversity is not just a national matter, as wildlife does not recognise international boundaries. The UK is therefore co-operating actively in European Community measures to set up a European network of wildlife sites, known as Natura 2000 (see box different kinds of wildlife sites below)

  • We have set ourselves an ambitious target of ensuring that 95% of the nationally important sites (SSSIs) in England are in favourable condition by March 2010, and we are taking a number of measures to help achieve this target and to meet our obligations in respect of the Natura 2000 network and other internationally important sites in England.
  • We are taking legislation through Parliament in the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill to increase the protection and enhance the management of SSSIs by:
    • Giving English Nature a new power to refuse consent indefinitely for damaging operations;
    • Providing better tools for English Nature to address problems of neglect, including a power to serve notices to enforce management practices to enhance the quality of sites;
    • Increasing penalties for people who damage SSSIs and introducing a new offence of intentional or reckless damage to an SSSI;
    • Placing duties on all public bodies to further the conservation and enhancement of SSSIs in the course of their normal activities.
  • We will aim to complete the land based elements of our contributions to the Natura 2000 network before the end of 2001, and to put in place effective systems for managing these sites to ensure their conservation in favourable condition. By the end of 2002, we will also have identified further marine sites both within the 12 mile territorial limit and beyond;
  • We will review our contribution to the Ramsar Convention's list of internationally important wetlands, with a view to designating additional necessary sites by 2005 (for details of Ramsar see box on page 120).

Different kinds of wildlife site

  • Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are the main nationally important wildlife sites. The first SSSIs were established in 1949. There are currently some 4,000 in England covering 7% of the land area. English Nature, the Government's statutory advisory body on nature conservation, designates SSSIs on the basis of scientific criteria to represent our most valuable wildlife and geological sites.

  • Some SSSIs have also been designated as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for birds under the EU Birds Directive. These are the sites which are judged to be of EU-wide importance for the conservation of birds. We have currently (as of October 2000) designated 84 SPAs in England and aim to complete the network of terrestrial SPAs early next year.

  • Under the Habitats Directive, all EU member states have also proposed Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). Together with SPAs, these sites will form the NATURA 2000 Network. This network is still being developed, but when in place will provide the fundamental basis for biodiversity conservation in the European Union. We have so far proposed 148 areas in England to the Commission for inclusion in the network and are currently consulting on the submission of a further 81 sites. All of these potential SACs are already SSSIs or are being designated as such.

  • Under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, we have designated 71 sites in England as Ramsar sites, after the place where the convention was signed. These are SSSIs which are particularly important for the conservation of wetlands species and habitats. Many are also SPAs or SACs.

  • Many SSSIs are also National Nature Reserves (NNRs). These are exceptionally important sites designated under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Country Act, and normally under the ownership or management of English Nature, or other approved managers' bodies, including voluntary conservation organisations or local authorities. The sites are those which are of particular interest for research and for visitors wanting to see how nature conservation works in the field. English Nature has just designated the 200th NNR.

  • Outside the SSSI network there are Local Nature Reserves. These are designated by local authorities, who have bylaw-making powers to prevent damaging activities from being undertaken on these sites.

  • Many local authorities also identify areas of particular interest for their flora and fauna as Local Wildlife Sites. This is not a statutory definition, but helps local authorities to take account of these areas in their planning and other policies.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Local wildlife sites

10.2.2. There are many sites of importance for nature conservation at the local level, often managed or owned by conservation organisations such as the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts and the Woodland Trust. We see as one of our major priorities the encouragement and better management of these non-statutory local wildlife sites. We established a Local Sites Review Group in 1999, and their recommendations have convinced us of the need for further action to increase the protection and effectiveness of the network.

  • We will develop and issue national guidelines for the identification and management of local wildlife sites. This will meet the concern expressed by the Review Group about the absence of national guidance to ensure a consistent approach;

  • We will issue for consultation next year a revision of planning policy guidance on nature conservation and biodiversity (PPG9) which will emphasise to local planning authorities the need to take account of local wildlife sites and biodiversity action plans (see below) in their planning policies and proposals;

  • We are commissioning research on how to avoid damage to local sites from activities outside the planning system.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.2.3. Minerals workings, especially peat workings, can be a particular threat to the value of wildlife sites. We are already reviewing existing minerals workings in cases where they are damaging to an unacceptable extent the scientific interest of internationally designated sites. In the longer term we will be considering how best to protect statutorily designated sites from the effects of such workings.

