At the end of his hugely entertaining talk to the RSPB’s Members’ Weekend on Saturday night, Stephen Moss, showed a film montage featuring memorable moments from programmes made over 50 years by the BBC Natural History Unit.
In it was a clip of Sir David Attenborough looking straight into the camera and saying “we have a responsibility to leave this planet healthy and habitable for all species”.
It was a simple statement but made powerful when accompanied by extraordinary footage of the amazing species with which we share this planet. Yet, I struggle to watch these films without being reminded that we have lost so much of this amazing inheritance – in Europe there are now 421 million fewer birds than there were 30 years ago (see here). This is a staggering statistic and one that the UK (whether we are in or outside of the EU see here) should be working with other countries reverse.
In the audience was Professor Sir John Lawton, who has been the lead advocate for more, bigger and better protected areas to provide space for nature and this ambition must surely be at the heart of the UK Government’s plan to restore nature in a generation through its 25 year plan for the environment.
I set out what we believe should be in the Government’s plan several months back (see here) and reflected on the Minister’s thoughtful and self proclaimed ‘boring’ response here.
Details of the new 25 year plan is beginning to emerge and we have been told that its main themes will be Modern, Integrated, Local and Open (see here), or MILO for short. This will be trailed through local ‘pathfinder’ projects covering urban, rural, catchment and coastal/marine areas. We’ll find out more about these projects in the summer, but we can expect the Cumbria catchment projects (initiated following this winter's floods) to be included in these.
Upland oakwoods: old oak, new oak at RSPB Haweswater (Andy Hay rspb-images.com)
I was in Cumbria last week looking at devastation caused by the winter floods and reflecting on land use challenges (which I have featured in previous blogs such as here and here). The December deluge followed two months of continuous rain which meant that the land was saturated, soil unstable so landslips contributed to the corrosive power of the rivers that coursed through towns and villages causing misery for many communities.
Rightly, the Environment Agency has been charged with exploring a new approach to managing the catchment to reduce flood risk whilst also looking to deliver other benefits such as improved water quality and benefits to wildlife. Land managing NGOs such as National Trust, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and the RSPB are ready to play their part in providing natural flood management solutions and we shall be exploring these at places like RSPB Haweswater in the Eden valley (see above).
If the pathfinder pilots are established with clear objectives and if the Government takes its time to learn from this and past experiences, then it has a chance to demonstrate a more integrated approach (the 'I' in MILO) to land management and make serious improvements to benefit both people and the natural environment.
There have already been a large number of previous landscape scale initiatives. For example, the previous coalition government launched a programme of Nature Improvement Areas which made progress in the management and extent of wildlife habitats whilst also protecting the free services that nature gives to people (see here). The key conclusions from this programme included:
- Visible government support and leadership and a clear policy message provided impetus for local project delivery and helped projects in sourcing additional resources
- The scale of funding available to NIAs was critical to their success; the initial government grant, for example, enabled partnerships to employ staff, leverage match-funding and initiatve demonstration projects that have encouraged others to get involved.
So, leadership and funding are essential to rally people and the plethora of plans behind shared visions of landscapes.
Thinking big will help but we must also keep an eye on those species whose needs may not be picked up by landscape approaches. There will always be circumstances where targeted action is necessary such as tackling wildlife crime to help birds of prey or eradication of invasive non-native species to help seabirds nest safely. To me, this must form a part of any integrated agenda.
Of course, we want to see improved flood risk management, enhanced water quality, improved soil health etc, but ultimately, we will judge the success of any government plan on whether populations of threatened species and the extent of land managed well for wildlife increase. And this must apply not just in England, but the other areas for which the UK Government has responsibility including on the UK Overseas Territories and by making a serious contribution towards the global conservation effort.
Only then will be able to say that we lived up to Sir David Attenborough’s challenge.
And, as I was reminded by RSPB members’ weekend, this is what the millions of people in this country that love nature want.