Do you know someone who’s campaigned tirelessly to protect a patch of green space?

Have you got a favourite teacher who’s inspired you to do something for nature?

Is there a famous person you admire who’s challenging the system?

If so, they could be a candidate for an Octavia Hill award, organised by the National Trust in partnership with Countryfile Magazine. The deadline for nominations is 31 January 2012.

As part of the Government’s plan to reduce the regulatory burden to business, the so-called ‘Red Tape Challenge‘, the spotlight this month falls on the environment. Until the end of September comments are invited on all current environmental regulations (although comments have been welcome since the process began in April). Following the close of the spotlight period, Secretary of State Caroline Spelman and her ministerial team at Defra have three months to make a decision on which regulations should be kept and which scrapped. The presumption is that ‘burdensome’ regulations will go unless the Department can make a good case for why they should be retained.

A Defra press release, released earlier this month, makes it clear that businesses are the focus for the RTC exercise – but anyone can have their say on the RTC website and the BES encourages our members to do so.

Two hundred and eighty seven environmental regulations are up for consultation, including on issues such as waste, emissions and wildlife protection. The RTC “asks whether existing regulations are providing the environmental protection that is intended and therefore should be retained, or if they are unnecessarily burdensome or redundant and should be scrapped.” Suggestions are also welcome on how regulations should be simplified to make them easier to follow and more effective.

The press release suggests that “environmental policies often aim to encourage people to act in certain ways – and overly complex, burdensome regulation may not be the best way to do this.” The overall driver seems however to be one of saving money: “saving businesses millions in unnecessary costs.”

The BES is concerned by the RTC and was a signatory to a letter sent by Wildlife and Countryside Link to Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in June, questioning the validity of the consultation process underpinning the RTC and suggesting that the RTC is insufficient as the sole public consultation tool which may result in regulation being scrapped. The letter also questioned the emphasis on ‘burden’, challenging the importance given to costs in scrutinising regulation, and not taking into account both costs and benefits.

It is also hard to see how much environmental regulation can be disposed of, given that much of it has been developed in response to European Directives and therefore in removing this regulation the UK would be likely to face legal challenge.

Partly as a result of the letter, a number of organisations (RSPB, Link, National Trust, Wildlife Trusts and others) have been invited to sit on a ‘Sounding Board’, to discuss the RTC with Defra and, the BES believes, to consider the comments received through the public consultation.

The BES encourages all members of the Society, all readers of the blog and Twitter feed to access the RTC and to emphasise the importance of regulation to achieve environmental protection. As Link emphasised in its letter “environmental legislation is fundamental to a proportionate and necessary approach to environmental protection“, whilst “most of our current regulations and legal protections have been hard-won and subject to the requisite democratic processes, including public debate, multiple consultation processes, and close parliamentary scrutiny“.

Have your say on environmental regulations through the RTC website.

Yesterday the BES policy team attended the IEEM summer conference on biodiversity and the Big Society. The conference was centred around four main themes;
- What will localism mean for the environment and biodiversity?
- How will measures to protect the environment be funded?
- How can we reconnect people with the environment and encourage volunteering?
- What will our landscape look like in the future?

Richard Benyon, Minister for Natural Environment and Fisheries, opened the conference speaking about the recent Natural Environment White Paper, the Government’s vision for the future of our landscapes, and how localism fits in with this vision. Whilst localism may be able to help deliver some of the visions of the recent White Paper it is clear that many questions remain, and that there are funding and communication barriers which need to be overcome. These barriers were discussed in detail by Mike Oxford and Adam Wallace who identified the key challenges facing ecologists.

Past experience has shown that financial support and good infrastructure is vital for the Big Society approach to work. However government departments, local authorities and communities are increasingly being asked to do more with less, and dramatic cuts to the budgets of environmental projects in government have instigated debate around how environmental projects might be funded now, and in the future.

Nick Perks from the Environmental Funders Network reviewed the relative role of government funding and philanthropy in sponsoring environmental projects, suggesting that it is unrealistic to assume philanthropic funding can fill the gaps left by the cuts, as government funding is so important for environmental projects. Polluter pays schemes are one suggestion for attracting more money towards environmental projects, however Nick indicated that this is likely to be unpopular with business and developers and therefore politically unfeasible.

In local authorities cuts to the budget of biodiversity teams have been more severe than in other areas. Ensuring that Ecology is better recognised as a profession was the main theme of Penny Anderson’s (IEEM President) talk, in order to protect the role of professional ecologists within local authorities and to ensure the importance of preserving the natural environment is recognised.

