NATURE

UK policies should be for the long-term benefit of nature and wildlife supplement shortages when there is drought. We have to stop building on floodplains and manage them to flood in a controlled way by planting retaining hedges and increasing the number of seasonal ponds. All well and good until you look at farming subsidies, planning permissions, etc. All subsidies should depend on signing up to stewardship agreements that reward hedge planting and upland deciduous forestry. Flood plains need national designation and planning permissions need to be subject to overall national aims. Farming should, be about the nation feeding itself and protecting the land and wildlife. Organic farming should no longer be seen as a health or fringe issue but as integrated into the national plan to conserve and in some places re-wild this land. Power production should be integrated so that harnessing the power of our rivers, wind and the sea is wildlife-friendly. Our plan must start putting right what we have been getting wrong for two generations. Short-term profit is creating long-term poverty. Bo Beolens runs fatbirder.com and other websites. He has written a number of books