Supplementary Memorandum by the Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds (B10 22(a))
1. This supplementary memorandum provides
further information in support of some of the points made in oral
evidence to the Sub-Committee on 23 May 2000.
THE BENEFITS
OF HABITAT
RE-CREATION
2. In oral evidence, we expressed the view
that investment towards meeting the biodiversity targets contained
in the UK BAP costed species and habitat plans would not only
make a vital contribution to biodiversity conservation, and thereby
the UK Government's implementation of the UN Convention on Biological
Diversity, but also provide a foundation for the achievement of
wider social, economic and health objectives.
3. Indeed, the RSPB believes that there
is a strong case for some targets to be increased. We have urged
Government to announce a significant increase in habitat restoration
and re-creation through the Rural White Paper for England. In
our Rural White Paper submission, we called for the area of lowland
heathland to be doubled to 64,000 ha by 2020, compared to a BAP
target to recreate 5,400 ha. We estimate the extra cost of this
work to be £67 million between now and 2020—approximately
£3.5 million per year.
4. We would also like to see large-scale
re-creation of other habitats, going well beyond BAP targets for
downland, wet grassland, upland heath, reedbeds and lowland woodland.
We calculate £20 million would be required per annum, additional
to current core nature conservation expenditure (this includes
the heathland figure above).
5. We believe this short to medium term
expenditure can be provided at relatively little cost to the Treasury
by the more considered allocation of existing funds. In the medium
to long term, this investment should realise substantial and widespread
public gain, and may even result in some savings to the Treasury.
6. Examples of the benefits habitat restoration
and re-creation should provide include:
— Support to local economies.
For example, nature reserves in North Norfolk make a valuable
direct contribution to the local economy including direct employment
of 35 actual jobs (26.5 Full Time Equivilent, FTE jobs); indirectly,
a further four FTE jobs as a result of spending by reserves and
their employees and £137,000 spent on local goods and services.
Extra spending by visitors to these reserves in the local economy
provides additional benefits: for example Titchwell Marsh an extra
£1.81 million per year spent in the local economy, supporting
39 direct and indirect FTE jobs; and Cley Marshes an extra £2.45
million per year supporting 52 FTE jobs.[1]
In Dorset, the activities of statutory and voluntary
organisations involved in the management and restoration of heathland
in 1995-96 involved direct expenditure of at least £1.2 million
and supported a minimum of 67 FTE jobs through a combination of
direct employment and conservation, visitor and employee expenditures.[2]
Much of this spend was within the Greater Purbeck Rural Development
Area—an area recognised to have economic and social problems.
Habitat restoration work is but one element of
a growing environment based economic sector: in south west England,
for example, environment related economic activity contributes
c100,000 jobs and £1.6 billion to the regional economy—some
5-10 per cent of the region's GDP.[3]
— Leisure opportunities. Open
country habitats include some of our most attractive landscapes
and are treasured for leisure use by the public, for walking,
picnics and quiet recreation. Wildlife watching is now a major
leisure activity for many people, providing much enjoyment and
spiritual refreshment. The North Norfolk study identified birds
and wildlife as the main reason for 34 per cent of the people
(115,000) visiting six sites, and a factor influencing the decision
to visit of 59 per cent (200,000 people). Participation in birdwatching
in the UK may be as high as 5.5 million people.[4]
Wildlife watching requires accessible areas with biodiversity
interest. The open country land types to which a statutory right
of access is to be provided in England and Wales under the Countryside
and Rights of Way Bill are also of high biodiversity interest
(over one-third have been notified as SSSI). Expansion of these
habitats will therefore provide additional access land, whilst
helping to attain biodiversity objectives, as acknowledged by
the statutory agencies responsible for biodiversity conservation
and public enjoyment of the countryside.[5]
— Health benefits. Habitat restoration
provides a foundation for improvement in the human quality of
life and direct savings in health expenditure.
Wildlife habitats provide some of the
most rewarding opportunities for a whole range of compatible recreational
activities including cycling, horse-riding and walking. From the
sights and sounds of a bluebell wood in spring to the purple haze
of autumnal heathland, the natural world provides us with inspiration
and relaxation. Woods, wetlands, heaths and downs provide us with
a welcome antidote to stressful and sedentary lifestyles.
Increasing physical activity is vital
to improving the nation's health. At present, people are, on average,
walking 1 per cent less in distance each year. Inactivitiy is
resulting in poorer health. For example, mortality is 50 per cent
less in those retired men who walk 2 miles per day. Stroke risk
is three times higher in the absence of exercise (cost £2
billion per annum). The risk of bowel disease is reduced by 40
per cent; the risk of Alzheimer's disease is also reduced—which
currently costs the nation £4 billion per year to manage.
