Looking back and looking forward

In life, nature conservation or even politics it is sometimes sensible to look back and learn from the past before focussing on the future. 

Twenty one wildlife charities in Wildlife and Countryside Link (including RSPB) have just published a joint assessment of the Government’s progress on the 2010 biodiversity target.  Guess what?   We didn’t halt biodiversity loss by the end of 2010!

This was always going to be a tough challenge.  What WCL did back in 2006  was set out what we thought the Government should do to stand the best chance of doing so and set out clearly how we would measure progress.  This was under the three headings of: stop the rot, protect the best and restore the rest.  At the end of each year, Link has fed back to government our assessment of progress on a number of issues from the status of birds, bats and butterflies to the encouragement for out of classroom learning for school children.  This used a simple traffic light indicator with Red being poor progress and Green meaning good performance. 

This assessment is the last one and covers the period from 2006 to the end of 2010.  It makes fairly stark but, we think, fair reading.  We are clearly in the Red for protecting the marine environment and stemming the loss of important species and special habitats. The only signs of Green were for improvements in the management of protected sites on land and for bat populations.  But of course this was mainly an assessment of the previous Government and not the self proclaimed ‘greenest government ever’.

At the start of 2010, it was clear that we weren’t going to meet the 2010 biodiversity target.  In the spirit of looking forward, WCL set out 8 challenges for the year, from resources, support for local authorities through to green farming schemes.  These were aimed at ensuring we were in the best shape to redouble our efforts for the new global 2020 targets  that were in the pipeline.  They cover partly the former government but also the first six months of the coalition Government’s tenure.  Progress assessments for these areas are also included in the report and they are if anything less favourable than the longer term view with only Red and Amber assessments.

So enough of all this critical reflection let’s look forward.  Despite what has sometimes been said of us we are an optimistic bunch and we are always looking for things to get better.  The potentially key initiative from the new(ish) Government is the commitment to produce a ‘bold and ambitious’ Natural Environment White Paper alongside a review of the England Biodiversity Strategy. 

This represents a great opportunity for Caroline Spelman and her team to set out their green credentials.  Although to get this right it has to go well beyond Defra.  It needs commitment from across government, with David Cameron and all his Ministers playing their part.  For example, the Treasury, the Department of Health and Department of Communities and Local Government must take their chance properly to value wildlife, build it into their work and plan for a healthy and vibrant future.

The Natural Environment White Paper is due out in May, this has been put back by the ‘forest flog-off furore’, but it is being discussed within government now.  We won’t mind the delay if the final white paper and revised strategy are effective as well as bold and ambitious.  Looking forward, this is what I think they need to include:

• Tracking progress against clear measurable outcomes for the sites, species and habitats that are our natural capital.
• Recognition that a healthy environment should be valued by more than money
• Clear leadership and mechanisms to resolve problems
• Making the most of existing legislation
• Transparent demonstration of delivery across government
• A convincing funding strategy
• And last but not least measures to help the Big Society deliver for the natural environment.

These will be our tests of whether the government has seized its ‘big, big opportunity’.