RSPB warns of nature disaster as Tory leadership rhetoric targets laws that protect wildlife

RSPB warns of nature disaster as Tory leadership rhetoric targets laws that protect wildlife - RSPB

RSPB warns that loss of vital laws that protect wildlife, and the bodies that enforce them, will result in a disaster for nature and development free for all.
RSPB calls on Tory leadership candidates to urgently commit to high standards and common-sense protections to save nature.

The RSPB has today weighed in to the Tory leadership contest saying that the anti-regulation rhetoric that has characterised the debates is nonsense when it comes to protecting nature.

The national wildlife charity has today revealed four recent examples where nature is under direct threat from potential changes to legislation and the bodies that enforce legislation:

Pledges to scrap EU-derived laws. The habitat regulations are one such set of laws but have been vital in the protection of nature for the past thirty years, quietly steering development away from our most important wildlife habitats and protecting some of our most vulnerable species like stone curlews and Dartford warblers. They provide clarity and certainty for landowners and business and, after three decades, are well understood. [See “At a Glance” Box below for examples]
The apparent attempt to relax planning laws around freeports in areas that take in some of our most precious landscapes such as Dartmoor, the North Yorkshire Moors, and the New Forest.
Plans to scrap nutrient neutrality guidance. If this is done, it will allow damaging developments to push already polluted streams and rivers to the brink, with yet more sewage and pollution ending up in our rivers.
Talk of absorbing arm’s length bodies such as Natural England (NE) in to Defra and reference to them as “not fit for purpose”. NE plays a vital role in protecting biodiversity and our most important habitats, whilst providing benefits to people’s health and wellbeing by promoting responsible access to nature and the outdoors. Its role as a Government “arm’s length body” is to advise on environmental matters and challenge others – including Government themselves - to ensure that environmental standards are maintained. We have never needed that more than today.

Beccy Speight, chief executive of the RSPB, said: “Strong laws and properly supported agencies are vital to safeguard the precious wildlife we have left in the UK, and both need to be reinforced not weakened. This rhetoric, if it becomes policy, has the potential to completely undermine the Government’s own stated environmental ambitions for nature at a time when we need urgent action to keep our loved common species common and prevent more of our wildlife from being pushed to the brink of extinction.”