Today’s blog - written by Jess Chappell, England Senior Policy Officer – introduces a brand new RSPB report and explains how nature risks losing out in the face of major regulatory reform ...Nature needs a champion. With so many of our most precious species now on the brink of extinction from Great Britain, more than ever we need to ensure that ministers are being scrutinised and held to account for the actions they take on nature and the environment.
Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Marine Management Organisation are just four of a multitude of arms-length bodies (ALBs) in England which exist to do exactly that - to provide specialist expertise on environmental matters and challenge the government and others to ensure that environmental standards are maintained. But ongoing threats of reform and reorganisation mean that the future of these bodies looks uncertain.
Which is why we have published a new report setting out our views on how these four organisations can and should work in order to recover nature in England.Successive funding and staff cuts to Defra’s arm’s length bodies over the years have already left them struggling to fulfil their regulatory duties. Then in early 2022 Defra’s Nature Recovery Green Paper set out government’s proposals to deliver on their ambitions to restore nature and halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. The very same Paper also included plans to explore options for the future structure of Defra’s arm’s length bodies.
Change for change’s sake is a big mistake
Government ascertains that the aim of any future reform of these bodies would be to strengthen their ability to deliver for nature. But a time when the planet is experiencing a nature and climate emergency, can we really afford to divert time and money away from delivery in order to focus on major institutional reform?
The answer is no.Nature doesn’t have time
We are yet to see any detailed reform proposals, but when the Nature Recovery Green Paper was published back in March 2022 it was clear that a merger of the existing environmental arm’s length bodies into one was government’s preferred option. We have since welcomed a new Westminster Government and a new Secretary of State for the environment, so whether that is still the plan remains to be seen.
So for now, we call on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Secretary of State Thérèse Coffey, and our friends and colleagues at Defra to heed our warning. The upheaval and lost focus from merging distinct functioning bodies can be catastrophic. A merger would require long-term upheaval and disruption, and it would be several years before a new organisation would be comfortable with itself and working effectively. Nature simply doesn’t have that time.
What about the money?
UK nature conservation organisations have been here before. The formation of National Resources Wales (NRW) in 2013 saw the merger of Countryside Council for Wales - the body previously responsible for wildlife conservation – with the Environment Agency Wales and the Forestry Commission Wales. As predicted, the RSPB’s experience is that budget cuts since have disproportionately affected the nature element of their work meaning that ultimately, nature has lost out. The actual cost of setting up NRW is forecast to be £78m by 2022/23 - £9m more than originally estimated. As Westminster Government grapples with a cost-of-living crisis, is a similar exercise in England really the best use of such a vast sum of money?
Nature needs the best we can offer
In our new report we propose a different plan. And it’s pretty simple: we recommend empowering and better resourcing the existing agencies. Natural England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and the Marine Management Organisation need proper funding, with access to in-house expertise to ensure that government policy is underpinned by evidence. They need to be fully independent from government to allow them to give advice free from political interference. Finally, all four organisations must be empowered by a legal duty to recover nature, and mutual objectives to help them work together. A set of straightforward improvements that could be delivered immediately and would result in huge benefits for nature.
Delivering a country richer in nature
We hear repeated promises from Westminster Government about their commitment to recovering nature in England. It is through ensuring that the regulators we already have are able to protect nature and the environment that will help them to achieve this. The alternative - a lengthy and disruptive structural reform process - is a waste of time, a waste of money, and ultimately harms nature and undermines government ambitions for the UK to be a world leader for nature.For more information on our recommendations, you can read the full report via the link below.