UK wildlife at risk due to regulatory gaps created by Brexit, says report

Hedgehogs, dragonflies and bees among species in danger as critics claim proposed agriculture bill does not go far enough

Hedgehogs, dragonflies and bees are among wildlife at risk due to big gaps in environmental protections following the UK’s departure from the EU, according to a new report.

Commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and WWF, the study claims the UK faces losing regulations preventing hedgerows being cut during the nesting season and vital buffer strips from being ploughed or sprayed with pesticides.

Other regulations currently based in EU law, which safeguard ponds and protect carbon-locking bare soils from draining or blowing away, could also be lost, according to the report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).

The agriculture bill, set to be debated in the House of Commons on Monday, will see payment for the amount of land farmed replaced by a “public money for public goods” system whereby land managers are paid to protect wildlife, the environment and carbon storage.

While broadly welcomed by campaigners, they fear the new bill does not go far enough. As farmers lose direct payments under the common agricultural policy, critics say some EU regulations could also fall away.

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Protection for dolphins and seabirds ‘weaker under Brexit plans’

Michael Gove’s plan does not oblige fishing industry to eliminate bycatch, where boats accidentally net sea species

James Tapper

Sun 22 Jul 2018 06.00 BST

Protection for dolphins and seabirds will be weaker under government plans for Brexit than if Britain stayed in the EU, according to a new analysis by environmental groups.

Under the EU’s Seabird Plan of Action, the fishing industry is obliged to eliminate “bycatch”, where boats accidentally catch seabirds, dolphins and other species. Under laws set out in environment secretary Michael Gove’s white paper on fisheries, they would need only to implement “practical and effective risk-based mitigation”.

An analysis by Greener UK, which represents 13 major organisations including the RSPB and WWF, welcomed ministers’ commitments to sustainable fishing and a pledge to consider fish stocks as a public asset. But it said the details in the white paper fell short of the government’s ambitions.

More than 300,000 whales, dolphins, porpoises and other cetaceans and 300,000 birds die worldwide every year by getting trapped in fishing nets. UK fishing fleets are among the best at avoiding bycatch, which may put them at a competitive disadvantage against those from other member states which do not take the rules as seriously.

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Andrea Leadsom: Brexit a unique chance to develop UK-specific wildlife policies

Brexit provides a "unique opportunity" to create policies which suit the UK's wildlife and habitats, Andrea Leadsom has said. 
 

Last updated: 14 September 2016, 13:30 BST

Brexit provides a "unique opportunity" to create policies which suit the UK's wildlife and habitats, Andrea Leadsom has said.

The new Environment Secretary, who campaigned during the referendum for leaving the European Union, was speaking at the launch of a report warning more than half of UK species have suffered declines in recent years.

Wildlife such as water voles, turtle doves, hedgehogs and willow tits have seen precipitous declines, while one in seven - some 15% - are at risk of vanishing from UK shores, including the high brown fritillary butterfly and freshwater pearl mussels.

The report points the finger at the "overwhelmingly negative" impact of intensive agriculture as the most significant cause of the declines, although farmers said intensification had halted and landowners were "embracing the conservation agenda".

It comes as the debate intensifies over the future of subsidies for farming after Brexit - with £3 billion paid to UK farmers largely for owning land under the EU-wide common agricultural policy.

A group of Conservative MPs, including former environment secretary Caroline Spelman, has called for future payments to focus on protecting the environment, while the National Trust has said subsidies should only go to wildlife schemes.

Ms Leadsom's speech did not address how she saw the subsidy regime shaping up in the future.

But she said there was a need to explore "innovative" ways of funding, pointing to a pilot scheme which saw companies and developers pay for natural services such as wetland creation or using biomass from nature reserves to create clean energy.

"I want to see more of this new thinking. I want to encourage enterprise while making it easier to protect the environment."

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EU referendum: Brexit will diminish UK's ability to combat international wildlife crime, says environment minister

'From outside our influence and our ability to act would be diminished'

Charlie Cooper Whitehall Correspondent 

Thursday 3 March 2016

The UK’s ability to combat international wildlife crime and the illegal trade of animal parts will be “diminished” if we leave the EU, the Government has claimed.

Environment minister Rory Stewart said the country had more influence within and beyond Europe because of its membership, placing it in a better position to lobby over issues such as lion trophy hunting and the ivory trade.

“The UK is recognised as a world leader in tackling wildlife crime and it is an issue we have tirelessly campaigned on from within Europe,” Mr Stewart said at the Save Wildlife Conference at the Hague. “From outside our influence and our ability to act would be diminished,”

 “The heartless actions of poachers and organised criminals threaten to wipe out some of the world’s most iconic wild animals and damage our planet’s ecosystem beyond repair – all for personal gain,” he added.

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