It's a big week - the last working week of the year for some of us. And there is stack of government announcements piling up waiting to be unveiled before the Christmas break.
First, it's crunch time for the CAP - ministers across the UK have to report to the European Commission how they plan to spend their allotted Common Agriculture Policy money by the end of the year. Specifically, Ministers have to decide how much money will be available to support farming that protects the environment and helps recover threatened wildlife populations. In England, we have urged the Prime Minister (see here) to back the judgement of his own Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson, who is championing the transfer of 15% of direct farm subsidies (so-called Pillar I) to rural development (so-called Pillar II, the vast majority of which will go to wildlife-friendly farming) .
Once the announcement is made, we'll also know whether Mr Cameron has listened the thousands of people that contacted him this weekend (or read some rather colourful articles by environment journalists see here and here) urging him to do the right thing - for farmers, for the environment and for taxpayers.
Second, the Davies Commission Report on airport expansion is expected to come out on Tuesday. It was extensively trailed in the newspapers this weekend, with a political row widely expected. While we are against the expansion of aviation capacity unless it can be demonstrated to fit with the trajectory for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, we shall be looking particularly careful to see if the list of possible options includes the Thames Estuary airport.
Third, we also expected the UK Government to report on the social and environmental impacts of fracking. I shall be interested to see how they deal with the uncertainties around disturbance to wildlife, water contamination and increase in traffic movement. My gut feeling is that this is a technology that is a long way away from being commercially attractive let alone socially or environmentally acceptable. We shall see.
Finally, the Transprency of Lobbying Bill returns to the House of Lords this week. Having withdrawn the highly contentious part 2 of the Bill (which promised to severely constrain legitimate activities of charities - see here) the Government will be sharing its new plans with Upper House. Like many others, we shall be watching careful to gauge the implications for the future of our campaigning activity.
As for me? Well my week starts with an event at the German Embassy where I'll be chairing an event on Europe and the Environment. After that - who knows!
Any plans of a quiet week of filing and mince pies have been shelved..
Sounds an interesting assignment you have today Martin. I am sure apart from these vitally important UK based issues you have set out above,for which I have everything crossed for the best decisions this week for wildlife,that another very important target must be to work within Europe/the EU for a much better "deal" for European wildlife as a whole on many fronts as possible.
redkite