Does Defra have a plan to close the funding gap?

I spent the weekend with friends in Oxfordshire, a stone's throw from Aston Rowant  NNR.  While not the best time to enjoy the chalk grassland, red kites were everywhere.  A bit distracting for drivers (especially those, like me, that struggle at the best of times) but a wonderful addition to our skies.

The BTO Bird Atlas, published last week, includes a load of good news stories, such as the red kite.  These remind us what conservation can do to turn round the fortunes of threatened species.  At the Atlas launch, Biodiversity Minister Lord de Mauley rightly drew attention to these successes but he also put a spotlight on current concerns such as the plight on farmland birds.

Successive governments have promised to fix this problem yet despite the efforts of some farmers and millions of CAP pounds, this year's farmland bird index was at its lowest level to date.  What is even more galling is that we have identified many of the solutions that could allow the species to recover but we have not yet managed to encourage sufficient farmers put in place adequate habitat to help them.

The good news is that Defra is in the process of designing a new agri-environment scheme, innovatively called the New Environmental Land Management Scheme (or NELMS) and we think they are doing a good job.  A well-designed scheme targeted at the right locations could make a big difference.

The bad news is that whatever the outcome of the current CAP consultation, Defra have a major funding problem.  As environmental commitments (to both biodiversity and compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive which obliges Member States to ensure water bodies are in good condition) grow, the amount of available funds for agri-environment schemes is going to diminish over time.  

The graph below, drawn using government's own data, shows the widening funding gap.  The green bits show the funding needed and the coloured lines show what would happen to available funding in the various scenarios outlined in the CAP consultation. 

Defra knows it has a problem.  Farmland wildlife is failing to recover and their number one tool for aiding its recovery is being cut.  The response must be first, to ensure that Defra chooses to transfer the maximum amount of CAP funds available into agri-environment schemes and retain their focus on the environment.  Second, it must look at alternative means of improving the environmental performance from our farmed landscape. If there is no more money, and if market solutions are not readily available, then it must either rely on the good faith of the farming sector or be prepared to, well, use regulation.

Decisions that current ministers such as Lord de Mauley make will inevitably have an impact on the abundance and range of species in future bird atlases.  Here's hoping that Lord de Mauley and his successors heed the words of BTO President and former RSPB Chief Executive, Baroness Barbara Young, and does what it takes to ensure that "those that are thriving continue to thrive and those are no longer thriving, thrive again".

Help Ministers to make the right decisions on the CAP by supporting our campaign here.