Western Daily Press (Saturday)
We’ll put nature first in future, say ministers
Nature must be considered in major projects in years ahead, says Government. Emily Beament reports
THE Government has pledged to deliver a “nature positive” future and ensure that economic and financial decision-making delivers it, in response to a landmark report.
The Treasury outlined measures to deliver its pledge including a requirement on new nationally significant infrastructure projects to deliver a net gain for nature and ensuring all new UK bilateral aid spending does not harm nature.
It comes in response to Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta’s review of the economics of biodiversity – the diversity of life on the planet – which called for nature to be valued alongside roads, skills and profits to halt damage to the natural world that could threaten economies.
Environmental groups said there were positive measures in the Treasury’s response, but it did not deliver the fundamental transformation that was needed to reverse declines in the natural world.
The review by Prof Dasgupta for the Treasury called for a transformation that properly values nature in measures of economic success and reduces the pressure humans are putting on it.
In its response, the Treasury said it agreed with the review’s conclusion that nature ultimately sustains economies, livelihoods and wellbeing, and decisions must take into account the true value of goods and services derived from it.
The Government commits to delivering a “nature positive” future in which it leaves the environment in a better state than it found it, and reverses biodiversity loss globally by 2030, and ensuring economic and financial decision-making, systems and institutions support that move, it said.
Nature will be integrated into overseas aid by ensuring that all new UK bilateral aid spending does no harm to nature, the Treasury said.
And it said it would ensure new development leads to more nature, not less, by requiring biodiversity net gain for new nationally significant infrastructure projects in England through an amendment to the Environment Bill.
The Exchequer Secretary to the
We need fundamental reform to put nature at the heart of economic decisions RICHARD BENWELL
Treasury, Kemi Badenoch, said: “Protecting and enhancing the natural environment, and the biodiversity that underpins it, is crucial to supporting sustainable, resilient economies, livelihoods and wellbeing.
“The Government has an ambitious nature agenda and our response to the independent Dasgupta Review sets out the ways in which the Government will go further to ensure our economy supports nature and wildlife – from infrastructure at home to bilateral aid spending overseas.” As part of the delivery of net gains for nature, HS2 will aim to deliver a net gain in biodiversity for the Crewe to Manchester leg of the new high-speed railway, in a move welcomed by Tony Juniper, the chairman of government conservation agency Natural England.
He acknowledged that HS2 would result in the loss of areas of ancient woodland that could not be recreated through new planting.
And he said: “We will continue to work closely with HS2 to secure additional benefits for biodiversity, and encourage them to go further and commit to a 10 per cent gain in replaceable habitats for all phases of the scheme.”
Dr Richard Benwell, chief executive of the Wildlife and Countryside Link coalition of conservation groups, said: “Overall, the Treasury needs much more fundamental reform to put nature at the heart of economic decisions.”
He called for a firm legal deadline to end nature’s decline, and detailed plans for the extensive funding, delivery and enforcement that was needed to achieve promises to protect 30 per cent of the UK’s land and seas by 2030.
Tanya Steele, chief executive at WWF, said the Government’s response was a step in the right direction, but “it comes at a time when we need giant leaps to transform the economic and financial systems that are fuelling the global environmental crisis”.
“If this Government is serious about delivering for people and planet, it must strengthen the flagship Environment Bill to include a clear legal commitment to halt the decline of species and to restore nature – at home and overseas – by 2030.
“We also need to see Government embedding environmental considerations into every decision it makes, through for example applying a netzero test to public spending, so the economy is geared towards restoring nature, not destroying it,” she said.