A little over 150 years ago laws were passed to stop the slaughter of seabirds at Flamborough Head in Yorkshire. One of the leaders of the efforts to do something to stop the killing was the Vicar of Bridlington. A century and half later and the places seabirds nest on land are pretty well protected – places like our Bempton Cliffs RSPB Reserve – but still we strive to get effective protection for the places that they depend on for food those chunks of our marine environment that are just as vital.
Puffins -protected on land, still vulnerable at sea.
There will be all sorts of judgements passed on whether the coalition government is the greenest ever – but I’m willing to take a fair bet that the laws that protect our natural environment will be one of the fundamental tests.
The Government’s Red Tape Challenge is risking the fundamental principle that our natural world is only going to prosper with effective legal protection. All environmental legislation is potentially under threat.
It’s probably the Government testing the water, the intention is probably not to repeal the laws and undo the regulations that are giving the natural world and our environment a fighting chance. Probably?
Our role in helping to secure some of the most effective environmental legislation in the world has been immense. And it is the support of so many that has made such a huge difference. Over thirty years ago as an RSPB volunteer I wrote my first letter to my MP – my contribution was a tiny part of the surge of interest and concern that made the Wildlife and Countryside Act an effective law.
Just a piece of paper? Just some ‘red tape’?
Well, before 1981 (when the Wildlife and Countryside Act became law) 12 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (our best wildlife sites) were being damaged or destroyed each year. Since then the situation has been brought under control. This blog has brought you several tales of the work we still have to do to protect the best – but it’s effective, we get successful outcomes because of the legal framework that protects nature.
Whatever the Government’s actual intention – the ‘Red Tape Challenge’ sends a worrying signal.
So, does the Government want to step up and be the greenest ever – or does it want to slash and burn the hard-won protection of our natural world?
Let’s not leave that to chance – you can step up now and send a clear signal that we won the argument to get the laws in the first place – and we won’t stand idly by and see them discarded.
Please act now and add your name here – and do send this to your contacts.
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A (very) senior colleague has just pointed out that I had miss-remembered the numbers of SSSI's being lost or damaged prior to 1981 - at it's worse it was 12 PER CENT a year, not 12. That means hundreds of sites.
Our natural environment is so important to us all, it underpins our economy and is core to our well-being.
Friends of the North Kent Marshes