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Lookup NU author(s): Bekah Puttick
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Nature is in decline in the UK.1 41 per cent of species have decreased in abundance since 1970 while 15 per cent of species have been classified as threatened with extinction. Threats abound from intensive agriculture, climate change and development. We therefore welcome that at COP15 in December 2022 the Government joined the international commitment to protecting 30 per cent of land and sea for nature by 2030 (the ‘30 by 30’ target).With only seven years remaining, the extent of land in England which already meets the criteria for 30 by 30 sits at a maximum of just 6.5 per cent. This means 23.5 per cent of land in England remains to be protected in order to hit the target—amounting to more than three million hectares, equivalent to almost one and a half times the size of Wales.But as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed at COP15 Part II meetings in December 2022 makes clear, it’s not just the extent of land that matters. It’s the quality: sites need to be “effectively conserved and managed”. We have found protected sites in England are often in a poor condition and in many cases inadequately monitored, without which no management plans for improvement can be made. Evidence we received suggests that these failings must be corrected by sufficient government funding and harnessing alternative funding streams—including private finance. There is also a need to incentivise better management and effective monitoring to meet clear nature conservation objectives. Citizen science is an untapped resource which, if unleashed, could support increased monitoring and generate public engagement.Achieving 30 by 30 requires more areas to be protected and those areas must comply with international criteria. Existing protected areas need to be better managed to achieve favourable condition and they need to be better monitored to enable effective management planning and to measure improvement. Protection should be afforded to areas in the long-term, which we conclude should be for more than 30 years. These issues around the quantity and quality of protected areas, as well as the monitoring and management of these areas are all magnified in the marine environment.The Government is clearly not on course to meet 30 by 30. Achieving the target requires urgent action and we submit this report to the Government as they plan to launch later this year a map identifying sites counting towards 30 by 30. We conclude it must be accompanied by a delivery action plan.Protected areas like Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are an important component of the suite of measures that the Government can use to protect nature, build its recovery and halt the decline in biodiversity. We heard evidence that threatened species in particular fare better in protected areas than the wider environment. In order to contribute to 30 by 30, protected areas should have a management plan in place based on an up-to-date condition assessment which must be updated every six years. This must apply to all sites included in existing designations of protected areas—and we conclude all existing designations should be kept—and for any new additional designations.Giving National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) an explicit purpose for nature conservation would put them in a good position to contribute to nature recovery, though this may not be sufficient to ensure sites within them comply with the more particular requirements for designations to be included in the 30 by 30 target.The Government is right to seize the opportunity presented by the new internationally agreed other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs), as well as Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRSs), which could be a vital tool in identifying and protecting nature. The forthcoming Land Use Framework will also be vital in helping to identify and prioritise land for the 30 by 30 target.Nature friendly farming will play a potentially significant role in delivering nature recovery through Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS). The Government now needs to be clear which schemes could include sites that meet the 30 by 30 criteria. Moreover, land managers urgently need greater support in determining how they can deliver the schemes on their land, both those the Government determine are included in the 30 by 30 target and those which contribute to broader nature recovery goals.The complexity of delivering the 30 by 30 target at sea is even greater than on land. Marine monitoring programmes are very limited in their extent, which has led to a paucity of condition assessment data at sea. There needs to be a significant expansion of marine monitoring, both inshore and offshore, to improve both the frequency and the quality of data collected at sea. Relevant bodies need to be sufficiently resourced and funded to deliver this uplift in monitoring.The Government faces an extraordinary challenge to halt species decline and recover nature for the public good. The framework of protected areas and wider nature recovery outside of protected areas is a critical foundation to build from, but urgent action is needed on land and at sea if 30 by 30 is to be anything more than a valuable galvanising slogan for international political agreements.
Author(s): Walsh C, Bullough F, Ayres L, Puttick B, Adams C
Publication type: Report
Publication status: Published
Series Title: HL Paper
Year: 2023
Print publication date: 26/07/2023
Acceptance date: 12/07/2023
Report Number: 234
Institution: House of Lords
Place Published: London
URL: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/41074/documents/200340/default/
Notes: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldenvcl/234/23402.htm 2nd Report of Session 2022–23