10.3. Biodiversity Action Plans and species at risk

10.3.1. The second leg of our biodiversity policy is based on action plans aimed at individual species and habitats which are particularly at risk. In 1999 the UK Biodiversity Group (a partnership between government, the statutory agencies and voluntary conservation and land management organisations) completed the publication of fully costed and targeted action plans setting out the measures to be taken over the next 5-10 years to restore some 400 priority species and over 40 habitats. Each plan involves a number of partners in the public, voluntary or private sectors, with a Lead Partner responsible for co-ordinating implementation. In addition, Country Groups have been set up in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to oversee the implementation of the plans.

Case study - Species Action Plan
The stone curlew. Likes open places with short vegetation and they used to nest among open crops. But modern intensive farming methods mean that most crops now grow too tall or cover the ground too quickly; and nests were often lost as a result of operations such as mechanical hoeing. As a result, stone curlews were becoming an increasingly endangered species. The Action Plan involves measures to maintain short downland and heathland through grazing; create bare, open ground for nesting sites on farmland in summer; and protect nests and chicks from accidental destruction on arable farmland. RSPB is the lead partner, but many other partners such as English Nature, MoD, Wildlife Trusts and MAFF have played an important part. For instance, MAFF has used the Countryside Stewardship Scheme to pay farmers to undertake agricultural practices which provide suitable nesting areas for Stone Curlews. As a result, the target in the action plan of raising the population to 200 breeding pairs by the year 2000 has already been exceeded.

10.3.2. Furthering these plans and ensuring that they are all implemented and their targets met is a major part of the Government's biodiversity policy over the next decade. The UK Biodiversity Group will be issuing a Millennium Biodiversity Report in spring 2001, assessing the successes of the process so far, and setting out the main challenges for the next five years. In the light of that report:

  • In 2001, we will establish new objectives for the biodiversity action plan process over the next 5 years and working with the England Biodiversity Group we will produce a Biodiversity Strategy for England which will identify the objectives, mechanisms and players for the delivery of biodiversity conservation. We see this as a major initiative, essential to maintaining the vitality of the action plan process. The strategy will also co-ordinate the implementation of the national species action plans with action on biodiversity at the local level;

  • We are giving greater encouragement to local authorities to have their own local biodiversity action plans. Local Biodiversity Action Plans are a way of involving all sectors of the local community in identifying what can be done and making choices about priorities. At present some 50% of local authorities in England already have such plans. We will expect all local authorities to incorporate planning for local action on biodiversity in the integrated community strategies which they are required to prepare under the Local Government Act 2000.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.3.3. We also propose through the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill:

  • To introduce a duty on DETR to keep permanently under review the species and habitat types which require priority action.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.3.4. All action to conserve wildlife should be based on accurate and up-to-date information about biodiversity trends. Countryside Survey 2000 (see section 9.5) will provide much valuable information about general trends, and we will be putting in place arrangements to continue the monitoring of the state of our national biodiversity using the latest technology. The Government is contributing £500,000 over two years to help the establishment of a National Biodiversity Network. This major project, with contributions from both public and voluntary sectors, will create a comprehensive web-based biodiversity information system, bringing together existing local and national records.

Case study - species recovery programme
English Nature's species recovery programme already addresses 286 species in England which are rare or threatened with extinction and co-operates with over 100 organisations, businesses and charities, making a significant contribution to the delivery of BAP species action plans. As well as well-known species such as otters and red kite, the programme has also had many other achievements in direct species conservation. For example, Calcium corynellum, a church yard lichen, has been saved from extinction; the blue ground beetle has been re-established at six former sites; the UK population of Carex muricata, a rare sedge species, has been doubled; and there have been significant increases in the national populations of greater horseshoe bats.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.3.5. To supplement the species and habitat action plans, we are taking a number of other measures to ensure that species and habitats at risk have better protection:

  • We are reviewing the provisions in Part I of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 with a view to rationalising the identification and protection of rare and endangered species, and will bring forward amending legislation where necessary and as Parliamentary time permits;

