Select Committee on Environmental Audit Written Evidence


Annex

Stolen from the Wild

  Stolen from the Wild is a new national campaign to raise awareness about the little known crime of stealing wild plants for commercial and private use. The Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW), which includes all organisations for wildlife crime enforcement in the UK, is distributing postcards of bluebells with the message: Stolen from the Wild, warning the public that many favourite garden bulbs such as bluebells and snowdrops, moss for hanging baskets or Christmas wreaths, and rare plants such as the Scottish Primrose, are taken in significant quantities from the wild, and could endanger species.

  The PAW campaign has been organised by Scottish Natural Heritage, the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife Scotland and Strathclyde Police, with funding from the Scottish Executive. The postcards are aimed at the general public—particularly gardeners—and will be distributed through conservation organisations, public visitor centres and garden centres. In the longer term, PAW hopes to develop guidelines with garden centres to ensure that products are bought from sustainable sources.

Problems facing bluebells and other native plants

  In March 2003, the UK's favourite flower was announced as the bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), following Plantlife's County Flowers campaign, when everyone was encouraged to vote for their favourite flower. This celebration of the bluebell reflects the high esteem in which the plant is held and increases demand for native bluebells both in the countryside and in our gardens. However, up to 50% of the world's bluebells grow in the UK, so we have an obligation to protect them. A number of other native plants are similarly wanted for the garden.

  These plants are facing a number of threats. For the native bluebell, for example, the three biggest threats are unsustainable collection, genetic pollution through interbreeding with the non native species, the Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) and climate change:

  1.  Unsustainable collection: bluebells, snowdrops and primroses are all in demand for the garden. Significant sums can be generated from the collection of wild bulbs, which are therefore sometimes targeted by bulb diggers, not all of whom are collecting legally. In 1998, the native bluebell was listed on Schedule 8 of the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981, which protects it from exploitation for commercial sale. Snowdrop is protected under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In addition, where permission of the landowner has not been obtained for collection, bulb and plant collection is recognised as theft. Since 1998 there have been a number of successful prosecutions for stealing bluebell bulbs, where the permission of the land owner had not been obtained. Schedule 8 protection applies throughout the UK, and in 2000 with the Countryside and Rights of Way Act for England and Wales, penalties for wild plant crime were increased and included custodial sentences. The current draft Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill supports similar legislation for Scotland.

  2.  Genetic pollution through hybridisation: current legislation means that it is difficult for suppliers to source native bluebell bulbs for sale. It is more usual to see Spanish bluebells for sale. However, Spanish bluebells cross breed with the native bluebell and produce fertile hybrids. This means that the genetic status of the native bluebell is threatened as hybrids become increasingly widespread. The current bluebell survey being run by Plantlife, called Bluebells for Britain, aims to track the extent of Spanish, hybrid and native bluebells and to assess the significance of the problem in hybridisation and the resulting decline in native bluebells.

  3.  Climate change: if current predictions about wetter winters and hot, dry summers are realised, then the bluebell and other woodland plants may be threatened by resulting changes to their habitat. Warmer winters are also allowing competitive plants such as garlic mustard and cow parsley to start leaf growth earlier in the year, so that bulbs, including bluebells and snowdrops, are losing their advantage in setting growth early.

How you can help

  Through the Stolen from the Wild campaign, partners of the Partnership Against Wildlife Crime are encouraging people to take action. For bluebells and other woodland plants, there are a number of things that members of the public can do:

    —  Check sources of bulbs and double check that they have not been sourced illegally from the wild by asking your supplier and consulting Fauna & Flora International's Good Bulb Guide, available at www.fauna-flora.org or tel 01223 571000.

    —  Use non moss alternatives or moss raked from your lawn instead of buying moss to line baskets or mulch pot plants.

    —  Never plant or dump garden plants in the countryside.

    —  Always compost excess garden material carefully.

    —  Do not allow garden plants to colonise natural environments.

    —  Keep up to date on information about potentially damaging non-native species, like the Spanish bluebell, and avoid buying them.

  For suppliers, there are a number of actions that reflect responsible sales and would help to protect native plants like the bluebell:

    —  Check sources of bulbs in particular and other plants that may have been gathered from the wild within the UK and beyond. This includes mosses for example. Retailers should take care to ensure that bulbs sold are appropriately sourced from native stock grown under licence in nurseries.

    —  Consider signing up to the joint Flora locale / Plantlife code of practice for collectors, growers and suppliers of wild flora. For more information see www.floralocale.org

  For more information on wild plant crime contact:

  Sarah Roe, Scottish Natural Heritage on tel 0131 446 2270 or see www.snh.org.uk and www.plantlife.org.uk






 
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