Government cuts ‘threaten wildlife’

7:00pm Sunday 22nd August 2010

By Diana Henderson

DORSET’S largest voluntary conservation organisation has warned that the county’s unique wildlife is under threat from government cuts.

Dorset Wildlife Trust is urging the government to put long-term environmental security ahead of short-term number crunching when making decisions on spending cuts.

The warning reiterates that of the Wildlife and Countryside Link, an umbrella organisation of 33 bodies, which has painted a grim picture of a countryside starved of funds, putting habitat such as Dorset heathland at risk.

The coalition government’s pledge to be the “greenest ever” is at variance with funding cuts of up to 40 per cent announced for Defra, says the trust, which represents 25,000 members.

“Defra accounts for just 0.5 per cent of total government spending,” said Imogen Davenport, the trust’s director of conservation.

And the UK was already set to fall short of the UN target to halt the decline in biodiversity by the end of 2010.

“The government has a crucial role in protecting and enhancing our most precious wildlife sites and species, and it is essential that this is maintained,” she said.

Among Dorset habitats at risk are some of the few remaining wildflower meadows, now restricted to less than one per cent of the county.

The trust has been working with the owners of these sites for more than 15 years and helped them get government funding for wildlife-friendly management.

Cuts to the stewardship grant scheme, administered by Natural England, could reverse the progress that farmers and landowners have made in managing wildlife habitats, says the charity.

“The landscape acts as a life support system and can, when managed sensitively, give us clean water, enable crop pollination, absorb greenhouse gases and provide places where we can take exercise and refresh our minds,” said Ms Davenport.

“Recent economic studies show that the costs of not conserving biodiversity now will be multiplied many times over for future generations to pay.”

The Wildlife Trusts and other conservation charities have suggested alternative cost savings, and the public can have their say on Defra’s future plans at engage.defra.gov.uk/reform-plan Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, who set out the “greenest government ever”, has said: “At Defra, we help to strengthen the economy and tackle the deficit.

“The environment is a crucial component of economic growth, and we work to ensure it is managed sustainably.”

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8345381.Government_cuts____threaten_wildlife___/
(Via The Natural Stuff)