  • Bigger penalties for wildlife crime offences, including prison sentences of up to six months and fines of up to £5,000, have been included in the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill. This is in response to the increasing threat which wildlife crime is posing in both rural and urban areas - including the poisoning of birds of prey and the digging up of large numbers of wild snowdrop and bluebell bulbs;

  • We are also proposing the establishment of a National Wildlife Crime Unit bringing together intelligence and information on wildlife crime so as to help the investigating and prosecuting agencies to carry out successful operations against such criminals;

  • We will carry out a fundamental review of the policy on alien and invasive species. Grey squirrels and rhododendrons show the impact that introduced species can have - and the well nigh impossibility of controlling these species once well established. Climate change will create a greater likelihood of natural invasions which it may prove difficult to distinguish from human introductions. Our review will look at ways of improving the early warning of problems, and at establishing criteria for when action should be taken and by whom. We hope that the review's findings will be available at the end of next year. We have already made two orders under the Import of Live Fish Act 1980 to try to prevent the further spread of non-native fish and crayfish, requiring a licence before most non-native fish species are kept in fish farms or other waters such as ponds, and introducing tough measures to restrict non-native species of crayfish in England and Wales.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Habitat restoration

10.3.6. Wildlife is not limited to habitat ‘islands' in our landscape; most has to survive and breed in the wider countryside - in its fields and field margins, hedges, copses, small patches of less improved grassland and the ‘matrix' of farmland habitats. Habitats in the wider countryside have become more fragmented, making wildlife like butterflies more vulnerable to external pressures, such as climate change, and natural variations in population dynamics.

10.3.7. As part of the Biodiversity Strategy for England, we will be setting targets for re-creation and enhancement of the main habitats which are being lost. Re-creation can be expensive. But there are a number of funding sources such as the National Lottery that can be tapped. And much can be achieved by sensible prioritisation and co-ordination of existing public sector programmes - those for instance of English Nature, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission, and of course MAFF's Agri-Environment programme.

Case study - habitat recreation

An example of what habitat recreation can achieve is provided by the lowland heathland action plan under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan which aims to re-establish 5,400 hectares of heath by 2005. Lowland heath is an example of an important and characteristically English habitat that has suffered large losses. England has 32,000 hectares of lowland heath - 20% of the area of two hundred years ago, as a result of increased ploughing up of heathland, afforestation, and building development. Recreating lowland heath offers great opportunities to reverse wildlife losses and to provide open space for people to enjoy wildlife and outdoor recreation in some of the most congested areas of Southern England.

Tomorrow's Heathland Heritage, a 10-year £25 million programme will help reverse the decline of lowland heath. It is led by English Nature and made possible by grant aid from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and has already enabled 10 separate projects to begin the task of restoring and re-creating nearly 16,000 hectares of heathland for the benefit of wildlife and people. In June 2000, English Nature announced 4 new projects in Norfolk, Dorset, East Sussex and Devon which will restore, maintain and re-create nearly 11,000 more hectares of heathland. Overall, the programme will make a major contribution to the Biodiversity Action Plan target to restore and manage 58,000 hectares of lowland heathland (an area larger than the Isle of Wight). Rare species like the silver-studded blue, ladybird spider, sand lizard and woodlark will also benefit.

Case study - the South Downs
The South Downs is one of the most popular English landscapes (with 30 million visits every year) and its chalk grassland is one of the richest habitats of Western Europe, but its survival depends on sheep grazing. The positive management of the majority of the downland is supported by MAFF under the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) scheme, and this will be helped if more value is put on the farming product - lamb - through helping people to make the essential link between farming and the landscape it supports, through ‘eating the view' (see 8.3.4). The Sussex Downs Conservation Board has built a partnership with the various players in the supply chain (from producer through to retailer) and is now establishing a business operation to develop awareness, confidence and the demand and supply for a genuine local product so that people can really support their local landscape and ensure its conservation. The aim is to have the system self-financing within two or three years, and expanding with increasing awareness and demand. The Countryside Agency is launching a new study to explore additional mechanisms for bringing about restoration of the South Downs to open downland, building on existing environmental schemes such as the South Downs ESA. The study will explore new and closer ways of working with local people and the different organisations involved in a sustainable economy and environment for the South Downs, including English Nature (given the precious downland habitats to be found there) and MAFF.