Reconnecting local people with nature is one of the key messages of the recent Natural Environment White Paper, and one area in which there already appears to be a great deal of success. Matt Davies from Greenspace Information for Greater London gave an interesting talk about engaging local people in biodiversity data recording through Bioblitz initiatives, an intensive session of biodiversity data recording over a 24 hour period designed to reconnect people with nature and encourage dialogue between local people and experts. The Alexandra Palace Bioblitz attracted over 8000 volunteers and was featured on the BBC programme Springwatch demonstrating the level of public enthusiasm that exists.

Catherine Chatters from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust also reported a great deal of success in engaging volunteers from a variety of backgrounds including local schools and businesses in the New Forest non native plants project. Volunteers were able to make a significant contribution to the health of their local rivers and marshes through coordinated action to efficiently remove and prevent the spread of a range of invasive species including Giant Hogweed and Himalayan Balsam. However she stressed the importance of adequate funding for the success of the project, emphasising that professional leadership is vital for supporting and enthusing volunteers in their work and to gain cooperation from local landowners and retailers which stock the invasive plants.

Local Authorities are also taking greater interests in the needs of local people and the Beam Parklands case study presented by Paul Johnson, Director of Environmental Consulting at Arup, showed that through effective consultation with local communities a landscape can be created that delivers multiple benefits including biodiversity conservation and enhancement, educational opportunities for young people, and recreational space. Local people were involved in every stage of the project which transformed neglected wetlands into a valuable community space, teeming with wildlife.

The final talk of the day by the Landscape Architect Merrick Denton-Thompson OBE presented a vision of the future land use, extrapolating current trends to 2050, and examining challenges and opportunities for the environment. In the controversial talk, which initiated debate in the audience Merrick suggested that food shortages will play the key role in shaping landscapes of the future, and as the wealth of other countries increases the UK will have to become self sufficient. He also indicated that all landscapes will have to deliver multiple benefits (food production, carbon sequestration, energy, biodiversity conservation), and there would be strict penalties for non-compliance.

Overall the conference was an interesting and useful experience, with lively debate over localism, the funding challenge and communication.

‘Landscapes of the Future’ the new Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology POSTnote written by the current BES POST fellow Eleanor Kean was launched today. ‘Landscapes of the Future’ focuses on the benefits that we derive from our landscapes, and the increasing pressures facing continued delivery of these benefits.

It has been widely established, following the release of the National Ecosystem Assessment, that we gain a variety of benefits and services from the environment including food, clean water, recreation and protection from natural disaster. However these benefits are threatened by the way in which we use land, often exploiting landscapes for a single purpose, without considering the wider detrimental effects.

Demographic change is increasing the pressure we place on land to provide the ecosystem services on which we rely. This coupled with environmental and climate change, societal attitudes and the policy environment will change the way in which we use land over the coming years. It is important to manage the challenges facing the natural environment through existing policies, and also through innovation and novel techniques.

Eleanor identifies opportunities for future landscape planning to adapt to these pressures, and provide multifunctional landscapes that ease competition between different land uses. Many opportunities have arisen as a result of proposed reforms of the planning system, abolition of regional spatial strategies, and introduction of a new National Planning Policy Framework. The establishment of Ecological Restoration Zones as recommended by the Lawton review ‘Making Space for Nature’ are also likely to play a key part in securing ecosystem services for future generations.

Localism may be expected to affect the way landscapes are managed, and the POSTnote emphasises the importance of allowing communities to access good information about the environment, facilitating local people to make good decisions. Green Infrastructure also has great potential to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits. An integrated approach to land use planning is another key message of the POSTnote which recommends that Government departments work together to achieve desirable environmental, social and economic outcomes.

Vince Cable yesterday announced more detailed plans for the green investment bank, including some indication of the type of projects that will be financed. The bank will be the first of its kind in the world, specifically designed to fund the new low carbon green economy. The announcement, and publication of a progress report by the department of business innovation and skills, follows a speech given by Nick Clegg at an event hosted by Climate Change Capital.

The deputy Prime Minister emphasised the need to consider the reasons for investing, including preserving the environment on which we rely for the next generation. He also mentioned the economic incentive to make the UK the world leaders in producing green technology, suggesting that many companies could set up manufacturing plants in the UK.

