Blogger: Steve Rowland, Public Affairs Manager
The decisions taken by our elected representatives at Parliament have a huge impact on both the quality of our natural environment and on how easy it is for individuals to take their own steps for nature.
A great example of this is around the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy [CAP] €55 Billion Euro’s a year are spent on this budget, that’s at least 50 % of the overall EU budget three quarters of which are known as Pillar one payments. This is an odd way of describing the pot of money we use to pay farmers for being farmers and for which we don’t ask for anything much more in return than the filling in of some forms. Pillar two accounts for about a quarter of the CAP budget and this is the pot of cash that is tied to actions, things which farmers and other land managers have to commit to which will deliver public good. Of the €55 Billion CAP budget just 8% of it [all in Pillar two] is allocated for agri- environment schemes such as the Entry and Higher Level Schemes.
These schemes are voluntary and if farmers wish to gain access to the cash they have to promise to undertake agreed actions for wildlife, soil, water and landscape conservation. The RSPBs’ advisors have worked hand in hand with farmers across Eastern England and last year helped them to secure agreements on 50,000 hectares of land worth £10.25 million to farmers to help them take action for the environment.
So as part of the review of the CAP budget the RSPB and its allies across Europe in the BirdLife partnership are arguing that in this time of austerity it is vitally important that we protect and enhance the pot of cash that pays for public good and which helps to deliver the eco-system services upon which we the public and farmers all depend.
So it was that with decisions on the next CAP budget imminent and recent news that Europe’s farmland birds have fallen to their lowest level since monitoring began, that earlier this week we took Norman Lamb MP for North Norfolk on a visit to Sutton Fen RSPB nature reserve. This is a fragile and beautiful place with no formal visiting arrangements, this was a chance to show Norman what has been described as the best example of unpolluted valley fen in Western Europe. Sutton Fen is also a great example of a site which through a Higher Level Scheme agreement is providing public goods in acting as a refuge for rare species of birds, bugs and plants, improving water quality and providing employment to local sedge and reed cutters.
We were blessed with a gloriously sunny morning and Norman was able to enjoy a short walk around the reserve. During our walk Ian Robinson the RSPB’s Broads Area Manager was able to point out a Swallowtail caterpillar a species dependent on Milk Parsley which in turn is dependent on open species rich Fen habitat, which is in turn dependent on regular management by the local sedge cutters.’ who we could hear clearing scrub with their chainsaws in the background. All of which needs the financial underpinning of Higher Level Scheme payments made by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs [DEFRA] under the Pillar two budget of the CAP.
As we walked Norman Lamb listened attentively to our arguments and asked many sensible questions, as he left I felt confident that he would be stepping up for nature by raising the issues we discussed with the ministerial team at DEFRA ahead of their negotiations over the CAP in Brussels.
If you would like to help our decision makers make the right decision on CAP reform then why not take part in this RSPB e-action and make your thoughts known to the European Commission.
Photo: RSPB's Ian Robinson (left) and Norman Lamb MP (right)
Photo Credits: Steve Rowland