Fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael yma.RSPB Cymru Head of Policy and Advocacy, Sharon Thompson, discusses some of our most important campaigns for saving nature over the next 12 months.
In 2019, we saw a surge in action to protect the planet and support environmental issues in Wales. The Government declared a climate emergency, thousands of people supported the youth climate strikers and the M4 extension was rejected.
2020 will give us some fantastic opportunities to continue building the momentum. There are two internationally important conferences taking place this Autumn. In October, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in China will seek to address the failure to reach global biodiversity targets over the last ten years and develop new frameworks for targets to protect nature. The UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) held in Glasgow in November will be an opportunity for the UK to showcase its climate leadership to the world whilst guiding countries to fulfil their commitments to the Paris Agreement. The RSPB will look to highlight the importance of these events and use them to influence domestic and international policy.
The RSPB has been and will continue to push for recognition that we are experiencing a twin crisis of climate and nature. We cannot hope to solve one problem while ignoring the other. Throughout our campaigns this year we will stress this message to key decision-makers, investing in and supporting nature-based solutions such as restoring peat bogs and planting the right tree in the right place, will help us adapt to climate impacts, while reducing our rates of biodiversity loss and restoring nature in Wales.
Having left the EU on the 31 January we are entering into a crucial year for environmental regulation, as our supporters we will ask you for help to push for laws that will safeguard nature and the environment once the transition period with the EU ends on 31 December 2020.
Here’s a recap of our current campaigns and what you can expect in 2020.
Environmental Governance and Principles
The clock is ticking! Once the UK’s transition period with the EU ends, the European Commission’s role in enforcing environmental laws in the UK will also end. This means we urgently need new legislation to come forward in the next few months if we are to avoid a long period with only partial, interim measures in place to enforce environmental legislation.
Last summer, you joined with us to respond to the Welsh Government’s consultation on Environmental Governance and Principles in Wales post EU Exit. Brilliantly, almost 1000 of you submitted consultation responses, calling for the government to:
Since the summer, RSPB Cymru have been taking part in a task group established by the Welsh Government to develop recommendations on how to secure environmental principles and governance in Wales. The group’s report is almost finished and we hope to see it in the public domain soon.
We will soon be calling on you to write to your AM to ask them to press Welsh Government to quickly bring forward legislation to address the governance gap and introduce a framework for nature recovery targets.
A new agriculture policy that works for nature
Leaving the EU presents lots of risks to nature, but there are opportunities too. One of these is overhauling the way we use taxpayers’ money to support our farmers to manage their land. Producing food is obviously very important, but so is how it’s done. Until now farming payments, derived from the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), have been largely made to farmers based on how much food they produce or land they farm and not how they farm it. Unsurprisingly this has driven the widescale intensification of farming with negative consequences for nature and the environment. Wales is now one of the most nature depleted countries in the world with 1 in 14 species threatened with extinction.
This year the Welsh Government is developing its plans for a new approach to supporting Welsh farmers. This is our opportunity to put in place a system that uses taxpayers’ money (approximately £300 million/annum) to reward farmers for managing their land in ways that restores and maintains nature and in doing so help tackle climate change and secure essential environmental benefits we all need. Later this year we will be asking for your help to shape this future payment system so that farmers get the support they need to make nature friendly farming the norm once more.
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Protecting our marine habitats
Wales is home to some of the worlds’ most revered seabirds such as Manx shearwaters. As seabird populations continue to decline globally, our responsibility to protect those colonies that find a home in Wales becomes more important than ever. But seabird colonies in Wales continue to face unrelenting threats. With ongoing research, a clear and concerning picture is starting to emerge. While many breeding sites for seabirds are under protection on land, the foraging sites at sea where seabirds will fly to find food are not always protected from human threats. Over the next year, we will be calling for a seabird strategy in Wales that will bring the needs of and threats to a seabird’s lifecycle to the forefront of future decision making in Wales’ seas and gets these important areas at sea protected.
A lot of research is still needed for us to properly understand these connections between what our nesting seabirds feed their chicks and where they forage for food – and you can help. Once our puffins return for the breeding season, we will once again be asking for any photographs – past or present – featuring puffins with fish in their beak! By comparing the change in how and what Puffins have been foraging, we are hoping to gain a better understanding of the threats that these colonies are facing today. Whether you are planning on visiting Skomer this summer, or have pictures from a past holiday stowed away, you can help us learn more about the threats to our beloved Puffins. Go to rspb.org.uk and search ‘Pufferazzi’ to submit a picture or to find out more.
Morlais
The RSPB South Stack reserve is a much visited and iconic coastal habitat on the west coast of Anglesey. It is part of the Holy Island Coast SSSI, in which thousands of seabirds make their home on the cliffs each summer – puffins, kittiwakes, fulmars, over 10,000 guillemots and 1,300 razorbills. For over 180,000 people every summer, the sounds of the seabirds on the breeze are part of their memorable visit to South Stack.
Menter Môn proposes installing up to 620 tidal turbines to generate renewable electricity close to South Stack and within an area that supports dolphins and seals; and it is specially protected for porpoise. The area has been zoned as a tidal demonstration zone. However, this is a novel technology with uncertain effects on wildlife. We want to see better safeguards for wildlife and a smaller pilot development that is well researched to learn whether further development is ecologically sustainable. We want to see a demonstration zone that encourages and demonstrates technologies that do not harm nature.
The development requires two consents – a ‘Transport and Works Act Order’ and a ‘Marine Licence’. We have had to object to both because of our concerns about the scale and potential impact. We think a public inquiry is likely to be held in June or July. When the birds return to South Stack in the spring, we will step up our communications and campaigning to press for changes in the way in which tidal stream energy is introduced into this area. At that stage, we will be asking our supporters to add their voices to ours and call for changes from Welsh Government and the applicant.
There is much at stake; the evidence that has emerged over the last year has been unequivocal: nature is in crisis and needs an urgent response. We need to make 2020 a super year for the environment.