In an oral statement to the House of Commons Vince Cable focussed on the legally binding commitment made by the government to reduce carbon emissions 50% by 2050, and the need to revolutionise our energy and transport sectors, and invest in green infrastructure to achieve this target. He also noted the requirement for stable long term green policies to encourage investment in green infrastructure, which will flow through the green investment bank. £3 billion will initially be invested in the bank.

The progress report published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills picks out the Water Framework Directive and Air Quality Standards Regulations as other key legislation to be supported by the green investment bank. Money will be invested in waste water management and improving flood defences replacing loss of funding due to Defra budget cuts. Money will also be invested in improving air quality and reducing emissions from vehicles.

Both Nick Clegg and Vince Cable noted the economic benefits of investment in green infrastructure in terms of saving energy and money, however there was no mention of investment to protect ecosystem services, and biodiversity, or the possible cost of inaction in these areas. Investment in better protection of ecosystem services will be vital for protecting the environment for the next generation.

The announcement of a badger TB vaccination trial on the National Trust’s Killerton Estate has been welcomed by both farmers and local environmental groups. The four year programme which will commence this May aims to show that vaccination is a viable alternative to culling programmes, particularly in places where Defra’s culling criteria cannot currently be met.

Bovine tuberculosis is a major burden for both farmers and taxpayers in the UK. Last year the cost of the disease to the taxpayer was almost £63 million, mainly paid out in compensation to farmers who had cattle destroyed as a result of the disease. However farmers say that this sum does not cover the cost of replacing lost animals, and more needs to be done to prevent the spread of the disease.

Badger culling, the current recommended strategy for control of bovine TB, has been shown to be effective within culling sites but can have detrimental knock on effects for surrounding areas, which often see an increased incidence of the disease. As a consequence of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial (RBCT) which showed these effects Defra introduced stringent criteria to set the conditions under which badger culling can take place, which require farmers to demonstrate that they can minimize any potential edge effects, and cull within a minimum area size of 150km2. There are very few instances when these criteria can be met. When these criteria cannot be fulfilled it seems that vaccination may be the only viable option but so far there is little evidence to show how effective it might be.

The new programme funded by the National Trust aims to demonstrate to the government and farmers that vaccination is a viable alternative to culling. It also aims to stimulate research into an oral vaccine, such as the type which has been used with great success to treat rabies, which would be a cheap and easy to administer option for carrying vaccination out on a larger scale. Mark Harold from the national trust said that he hopes that this project can “pave the way for more widespread use of vaccination as an effective alternative to culling”, and also noted that “the National Trust is in a unique position as a major landowner in rural areas” allowing them to pioneer the scheme.

The vaccination programme will involve 18 tenant farmers on 20 km2 farmland in the Killerton estate, a prime example of a site that cannot meet current DEFRA criteria for badger culls. It is expected to cost around £80,000 per year and run until 2015. Badgers will be trapped, vaccinated and marked by licensed experts.

Yesterday evening, Jonathon Porritt, founder of Forum for the Future and chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, spoke at the annual Burntwood lecture, hosted by Institution of Environmental Science.

In a dynamic talk, Porritt described the so-called “growth fetish” of modern society, in which emphasis is increasingly put on economic growth, measured by Gross Domestic Product, above all other indicators of success. He also spoke on the role of human rights and development NGOs in fighting the cause for environmentalism, stating that they had failed to address the root of the problem.

Population growth, he said, was a key factor in the debate on how to achieve “a sustainable low-carbon economy”, a piece of the puzzle that had thus far been ‘missed out’. As a result, natural and economic resources would continue to be stretched to unsustainable levels, with almost every significant trend in consumption- including water, food and energy- increasing steadily. He assured that establishing a ‘real’ global price on carbon emissions was also vital, if the world is to lower its greenhouse gas emissions to at least 50% on 1990 levels by 2050, avoiding the dangerous effects of climate change. This would be equivalent to 6g of carbon dioxide per US dollar ($) of economic growth by 2050, whilst current levels are approximately 750g of carbon dioxide per dollar of growth.

Mr Porritt then suggested the essential tools needed to get us to a ‘sustainable economy’. He supported the idea that innovation and technological advancement, driven by a need for sustainable consumption, would also bring huge benefits economically. ‘Marketisation’, or valuation of natural assets including Ecosystem Services, would help to create an economic model in which preservation of natural assets remains more profitable than environmental destruction. “It’s about using nature’s wealth more sustainably”, Porritt stated. He suggested that political corruption and the rise of ‘Denialism’ were responsible for the majority of inaction on global over-consumption, which has lead to runaway environmental destruction.

