GSD0079

Written evidence submitted by the RSPB

The RSPB

The RSPB is one of Europe’s largest nature conservation charities, with over one million members and over 200 nature reserves covering almost 130,000 hectares and home to 80% of our rarest or most threatened bird species. The RSPB is part of BirdLife International, the world’s largest nature conservation partnership. The principal objective of the RSPB is to save nature. For over 100 years, the RSPB has has been at the forefront of campaigning for policies that protect wildlife, special places, and the wider environment. 

Summary

The RSPB believes that sustainable development should be at the heart of the Government’s agenda, in order to ensure a future rich in nature which sustains human wellbeing.

2015 should be a defining year for Sustainable Development. September will see the ratification of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while all parties to the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will negotiate a new global deal in Paris in December. Successful outcomes will be crucial if we are to achieve equitable economic progress whilst addressing the twin challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.

To date, the new UK Government has remained quiet on the issue of sustainable development.  It did not feature in the Conservative Manifesto, the Queen’s Speech or the July Budget. There has been no Government statement on sustainable development since February 2011.  Without the political will there is no sustainable development agenda.  Creating the political will is first and foremost, amongst the challenges facing the EAC.

In terms of specific themes for the Committee to consider the RSPB believes the government needs to:

•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Put in place an effective 25 year plan for nature’s recovery, and back this up with appropriate support
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The Government’s 25 year plan for food and farming must be consistent with its 25 year plan for biodiversity
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Introduce new policies to support the transition to a low carbon economy and ensure certainty for the low carbon sector to 2020 and beyond
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Incorporate the concept of natural capital into the heart of economic decision-making

What key policies are needed over the course of this Parliament to adequately protect the environment, promote growth in the low carbon sector and improve wellbeing?

The RSPB believes that the Government needs to publically restate its commitment to sustainable development and explain how it intends to embed the principles of sustainability across Government.

Biodiversity

A major current policy initiative is the 25 year plan to restore the UK’s biodiversity.  This plan must be owned and supported across Whitehall.  It should have a short-term outcome to ensure the implementation of international commitments to secure the effective management of a sixth of land for nature by 2020 and a long-term (2040) goal on the sustainable management of land and sea.

Furthermore, the Government should commit to full implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives, recognising this as fundamental to halting biodiversity loss and achieving our national, EU, and international commitments to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development..

Food and farming

The Government must rethink its approach to its 25 year plan for Food and Farming.  Instead of focussing solely on producing and selling more British food, it should address the long term sustainability of UK farming and ensure this plan is fully consistent with its plan to restore biodiversity and contributes to its policies on health and wellbeing. 

Climate and energy

The Government should introduce a low-carbon infrastructure plan, covering energy and transport, to deliver UK Climate Act commitments.

The RSPB believes that Government should:

• Announce details of funding for low-carbon energy beyond 2020 (ideally to 2030) in order to provide investor certainty and enable the delivery of the renewable and low carbon infrastructure that the UK needs to meet legally binding carbon reduction and renewable energy targets.

• Set an ambitious 5th carbon budget that puts the UK on track to meet its obligations under the Climate Change Act (2008).

• The Government’s new Low Carbon Plan should include specific details on how it will meet its domestic, European and international commitments on greenhouse gas emissions and low-carbon energy.

• It should play a positive role in securing a global deal on climate change at the Paris COP21, and should follow this up with strong domestic action to deliver on its commitments.

• In choices about new energy resources and infrastructure the Government must ensure that the natural environment is protected, including ruling out fracking in protected areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), ensuring that only FSC certified wood can be used for biomass energy, and utilising tools such strategic planning to ensure that renewable energy is deployed with lowest possible impact on sensitive wildlife and habitats. This is particularly important in the offshore environment.

Natural capital

We recommend bolstering and widening the remit of the Natural Capital Committee (NCC) and give it statutory powers to:

• scrutinise the environmental impact of new regulations and incentives;

• propose new policies for incorporating the value of nature in decision-making;

• exercise oversight of national natural capital accounts to be published annually;

• monitor and report on progress towards targets and milestones within the 25-year plans.

Does the Government’s current fiscal and legislative agenda accord with the action required and, if not, why not and where might it be improved? 

The RSPB does not believe it does.  Between May and July 2015, ten cornerstone green policies were cancelled or weakened.[1]  There has, as yet, been no positive new measures that would restore the health of the environment or promote the low carbon economy. Such changes create debilitating uncertainty for those businesses and organisations trying to effect the transition our economy needs. 

Departmental cuts will also take their toll on the environment.  Significant government action and public and private investment is still required in energy infrastructure to combat climate change[2], marine protection[3], to clean the air we breathe[4], to clean our lakes and rivers[5] and to protect wildlife populations[6]. The two departments which are most able to deliver the Government’s environmental agenda, DECC and Defra, are unprotected and at risk from disproportionate reductions in their staffing, because their budgets are dominated by large non-discretionary activities such as nuclear decommissioning and flood prevention.

Recent policy changes put the medium-term future of the UK’s growing renewable energy sector seriously in question. The Committee on Climate Change, the Government’s independent advisory body, is now concerned that the UK might not meet its 4th carbon budget without additional Government action.

The Government would improve its ability to protect the environment by ensuring that public money spent on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provides best value. In environmental terms, the most effective mechanism in the CAP for nature are environmental land management schemes. In England, the new scheme, called Countryside Stewardship, will be central to a range of public policy objectives, especially around biodiversity, water quality and the historic environment.  These objectives will only be delivered if Natural England has sufficient resources to implement the scheme successfully, and if the scheme itself is adequately funded. As a point of priority, Defra should increase the amount of money transferred from farm subsidies to these schemes.

Where should responsibility lie in Government for ensuring the sustainable development approach is adopted by all Government departments?

Defra has policy responsibility for sustainable development.  The Cabinet Office would provide a more central base for driving action in departments Whitehall-wide.  Treasury support is also fundamental to embedding sustainable development principles.  We would like to see a sustainability duty placed on HMT. The RSPB believe the EAC has a crucial role in scrutinizing the extent to which the policies and programmes of government departments contribute to sustainable development.

What metrics could the Committee use to monitor the Government’s performance on sustainable development over the course of the Parliament? 

Existing environmental metrics currently receive scant political attention.  Before reflecting on the content of such indicator sets, the Committee should first reflect on the reason why the ones we currently have, and invest considerable effort in collating, are not working in terms of practical relevance[7].

For reporting upon environmental performance, the UK Wild Bird Indicator is probably as suitable as any of the other UK Biodiversity Indicators that are available currently. It is not entirely clear, however, how good a job this indicator does at reflecting the changes in wildlife as a whole, and we would encourage the development of an indicator(s) that reflect change in a wider range of biodiversity. For habitat or site based indicators we recommend that the Committee uses a metric which incorporates both extent and condition.

We would congratulate the Government on retaining the Natural Capital Committee and believe it should continue to support appropriate efforts to develop wealth based measures for our critical natural capital assets.  In time, these measures should become a core component of any performance assessment in relation to sustainable progress.

2 September 2015