10.3.8. These initiatives illustrate the growing recognition that our policies must be applied on a larger scale if they are to tackle the wider issues of habitat and species loss. English Nature is therefore developing a new concept, ‘Lifescapes', which will provide an integrated approach to nature conservation at a wider scale than traditional site management. They intend to trial this approach in specific areas in concert with other organisations - such as local authorities, the Countryside Agency, MAFF, the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and the Environment Agency. We welcome this initiative to maximise the opportunities for the better delivery of policies and the integration of landscape, wildlife, and general environmental, social and economic objectives at a wider scale.

Lifescapes will help the conservation of wildlife by:

  • Enhancing the sustainability of designated sites through the creation of buffer zones and connections between sites;

  • Improving the pattern of habitats within the landscape to restore the ecological health of the countryside as a bufffer against climate change;

  • Creating the pattern of habitats needed for the 20% of species covered by action plans that rely upon general action outside designated sites.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Agriculture

10.3.9. Agricultural practices and water management are perhaps the two most important influences on our wildlife. More intensive agricultural practices have been the major contributor to the decline over the past 50 years in farmland birds, wild flowers and insects. Even where land has not been ploughed up, intensive stock-rearing and greater use of fertilisers has led to the loss of meadows rich in wildflowers and wildlife, and over-grazing of upland moors has had similar effects. In other areas, traditional management practices such as the grazing of lowland heaths have changed or ceased, with a loss of species dependent on short grass.

10.3.10. Paragraph 8.2.5. describes the shift of emphasis away from subsidies which increase farm production towards payments to farmers under agri-environment schemes which give them incentives to farm in ways which enhance and preserve our wildlife and its habitats. As described in section 9.3, under the ERDP we have already doubled funding for agri-environment schemes. Support for the Environmentally Sensitive Areas scheme (which focuses on 22 areas of particularly high landscape, wildlife or historic value) will continue at broadly current levels.

  • We will undertake a major review of the agri-environment schemes with a view to reshaping and simplifying them in time for the mid-term evaluation of the ERDP in 2003, and will be seeking a further shift of the Common Agricultural Policy in the longer term towards support for farmers to farm in ways that positively enhance our wild fauna and flora;

  • better advice to farmers will also play a role in promoting more environmentally-friendly agricultural practices. MAFF already has Codes of Good Agricultural Practice covering the protection of soil, water and air and the use of pesticides. The Codes have recently been revised and a summary leaflet produced in order to make them more user-friendly. MAFF also publishes specific advice on subjects such as fertilisers, manures and waste minimisation.

In February 2000 MAFF published a pilot set of 35 indicators of sustainable agriculture - Towards Sustainable Agriculture - to provide a means of measuring the economic, social and environmental impacts of agriculture and to help assess the effectiveness of policies and the sustainability of the agriculture sector. The set complements the Government's Sustainable Development Strategy. Our aim is to use these indicators to raise awareness of the environmental impacts of agriculture and of its contribution to sustainable development. A first review of the pilot set will take place in 2003. MAFF also undertakes a major research programme to find ways of reducing the adverse environmental effects of agriculture. Current MAFF projects are looking for instance at the best ways of restoring priority habitats such as - uplands, wetlands and heathlands; minimising pollution from agriculture; and encouraging the best use of mineral and organic fertilisers for both environmental and economic benefit.