Heart disease costs the nation some £858 million per year.
Government targets for reducing the incidence of these diseases
can only be met through increasing physical activity.[6]
Sending people to indoor gyms doesn't
work for many people: the drop out rate is 80 per cent within
six weeks of starting a fitness programme, because people do not
feel motivated to continue. Initiatives such as the British Heart
Foundation/Countryside Agency and BHF/CCW "Walking the Way
to Health" projects and the British Trust for Conservation
Volunteers' "Green Gym" have demonstrated how the countryside
is a vital motivator in encouraging people not only to take up
physical exercise, but to sustain it.
This has been recognised by Government.
In July 1998, Health Minister, Tessa Jowell, stated that she would
"like to see Health Walks develop into a network across the
country in support of our ideas for Healthy Living Centres".
In June 2000, the New Opportunities Fund announced a £6.4
million grant to the BHF/CA to support the development of 200
community-based "walking for health" schemes. Much more
can be done to realise this concept by not only giving people
confidence to utilise the countryside for physical activity, and
providing access routes and land; but also by enhancing the quality
of the countryside which provides the basic motivator for people
to participate. Delivery of BAP habitat and species recovery objectives
will help coincidentally to provide many of the countryside features
and species which people value. Thus, inclusion of the "skylark"
farmland bird index as one of the Government's Quality of Life
indicators[7]
provides a more direct measure of environmental quality than was
perhaps first anticipated: not only for wildlife, but for people
as a measure of the quality of the countryside experience.
FINANCING HABITAT
RE-CREATION
7. In para 4, we estimated some £20
million per annum was required to deliver a meaningful habitat
recreation programme. There are many sources which have the potential
to provide substantial levels of funding, by delivering or refocusing
expenditure towards habitat re-creation work. These include:
— Statutory conservation agency SSSI
management agreement payments;
— Agriculture department agri-environment
schemes (especially by increasing the money available by transferring
expenditure from direct agricultural subsidies to agri-environment
schemes, through modulation, from 2.5 per cent in 2000 to 20 per
cent by 2005);
— Switching Environment Agency flood
defence expenditure from "hard" flood defence work to
"soft", flexible, natural wetland based options;
— Use of Forestry Commission budgets
to support heathland restoration through tree removal from poorly
located plantations and further investment in lowland native woodland
planting and management;
— Use of Ministry of Defence funds
to facilitate habitat management and restoration work on training
areas within their management, which includes important heathlands,
chalk grassland and upland habitats;
— National Lottery funds to continue
to deliver both capital and revenue biodiversity projects;
— Developing innovative sources of
funding: Landfill Tax, as well as influencing waste generation,
has also raised important sources of revenue for environmental
schemes, including nature conservation. The announced Aggregates
Tax, through its associated Sustainability Fund also offers potential
revenue for environmental improvements, which we believe should
include national and local biodiversity conservation projects;
— European Union sources, including
use of Structural Funds to recreate habitats where this is shown
to provide economic benefits by promoting recreation/tourism or
promoting inward investment by enhancing environmental quality,
and the EU LIFE fund;
— The private sector, especially from
companies which are also major land owners (such as the water
companies) and through private sector "Champions" for
Biodiversity Action Plans.
We acknowledge that some agences may find it
difficult to embrace this concept: Government encouragement may
be required. In a few instances, we anticipate agency priorities
may require attention as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review
process.
CONCLUSION
8. We are confident that investment in habitat
re-creation of the scale proposed would deliver a measurable improvement
in environmental quality—for wildlife and people.
23 June 2000
1 RSPB (2000). Valuing Norfolk's Coast Environment,
Wildlife, Tourism, Quality of Life. RSPB, Norwich. Back
2
Rayment M (1997), Working with Nature in Britain: Case Studies
of Nature Conservation, Employment and Local Economies, RSPB. Back
3
de Winton T and Robins M (1999). An Environmental Prospectus
for South West England: Linking the Economy and the Environment.
Published by Environment Agency and RSPB for the SW Environment
Prospectus Group. Back
4
Gallop poll commissioned by EMAP Pursuit Publications 1986. Back
5
See, for example, para 3.3 in "Countryside Agency, Countryside
Council for Wales, English Nature, Environment Agency and Forestry
Commission (2000). Improving access to woods, watersides and the
coast. A joint report to Government on the options for change.
Countryside Agency". Back
6
We acknowledge Dr William Bird's provision of these statistics,
originally in his presentation "Walking in Health" to
a Countryside Commission conference held in December 1998: "Countryside
Access: An Integrated Approach". Back
7
DETR (1999). Quality of Life Counts. Indicators for sustainable
development in the United Kingdom: a baseline assessment. Government
Statistical Service. Back
|
