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WWT responds to government proposals that could imperil wetlands
Proposed changes to the planning system, land management support and environmental legislation
What does the UK Government propose and what does this mean for wetlands?
Last week the UK Government made a number of announcements as part of its plans to drive economic growth that could profoundly affect the UK’s nationally and internationally important wetlands, such as the Broads, the Northumbria Coast, and the Solent. These include:
Reforming habitats and species regulation, including Habitats Regulations. Wrongly seen as a barrier to socio-economic activity, the Habitat Regulations provide a key test for sustainable development. Reforming or removing them could weaken protections for wetlands.
Introducing Investment Zones. Such areas would have minimised planning requirements and ‘radically streamlined’ planning processes, potentially reducing or eliminating protections for wetlands within these zones.
Reviewing Environmental Land Management Schemes. This casts doubt upon the UK’s new means of supporting land managers for providing public goods, potentially removing a vital means of both protecting and restoring wetlands.
Introducing a ‘sunset clause’ on the transfer of EU legislation into UK law. This includes key environmental principles (e.g. polluter pays, precautionary approach), however leaving inadequate time to scrutinise and amend legislation would weaken protections for wetlands.
How would this affect the UK’s existing commitments?
If enacted, the Government’s proposals will profoundly affect the ability of the UK to meet some of its most critical commitments. These include:
Delivering on its landmark 25 Year Environment Plan, committing the UK to improving the environment, within a generation, and leaving it in a better state than we found it. This includes creating a 500,000ha nature recovery network of wildlife-rich places.
Fulfilling the Leaders Pledge for Nature, a global agreement signed by the EU and 93 countries from all regions. This commits to reversing biodiversity loss by 2030, with the UK aiming to deliver it via a further pledge to protect 30% of land in the UK for nature by 2030.
Meeting its legal target to halt species loss. Under the Environment Act 2021, the UK has committed to halt the decline in species by 2030 and then bend the curve to increase species abundance by 10% by 2042.
Fulfilling commitments under The Ramsar Convention i. This treaty requires Contracting Parties to designate and protect internationally significant wetlands. The UK delivers this via the extension of protections afforded by the Habitats Regulations.
Meeting commitments under The Bern Convention ii. The UK meet requirements to protect habitats and species through use of the Habitats Regulations and the sites they protect; removing them without equivalent protection this would breach these commitments.
Delivering commitments under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement iii. The UK supports coordinate international efforts to protect migratory waterbirds and their habitats. The Habitats Regulations play a key role in meeting these commitments.
Why does the UK economy need wetlands?
Wetlands are critical to our future, and across the UK, communities depend upon wetlands for their prosperity and wellbeing. The ecosystem services wetlands provide include:
Water supply: worth £4 bn a year in the UK. The recent droughts have exposed the need to retain water in the land by protecting and restoring wetlands. iv
Flood prevention: saltmarsh alone protects £1.79bn in assets from flooding every year. v
Carbon sequestration: coastal habitats store carbon worth up to £4bn every year. vi
Health and wellbeing: visits to freshwater habitats are worth £739m a year in improved health and wellbeing. vii
As numerous studies have shown, protecting our environment and protecting our economy are indivisible. However, HM Treasury recognises that we are drawing down on the ‘natural capital’ (the stocks of goods nature provides) we depend upon faster than it can naturally replenish. Today, the UK ranks among one of most nature-depleted countries on Earth, and this is partly driven by wetland loss. England alone has lost around 90% of its freshwater wetlands over the last 500 years, and many of the wetlands that remain face a range of pressures.
Given that so many species live and breed in wetlands, or use them as vital stopping off points on migration, protecting and restoring wetlands is one of the very best ways to restore our lost natural capital. This was recognised by the Natural Capital Committee, who made the investment case for the creation of 100,000 hectares of wetlands, helping to deliver the goals of the 25 Year Environment Plan and with an attractive return on investment of up to 9:1.
Building a stronger, sustainable country
It is critical the UK Government fulfils its existing commitments as mandated by the British People, maintaining protections for wetlands and delivering Environmental Land Management Schemes. Anything less would be a catastrophe for wetlands, nature and communities. Any reforms should focus on better implementing rather than seeking to change existing legislation. e.g. funding agencies. Moreover, we should not rest here. To address the biodiversity crisis and meet their commitments the UK Government needs to go further and faster in restoring ecosystems. This must include embracing WWT’s ‘Blue Recovery’ proposals to create 100,000 ha of multi-benefit wetlands.
