Today’s blog is written by Paul Morling, RSPB’s Principal Economist, on how crucial increased government spending is to restoring and enhancing the nature.
Nature is in trouble. We are seeing declines in biodiversity, with more species at threat and our soil, water, air and natural resources becoming increasingly depleted and degraded. Yet, we know that investing in nature can restore biodiversity levels, mitigate climate change and provide other benefits for people too such as improved air quality and increased wellbeing.
The UK government is responsible for making this happen and has recently committed to delivering a ‘nature positive’ economy. The Autumn spending review is the first important opportunity for the government to demonstrate this commitment to investing in nature. Will the spending plans outlined in this review be enough to save nature and deliver a nature positive future?
We have all heard great and welcome aspirations for a nature positive future from the UK Government. Indeed, in its response to the Dasgupta Review into the economics of biodiversity, the Government committed to: (1) delivering a ‘nature positive’ future, in which we leave the environment in a better state than we found it, and reverse biodiversity loss globally by 2030; and (2) ensuring economic and financial decision-making, and the systems and institutions that underpin it, supports the delivery of that nature positive future.
The Autumn spending review which will be announced this Wednesday 27 October, sets out the government’s spending plans for the next three years. To deliver on a nature positive future, it is vital that in the next three years there are spending plans for meeting the legally-binding objectives to halt nature’s decline by 2030 and cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035. This Autumn Spending Review is also essential in re-setting the economy on a more sustainable basis following the Covid-19 pandemic and providing more people with access to a healthy natural world.
The RSPB, together with Wildlife, countryside Link colleagues, believe, there are three things the 2021 spending review must deliver if the Government’s nature positive ambitions are to be met:
Overall, this Spending review must begin to close the gap between existing funding commitments and the level of investment needed to meet the Government’s nature and climate targets and restore nature.
A recent report estimated that the overall financing gap for nature is around £56 billion over the next 10 years. This means that to save nature, we need to invest an extra £5.6 billion each year over the next 10 years.
As an absolute minimum, we are calling on the UK Government to commit to an extra;
Finally, £501 million more a year to underpin our existing environmental law and commitments through advice, data, enforcement, and capacity-building. This is needed as previous budget cuts to Defra, its agencies and devolved equivalents has seriously compromised their ability to deliver statutory outcomes, let alone deliver new ambitious strategies such as Nature Recovery Networks or the 30x30 target. The Government has ambitions to create new markets for nature but that will only be realised if the Agencies tasked with developing new markets have the resources and expertise to oversee them.
We need an economic reset to ensure economic and financial decision-making delivers a nature positive future. This must start with Government decisions and requires:
The Government wants to drive much greater private investment into nature. However, to do this it must;
Since the Government’s commitment to a nature positive future, the Spending Review represents the first opportunity to puts words into action. We need strategic decisions, innovation and investment to achieve this. For example, earlier this week Costa Rica win the inaugural “Protect & Restore Nature” Earthshot prize for their innovative approach to avoiding forest loss and restoring biodiversity. This is a result of their Government’s strategic choices and direct investment. If the UK is to succeed in its ambition to improve the state of nature, we will need to do the same.
Failure to invest, does not just mean missing key Environment Bill targets for nature and shutting off the most cost-effective pathway to net zero. It means failing to invest in the vast health and wellbeing benefits nature provides for people too, which is even more important in a post-pandemic world. If the government wants to see a ‘nature positive’ future it needs to step up its funding for nature’s recovery for both nature, climate and people to thrive.