Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by Butterfly Conservation (DAR 04)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  1.  Butterfly Conservation has been asked by the EFRA Committee to provide evidence on "the impact of Defra's 2006-07 budget cuts on your organisation's work". We are pleased to have this opportunity and have limited our reply to the impacts of the cuts as far as they affect our primary charitable aim: the conservation of butterflies, moths and their habitats.

  2.  Butterflies and moths are declining rapidly due to pressure of habitat degradation and climate change. Overall seven out of 10 species are declining and they are important indicators of government policy on the environment, especially the target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010.

  3.  We have divided our reply into two parts: direct effects and indirect effects.

4.  Direct effects

    —  Delays in processing applications for key sites to be entered into the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme (HLS).

    —  Staff shortages leading to stricter SSSI targeting under HLS, at the expense of non-SSSI sites. The latter are vital to the maintenance of biodiversity in the wider countryside and to meet BAP targets, as well as providing links between SSSIs to allow species to respond to climate change.

    —  Virtual cessation of care and maintenance visits to Stewardship sites by NE staff, thereby making it difficult to ensure compliance and success on the ground.

    —  Reduction in funds to ensure vital management of key habitats. Five examples are given concerning lack of funds or reduction in funding to bring key sites into favourable condition for BAP Priority Species and Habitats, including SSSIs.

5.  INDIRECT EFFECTS

    —  Negative effect on the attitude of the farming community. Our field officers are finding that there is very little confidence in Environmental Stewardship amongst landowners and a great deal of scepticism when NE makes commitments (often attributable to mistakes originally made by the RPA).

    —  Uncertainty about future grant-aid and continuation of projects beyond March 2007, has created uncertainty and caution about planning projects during the next financial year. This has an inordinate impact on crucial NGO partners such as Butterfly Conservation and their expert staff and volunteers who are crucial to help deliver BAP targets.

MAIN SUBMISSION

  1.  Butterfly Conservation has been asked by the EFRA Committee to provide evidence on "the impact of Defra's 2006-07 budget cuts on your organisation's work". We are pleased to have this opportunity and have limited our reply to the impacts of the cuts as far as they affect our primary charitable aim: the conservation of butterflies, moths and their habitats. We are not able to respond in detail on wider impacts in the time available, though many of our points have wider implications.

  2.  We have divided our response into Direct Effects and Indirect Effects.

Direct effects:

  3.  Delays in processing applications for key sites to be entered into the Higher Level Stewardship Scheme (HLS). Butterfly Conservation has several specialist advisers working with farmers to enter key breeding sites for BAP Priority Species into HLS, but many applications have been put on hold and we have not been told when or whether they will be processed. It is unclear whether this is directly due to Defra cut-backs, but it is clear that there is insufficient staff time to process applications. However, the end result is that it will be very difficult to bring sites into favourable condition and meet the 2010 and BAP targets.

  4.  Stricter SSSI targeting under HLS at expense of non-SSSI sites that are crucial to wildlife. Another impact of staff shortages is that SSSI's are being prioritised under HLS, at the expense of non-SSSI sites, many of which do not now qualify, even if they are key sites for BAP Priority Species. While this is clearly desirable to achieve the target of bringing SSSI's into favourable condition, it means that it will be more difficult to hit BAP species and Habitat targets, and achieve the 2010 target of halting biodiversity loss. In a climate change world it is vital that such non-SSSI habitats are brought into favourable condition to link up SSSIs, reduce habitat fragmentation, and allow species to respond to climate change. If this situation continues for long, SSSI will increasingly become islands that steadily leak biodiversity.

  5.  Virtual cessation of care and maintenance visits to Stewardship sites by NE staff because cut-backs have resulted in them having to focus on claims. Such visits are crucial to ensure compliance and the success of agreements, and ensure they lead to benefits for wildlife on the ground. The impact on BAP species with special requirements is most acute and our regional staff have often stepped in to help where our interests overlap.

  6.  Reduction in funds to ensure vital management of key habitats.

  Five examples:

    (a)  Lack of funds to fence at least two important wildlife sites in Devon (Great Tree Farm and Waye Cross Farm) which are habitats for BAP Priority butterflies such as Marsh Fritillary. The result is that grazing in these sites cannot be controlled, and one site has been undergrazed, and the other overgrazed as a result, leading to very unfavourable conditions for wildlife.

    (b)  Disruption to planned management of a key block of common land (West Down) on Dartmoor, one of the last remaining habitats for the High Brown Fritillary butterfly. A WES agreement has been set up and scrub is planned to be cleared over a five year period. However, because of the cut-backs, it is unclear whether the money will be available for this financial year. (Although we have heard that some may become available at the last minute).

    (c)  Lack of funds to pay for essential management and scrub control on Braithwaite Moss SSSI, Cumbria, to bring into favourable condition and restore habitats for the Marsh Fritillary.

    (d)  Reduction in funds for coppicing that is essential to maintain favourable condition on woodland NNRs in Cumbria and maintain breeding habitat for BAP Priority Species such as the High Brown Fritillary and Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

    (e)  Major reduction in planned management to ensure favourable condition of a major heathland block in Bournemouth, Town Common, a reserve managed by the Herpetological Conservation Trust. Originally £70K had been budgeted to clear scrub and restore heathland under Natural England Wildlife Enhancement Scheme but this has been reduced to £10K.

Indirect Effects

  7.  Negative effect on the attitude of the farming community. This is a highly significant indirect effect of the cuts from our perspective. Our field officers are finding that there is very little confidence in Environmental Stewardship amongst landowners and a great deal of scepticism when NE makes commitments (often attributable to RPA mistakes). This can be countered to some degree by the work of our field staff but a huge amount of damage has been done. When (or if) the budgetary problems are resolved a positive publicity campaign must be launched to restore some confidence. It is our experience that BAP priority habitats in the wider countryside are not protected by cross compliance or EIA so what is their future if renewals from CS to HLS are low and are set to remain so (we understand the national average is less than 20%).

  8.  Uncertainty about future grant-aid and continuation of projects beyond March 2007. Although the cut-backs announced so far only affect the current financial year, they have created uncertainty and caution about planning projects during the next financial year. Consequently it has become far more difficult to plan ahead and ensure the continuity of effort that is so vital to maintain progress with conserving biodiversity. This has an especially significant impact on NGOs such as Butterfly Conservation who have had long term Memoranda of Understanding with English Nature (inherited by Natural England), and rely on long term grant aid, for example under the Species Recovery Programme. All the existing MOUs and grants cease at the end of March 2007 (including our own) and it is unclear whether they will be renewed. In January we will have to issue statutory redundancy notices to the staff working under these projects. It will also be impossible to ensure the continuity of large numbers of expert volunteer who are vital in adding enormous value to the grant aid and to meeting the BAP targets. Similarly the Reserves Enhancement Scheme is being wound up even though this has been a crucial mechanism to bring many hundreds of nature reserves owned by NGOs into favourable condition. The intention is to replace with HLS agreements, but because of the points made under sections 1 and 2, this is often impossible and will reduce our ability to reach biodiversity targets within our reserves. In conclusion, the current climate of uncertainty is thus prejudicing achievement of biodiversity targets by creating a climate of uncertainty and delay.

Butterfly Conservation

November 2006





 
previous page contents next page

House of Commons home page Parliament home page House of Lords home page search page enquiries index

© Parliamentary copyright 2007
Prepared 23 February 2007