Case study - Integrated Farm Management
Integrated Farm Management is a whole farm policy aiming to provide the basis for efficient and profitable production, which is economically viable and environmentally responsible. It is an approach to farming which combines beneficial natural processes (such as biological predation on crop pests) and traditional practices (like crop rotation) with modern technology and selective targeted use of agri-chemicals. The result is to minimise pollution, and avoid the unnecessary use of chemicals and energy, whilst maintaining profit margins. Measures such as retaining hedges and the vegetation at their base (to help predators like ladybirds which control aphids) and avoiding ploughing stubble (to save fuel, reduce soil erosion and leaching of nitrogen) also provide better habitats for birds and other wildlife. We are working closely with the Integrated Arable Crop Production Alliance and LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) to develop and promote this approach. In particular, an independent Working Group has been set up to make recommendations by the end of 2000.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.3.11. Hill farming, and especially extensive beef and sheep grazing, is the major influence on upland landscapes and biodiversity. It is also a significant (and in remoter areas very significant) part of the rural social fabric. The ERDP therefore includes an area-based Hill Farm Allowance Scheme, to help offset the natural disadvantages faced by farmers in these areas and maintain sustainable livestock systems. The Scheme will be directed towards sheep and suckler cow producers with more than 10 hectares of forage land (mainly permanent grassland including rough grazing) who undertake to continue farming for at least five years. Basic payments will be enhanced by 10% or 20% for producers following specified practices which favour the environment. Conversely, payments will be conditional on on adherence to Good Farming Practice, detailed in the ERDP. We have set a target to maintain extensive grazing on 1.4 million hectares in the Less Favoured Areas. To help hill farmers use their Hill Farm Allowance support to build sustainable businesses:

  • We will fund a programme to develop business skills and training, and establish demonstration farms where farmers can look at what others have done, so that they can use it as a basis for their own planning;

  • We will commission work to explore ways of improving land classification systems so that HFA payments can be better targeted;

  • We will review the operation of the beef and sheep regimes to ensure that - insofar as it is within our control - regulatory controls are reduced and the schemes do not inhibit enterprising farmers from developing their businesses as they see best;

  • We will review future options for supporting hill farming in consultation with key interests.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.3.12. The intensive use of fertilisers has been one of the main agricultural practices causing a decline in wildlife. We have already taken measures to tackle this problem and intend more in the future. Pesticides have also harmed animal and plant life. Regulatory action against pesticides has already led to a reversal in the declines of populations of some birds of prey and the successful reintroduction of others such as the red kite, and the growing market for organic products is also reducing the use of agri-chemicals.

  • We will increase the rate of grant payable under the Farm Waste Grants scheme from 25% to 40%. Under this scheme, farmers in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones can apply for grants for farm slurry storage facilities to help them comply with restrictions on manure use;

  • We propose to extend a pilot scheme run by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group to promote nutrient budgeting to farmers in the new nitrate vulnerable zone areas. This initiative helps farmers to manage their use of fertilisers, both to save money and protect the environment.

  • Better use of inputs will also be addressed by the Inputs taskforce described in chapter 8.

  • The Government is committed to minimising the adverse environmental impact of pesticide use, consistent with effective crop protection. The main vehicle for carrying forward this policy is the Pesticides Forum and we intend to raise the profile of this body and enhance its effectiveness. We have also invited the agricultural pesticides industry to develop a package of voluntary measures aimed at acheiving the Government's objective and will be holding discussions with the Crop Protection Association on how their current proposals can be further improved.

  • We are increasing the assistance to organic farming under the ERDP by increasing the resources to help farmers to convert their land to organic use (a process which normally requires two years). Organic farming is a successful example of policy and public preference marching in step - it has benefits for wildlife, landscape and pollution control; high standards of animal welfare; and can provide more employment. Resources will rise from £12m in 2000-01 to £23m by 2006-07. This will enable around 45,000 hectares per year to be converted. Our target is 430,000 hectares of land converted or converting to organic farming by 2007.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Water

10.3.13. The quality of rivers and waterways especially has suffered from phosphorus and nitrogen leaching from fertilisers and animal wastes. Some rivers and lakes have suffered from silt from agricultural land, and over-grazing and cultivation close to river banks has caused erosion of the banks. A lot has already been done. Otters are also returning to our rivers, largely as a result of reduced pollution levels. But more action is needed.

  • By 2005 we will improve our rivers by developing and implementing a programme of measures to improve compliance with river quality objectives from 82% in 1997 to at least 91%. As part of the package of agreed price increases by the water companies for the 2000-05 period, the water companies are financing schemes to deal with water abstraction related problems affecting nearly 100 stretches of river or wetlands.