Our Blue Recovery proposals will help Government and businesses to meet their commitments, address the climate, nature and wellbeing crises the country faces and bring hope to people across society. Economic growth needs nature to be in recovery at the very least, without this any economic growth plans will be on shaky foundations that will fail future generations.
WWT stands ready to work with the Government to establish the partnerships and secure the policy framework to make nature’s recovery a reality alongside economic growth plans. WWT calls on the Government to stand by its nature commitments and, crucially, to ensure they are delivered.
References:
i The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance is the intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.
ii The Bern Convention is a binding international legal instrument in the field of nature conservation and requires the UK to protect certain habitats and species. Setting-up the Emerald Network (a network of sites to ensure the long-term survival of the species and habitats of the Bern Convention requiring specific protection measures) at national level is considered as one of the main tools for the Contracting Parties to comply with their obligations under the Bern Convention. These obligations are met via the Habitats Regulations and the sites they protect; if they were to be removed without equivalent protection this would breach Bern Convention commitments.
iii Developed under the framework of the Convention on Migratory Species and administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) brings together countries and the wider international conservation community in an effort to establish coordinated conservation and management of migratory waterbirds and their habitats throughout their entire migratory range, including the UK.
iv https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/uknaturalcapitalaccounts/2021
Curlews fly free on Dartmoor as part of project to save iconic species
A project to re-introduce a thriving population of curlews on Dartmoor run by a partnership which includes the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust has received a boost in its second year with the release of a group of new birds.
The 27 curlew were released within Dartmoor National Park this summer to join another 33 released in 2021 after eggs were collected by WWT with the help of Natural England from RAF bases in the east of England and carefully incubated at WWT Slimbridge. The project is funded by The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation and the Duchy of Cornwall and run as a partnership with WWT, Dartmoor National Park, Natural England and the RSPB. The local farming community also plays a critical part.
Just before hatching, the eggs were taken to a facility on Dartmoor where the new curlew chicks were cared for in aviaries by specially trained WWT staff until they are old enough to fly and live independently. This is a technique known as head-starting.
The birds were then released with the hope they will return to the same area to breed in future years and help to re-establish a curlew population in area.
Curlews are considered to be the most pressing bird conservation priority in the Country. The UK holds a quarter of the world’s population but in our changing landscapes they are increasingly unable to rear chicks so their population is rapidly declining – the number of breeding birds has dropped by about 65% since 1970. Over the past few decades, older birds have been dying off and there are few young birds to take their place, putting the whole species at risk.
The chief causes of the decline of curlew are predation of eggs and chicks and habitat change or loss. In some areas, large-scale landscape changes including forestry and drainage, have affected curlew and other ground-nesting waders. In addition, their main predators such as foxes and crows are thriving and require targeted control. Dartmoor has extensive areas of habitat suitable for curlew, although the project is working with farmers at a landscape scale to create further enhancements where needed such as scrape creation and additional targeted cattle grazing. The work benefits a wide range of moorland bird species.
Last year was the first year of the Dartmoor Curlew Recovery Project. Curlew numbers have been monitored in the area for years and this particular area was chosen for the release to bolster this native population.
According to WWT’s Senior Project Manager Eric Heath, having at least one or two older “grandparent” birds in the area should encourage the new, younger birds to follow their pattern of behaviour and hopefully return to Dartmoor to breed. “Curlew don’t usually breed for at least two years after they’ve hatched so we won’t know until next year if this strategy is working,” said Eric. _“But we want to give these iconic birds of the British countryside the best chance, we want to encourage them to breed in an area where we know there has previously been a thriving curlew population. A__t the same time, all we are doing is buying time by using the head-starting method so we and our partners are also working with local farmers and landowners to ensure the habitat is as “curlew friendly” as possible.” _
Tom Stratton, from the Duchy of Cornwall, added: “The role of farmers is critical to the success of the project and interest in the work and the desire to increase Dartmoor’s Curlew population has been excellent and much appreciated. __The project is working with farmers, commoners and landowners to enhance habitat where needed and to recognise where existing habitat is suitable and just requires maintenance. Targeted predator control is also undertaken”. “At a time of change in agricultural policy, the project provides a positive, tangible example of the strength that comes from partnership and highlights the important role of livestock farming and the knowledge held by farmers in areas such as Dartmoor.”