Mr Porritt then called on NGOs and environmental advocates to start focussing their effort towards promoting “limits to growth”, to stop what he regarded as “the systematic betrayal of young people today”. Relentlessly increasing levels of consumption were “completely non-viable”, he added. He commented that well-known NGOs, such as Friends of the Earth and WWF, should make more effort to address the economic developmental pressures of the world today, in order to remain the “lifeblood” of the environmental movement.

A lively question and answer session followed the lecture, in which Trewin Restorick – CEO of Global Action Plan- and representatives from WWF-UK disputed Porritt’s claims that the NGOs strategy on global sustainability was “inadequate”. Mr Porritt also acknowledged the significant positive effect” that had been made by thinking and research on ecosystem services, in making biodiversity conservation more effective. He believes that understanding the “economics of natural capital” will help to further expose the irreversible costs of environmental destruction.

Other questions from the floor related to the role of innovation and technology in achieving his vision of ‘a sustainable low carbon economy’. Mr Porritt commented that innovation in ‘green technology’ did not have to come at the expense of economic recovery. He also praised leadership from “forward thinking entrepreneurs” in partnership with the private sector, for contributing to a “thriving” portfolio of low-carbon technologies, against the backdrop of political failure to establish a “price on carbon”. Further progress was being ’stunted’ by a lack of “market-based controls on carbon”, which would allow these technologies to become more economical, he said.

The Royal Society is seeking nominations for a new prize, the Kavli Medal, which seeks to reward outstanding achievement in all fields of science and engineering relevant to the environment and energy. The prize – a medal, lecture and £500 – will be awarded for the first time in 2011. Completed nomination forms are requested by Monday 14 February 2011.

The latest round of UN climate change negotiations (COP16) begins today in Cancún, Mexico. Representatives from 193 countries will meet over the next fortnight, in hopes of securing an international deal on climate change. Several world leaders including the US president and UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, will not be attending the conference, amidst worsening claims that developed countries are not committed to creating the ‘green growth’ economic model required to tackle climate change.

It is widely thought that Cancun will fail to produce a successor to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012. However, key issues on the table at COP16 include the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) programme, and international climate finance, for adaptation in developing nations.

The Energy and Climate Change secretary, Chris Huhne, will join the second week of talks, having already downplayed hopes of reaching any legally binding agreement. In a statement to the Guardian last week, the secretary warned that: “The objective is to reinvigorate the talks. Success means getting the world to within shouting distance of a deal, keeping the show on the road and making practical progress on areas like forestry, finance and reduction commitments”. However, the prime minister has stated that Britain would act unilaterally if a deal could not be reached, in a letter to the Observer published yesterday. The UK will be pushing for more ambitious targets in the EU-moving towards at least a 30% cut in greenhouse emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 – targets which could also be economically beneficial across the European bloc.

The Policy Team has today submitted its response to Defra’s consultation on the forthcoming White Paper on the Natural Environment. The Department’s discussion document published earlier this summer, asked a series of questions about the current system of nature protection in England, and sought input on how it could be improved.

In responding to the document, BES has presented practical improvements in a number of policy areas, from biodiversity protection, to water, sea and air pollution. The discussion document also asked consultees to comment on the overarching challenges identified by the Department, and the best way to respond to these challenges. The document included a strong emphasis on the role of the ‘Big Society’ in delivering conservation objectives, asking what role civil society should play in managing future conservation work. Some key recommendations in the BES response are below:

• The challenge posed by biodiversity loss requires explicit recognition in the White Paper.
• A systematic review of existing legislation is needed to identify gaps for the White Paper to fill. The proper implementation of existing law is equally important, as is the strengthening of existing planning guidance, which could be reworded.
• Innovative ways need to be found to fund conservation, in the absence of public funds. Market mechanisms, for example a biodiversity offsetting system to compensate for losses from development, could be considered.
• Civil society can be given an enhanced role in the management of the natural environment but only in the context of an overarching national framework. It is not practical to rely on NGOs and charities to deliver UK compliance with targets.
• Implementing the 24 recommendations contained within Sir John Lawton’s “Making Space for Nature” Review should be a priority action going forward. This offers a coherent and effective approach to managing our ecological networks.

The full response is available on the BES website – we welcome your comments.