  • Some especially sensitive areas are designated as nitrate vulnerable zones within which restrictions apply on the use of fertilisers. We will be consulting farmers fully about detailed proposals in the New Year, with a view to making further nitrate vulnerable zone designations following consultation.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Putting sustainability into practice - better water management

10.3.14. Rivers and streams face a range of pressures - water abstraction to meet the needs of a growing population, and for industry and agriculture; land drainage and river ‘improvement' to speed up the flow of water downstream; reduced ability of the land and vegetation to absorb water, due to agriculture and forestry changes; pollution and damage to fisheries and water supplies. But we often address the consequences piecemeal. Vital connections, such as between changing the capacity of the land to soak up water and the flooding of towns way downstream, are not being made. This makes it more difficult to develop long-term solutions to these problems, which can be serious - as shown graphically by the recent floods with their great social and other costs.

10.3.15. We want to find ways of tackling these issues better, by working together towards more sustainable management. This will mean strengthening tools like the Environment Agency's Local Plans, which engage with industry, rural interests and local communities to work out how the environment can be better protected and enhanced. For example, this might mean EA encouraging farmers or foresters to follow simple and cheap changes to cultivation practices, for better water management. It will also mean more ‘joining up' between major policies impacting on water:

  • We will encourage the water regulators to take a broader and longer-term view in encouraging more sustainable water management schemes, which tackle problems at source rather than through major engineering, where this will be effective and economic.

  • As part of the current inter-departmental review of funding mechanisms for flood and coastal defence (due to report September 2001) we will examine the scope for better integration between spending on flood defence and that for environmental and water resource management.

  • We will also continue to protect undeveloped flood plains against inappropriate development and to look for environmental gains as part of a coastal and flood defence policy including flood plain management and including environmental considerations in the cost-benefit analysis for new schemes.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.4. Integrating biodiversity considerations into everybody's actions and decisions

10.4.1. Our aim is a situation where both every public authority and every private body automatically takes account of the implications for biodiversity in all their policies and programmes. We want to make concern for biodiversity part of the furniture for everyone. Specific measures and activities include:

  • Green Ministers biodiversity check-list. We want to be a Government that practices what it preaches. We have started on ourselves, therefore, by ensuring that each Government Department has a Minister with specific responsibility for green issues. These ‘Green Ministers' have drawn up a biodiversity check-list which all Departments are asked to observe when they decide on new policies. Our aim is both to encourage the development of Government policies which are sensitive to potential biodiversity impacts and to help promote the policy changes which are required to make a real difference across the board;

  • Business: In partnership with the UK Round Table on Sustainable Development and Earthwatch UK, advice to businesses has been published on how to integrate biodiversity into their environmental management systems. We are also helping to fund Earthwatch to set up a biodiversity resource centre which aims to provide a one-stop-shop for biodiversity advice to business;

  • Introduction through the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill of a new duty for Government Departments on biodiversity.

  • Local communities: everyone in their local community can play a part in biodiversity conservation, for example in schools, in their gardens and in managing local wildlife sites. Many people are members of conservation organisations and wish to participate actively in conservation work. Local Biodiversity Action Plans are a way of involving all sectors of the local community. Local communities can also benefit themselves through building demand for environmental tourism - eg bird watching holidays and conservation activities such as hedge laying, coppicing and pond digging.

The voluntary sector
The Government relies heavily on its partnership with the voluntary conservation sector, including the Biodiversity Challenge Group, to help deliver its biodiversity strategy. They play a strong role in the partnership structures established to pursue the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. They continue to be knowledgeable and provocative advocates for greater progress as well as being tireless workers in the field. Voluntary conservation organisations including Plantlife, the RSPB, Butterfly Conservation and The Wildlife Trusts are the lead partners for some 278 Action Plans, and voluntary organisations manage many SSSIs as well as local wildlife sites.

The Green Ministers' biodiversity checklist, published in March 2000, shows the actions that Government Departments can take to promote biodiversity, including:

  • Making a commitment to conserve any SSSIs on their land and developing management practices which conserve biodiversity across the whole estate;

  • Screening policy areas for changes which could have significant effects on biodiversity;

  • Building biodiversity into grant-aid or funding programmes and policy advice.

  • Building biodiversity into staff training and development eg awaydays and teambuilding.

Green Ministers will monitor progress and account for their actions in the Green Ministers Annual Report.

