The government’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC),
chaired by Mary Creagh MP has just published its report following its inquiry
into the future of the natural environment after leaving the EU.
This makes interesting reading, especially as the Wildlife
Trusts combined to prepare a good body of evidence to feed into the inquiry. The report can be found on the EAC web site
and Steph Hilborne, Chief Executive of the Wildlife Trusts national office has
written this brief response.
A quick read through indicates that some of the Wildlife
Trusts key points have got through to the final report. The report recognizes that Brexit could put
farming and wildlife at great risk. A
potential loss of subsidies together with possible tariffs against farm exports
could damage the farming industry, making it less viable and less able to
expend resources on managing the countryside in an environmentally sensitive
way. Alongside this, the potential loss
of The Birds and Habitats directives means that government should provide new
measures to safeguard Britain’s wildlife and special places.
The EAC proposes that government should pass a new Environmental
Protection Act setting out how it will provide an equivalent or better level of
protection after leaving the EU.
Alongside this new subsidy arrangements should be put in place to
provide public payments to farmers for providing public benefits – like the
promotion of biodiversity, preventing flooding and storing carbon.
If alternative measures are not put in place, the report warns
that there could be potentially far reaching consequences for the UK’s biodiversity.
