The International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) has got a hard act to follow. It is true to say that the global climate crisis is but one side of the coin shared with the parallel biodiversity crisis but following the climate bun-fight that was Copenhagen, the devastation of our natural world has some ground to make up (in media terms at least).
Well the year has now been launched – it hasn’t yet led calls to hold the front page but it’s a start. But the year is still young and I’m determined to remain positive – and there are some reasons to do so.
In England our network of Sites of Special Scientific Interest includes the best representative sites for wildlife where their value is documented and based on sound scientific principles. It’s long been known that just designating sites is but a start – its how you deal with the management of the sites and the threats they face that determines whether its going to do the job. Getting 95% of the SSSIs on the road to recovery by 2010 has been a binding target for Natural England and they are likely, more or less, to get there.
A central part of the European Union’s strategy to conserve nature is the network of Natura 2000 sites. This is another success story built on the strength and flexibility of the Birds and Habitats Directive. Research has shown that the Birds Directive has produced benefits that can be measured in terms of the conservation of some of Europe’s most threatened birds.
The two Directives regularly come under scrutiny often because they have been effective at producing outcomes that protect nature and this is spun as bad for business and economies. The RSPB has recently produced a report that highlights the importance of the Birds Directive in securing sustainable development outcomes. Sometimes that means stopping a badly conceived project in its tracks – far more often it’s about finding a solution that allows development whilst ensuring effective protection of the natural world.
Recently the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso wrote to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands in response to a call to review the Directives (this is political code for weaken) – Mr Barroso’s helpful response is available here (you need to go to the bottom of the article which is in dutch, and click on 'Lees hier de brief van Barroso' at the bottom of the page).
An effective and well tested legal framework is vital – so are the resources necessary to deliver for our natural world. We have now launched our Letter to the Future campaign (and here) which gets to the heart of why now is the wrong time to cut back on our support for nature. If you haven’t signed yours let – here’s a link.