Case study - business action for biodiversity

English Nature and Hanson Quarry Products Europe signed an agreement in February 2000 that will bring many benefits to the 54 SSSIs controlled by the company and help to meet national nature conservation targets. Hanson has agreed to:

  • Make no new planning applications on land currently designated as a SSSI unless an over-riding national need for the mineral is clearly identified or it can be demonstrated that the scientific interest will not be significantly adversely affected by the Company's operations;
  • Achieve the highest state of conservation management, described by English Nature as favourable, on all land designated as a SSSI under the control of the company with agreed Site Management Statements and necessary action underway within two years;
  • Incorporate biodiversity targets, English Nature's Natural Area objectives and the defining local character within all company restoration schemes and afteruses.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.4.2. In seeking a more effective role for Government Departments, other statutory agencies and the business and voluntary sectors on the biodiversity agenda, an especially important issue will be the benefits to be gained from adjusting investment programmes. There will be many instances in which investment initially generated by other demands, including other environmental pressures, can be designed to secure biodiversity benefits at the same time. An example is the pressure to continue the clean up of rivers and other water courses where biodiversity benefits elsewhere in the system may be secured at the same time.

Business action for biodiversity
Around 40 companies in 15 FTSE sectors own and/or control land within more than 1300 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in England. Business action for biodiversity makes sound commercial sense because:

  • Biodiversity provides direct and indirect economic services to business - many businesses depend, for instance, on biological resources;
  • Better biodiversity performance can give companies competitive advantage (compliance with regulation and mitigation of risks) and benefits in terms of reputation.

Business can help make biodiversity happen by adopting a company policy on biodiversity; developing a company biodiversity action plan; and ensuring high quality environmental management on all land under the company's control. Where a company owns land designated as an SSSI, its aim should be to achieve "favourable condition" as defined by English Nature.
10.5. Climate change

10.5 1. One of the most serious challenges for the future will be the likelihood that climate change will force species to migrate northwards or to higher ground, whilst low-lying coasts will be at risk of flooding and wetlands will become drier. Such natural responses will have to take place in a countryside where agriculture is also adapting to new climatic conditions and extra demands are being placed on water and renewable energy resources. It may not be feasible to strive to keep every species where it is now or every habitat in the same condition, nor to prevent ‘new' species from moving in and habitats responding naturally.

Climate change and UK nature conservation
Because climate change is a key consideration in planning the future conservation of biodiversity, DETR and MAFF have funded a study on climate change impacts on priority habitats and species and on how climate change may affect the achievement of current nature conservation policies.
The DETR is also contributing to the MONARCH and REGIS projects. MONARCH is funded by a consortium of 11 governmental and non-governmental nature conservation organisations in the UK and Ireland, led by English Nature. The study uses modelling approach to evaluate impacts on a broad range of species and geological features in diverse environments in both Britain and Ireland.
REGIS has been commissioned by DETR, MAFF and UK Water Industry Research and is assessing climate change impacts on water resources, agriculture, coastal defence and biodiversity in two regions: North-west England and East Anglia. It involves developing a methodology for conducting integrated impact assessments at the regional scale, including a new model for forecasting changes in species distribution (SPECIES).

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

10.5.2. We will need to look ahead to see which species are likely to be supported in the future climatic conditions and think carefully before investing in conserving species or habitats that may eventually be lost from a site. We will need to ensure that our approach to biodiversity conservation is flexible enough to react to climate induced changes and that climate change is explicitly considered in policy development and appraisal. New opportunities such as the increasing expenditure on agri-environment schemes will give scope to enhance the conditions for particular species/habitats in particular places.

Case study - recreation on coastal marsh: Abbotts Hall, Essex
In the Essex estuaries some 60% of salt marsh and 90% of coastal grazing marsh in Essex have been ‘squeezed' out due to sea level rise, expansion of arable cropping and building development. Essex Wildlife Trust have led the purchase of a 700 acre arable farm on the Blackwater Estuary, to be used to demonstrate techniques for enhancing the wildlife value of a commercial arable farm. A major element is the proposal to breach the seawall over a 2.5km length, allowing the flooding of some 300 acres to recreate lost salt marsh - making this the largest such project in England. This will show other landowners how to re-create the habitats lost due to rising sea levels in South East England. MAFF agri-environment schemes are supporting this initiative.

 

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Page last modified: 19 May, 2005
Page published: 28 November, 2000

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs