House of Commons - Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Sixth Report

3 How the Government is addressing these problems

26. In its evidence, Defra described the action that it and other Government departments are taking to improve marine environmental protection.[26] In this section, we briefly outline those steps that we consider to be most significant.

Marine Stewardship Report

27. The Government published its first Marine Stewardship Report, Safeguarding our Seas, in 2002. In it, the Government endorsed the use of an ecosystem approach, which is "the integrated management of human activities based on knowledge of ecosystem dynamics to achieve sustainable use of ecosystem goods and services and maintenance of ecosystem integrity". The Government said the new approach was more strategic and placed the emphasis on maintaining the health of ecosystems, in contrast to past management of oceans which "has often been fragmented, sectorally-based and driven by short-term economic gain". The sentiments and vision outlined in the report were largely welcomed by witnesses to our inquiry, but some questioned whether the Government had created a framework for delivering its objectives and whether the whole Government had signed up to the goals of marine stewardship and the ecosystem approach.

Review of Development in Marine and Coastal Waters

28. The Government is conducting a review of the consenting procedures for developments in coastal and marine waters.[27] The Minister in charge is Lord Rooker in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Review is being undertaken by a unit in the Department for Transport. The Review's objective is "to reduce the complexity of the regime governing development in coastal and marine waters". It "aims to make it easier for business to operate in the sea, ensuring that the Government's objectives for the protection of the marine environment can be met and preventing unnecessary interference with other legitimate uses of the sea".[28] The Review has taken longer than expected to reach a conclusion, which has caused concern, but is due to report this year.[29]

Review of Marine Nature Conservation and Irish Sea Pilot Project

29. In 1999, Defra established a Review of Marine Nature Conservation (RMNC) to examine how effectively the system for protecting nature conservation in the marine environment was working, and make proposals for improvements. A cross-sectoral Working Group was convened to undertake the Review, with a sub-group looking at the current legislative framework.

30. The RMNC's interim report and recommendations were produced in March 2001. As a result a pilot project is being carried out in the Irish Sea.[30] The pilot is testing the application of the ecosystem approach to managing the marine environment and examining how broad conservation objectives can be set and ways in which they can be achieved.[31] Defra says the pilot

is demonstrating the application of new concepts and examining how far the conservation management needed within the pilot area could be delivered through existing mechanisms. This includes the identification of those parts of the regional sea ecosystem that are of nature conservation value or importance. It is also examining how to integrate nature conservation into key sectors to make an effective contribution to sustainable development on a regional basis.[32]

31. The pilot project is due to report in spring this year. It is expected to make recommendations about best practice in managing the seas, about possible changes in the current legislative framework, governance and enforcement arrangements, about the development of protocols to identify nationally important sites, species and habitats, and a set of strategic goals for marine nature conservation.[33]

Strategic Environmental Assessment

32. The RSPB describes Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as "a systematic process for evaluating the environmental consequences of policies, plans and programmes".[34] The European Union has adopted a Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive.[35] Defra told us that the Directive "focuses mainly on plans or programmes which set frameworks for development consent of individual projects, and will apply where their preparation formally begins after 21 July 2004" and will "set new standards of rigour in environmental assessment at levels above that of the individual project".[36]

33. Defra informed us that, although the Directive has not yet come into force, the Department of Trade and Industry

has been undertaking a series of SEAs for the offshore oil and gas sector based on the requirements of the Directive […] the work commenced in 2000 and covers the entire UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) with the UKCS divided into eight regions. The first three SEAs have now been completed with a target date of 2007 for the whole project. In the last year a separate offshore renewables SEA process has merged with the oil and gas initiative and the remaining SEAs will cover all offshore energy.[37]

34. The offshore SEA initiative requires a budget of £2.5 million for each year of its life. However the Government hopes that the data collected will be of use in other marine SEA work.

Action in conjunction with other countries

35. In its memorandum, Defra outlined work that the Government is doing with its international partners.[38] In relation to biodiversity, for example, OSPAR countries have established criteria for identifying threatened and declining species and have adopted an initial list based on these criteria. There is also a proposal for the development of a network of protected areas by 2010.[39]

36. At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, more than 180 states agreed to "a package of targets to better protect and manage the world's seas", which includes application of the ecosystem approach by 2010 and the establishment of a representative network of marine protected areas by 2012.[40]

37. The European Commission and European Union Member States are working on a "thematic strategy for the protection and conservation of the Marine Environment", which among other matters, will develop the ecosystem approach.[41]

26 Ev 112-113 Back

27 Ev 112-1113 Back

28 http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_shipping/documents/page/dft_shipping_505276.hcsp Back

29 Ev 113, Qq74, 312,318 Back

30 Ev 113 Back

31 Ev 44 Back

32 Ev 113 Back

33 Ev 113 Back

34 Ev 8 Back

35 Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment Back

36 Ev 114-115 Back

37 Ev 115 Back