When Green Doesn't Mean Go - DEFRA's Nature Recovery Green Paper

Our initial response to DEFRA's nature recovery green paper and targets, by Andy Bool - CEO 

Please find the Mammal Society's full submitted response to the Government's consultation on the Nature Recovery Green paper here. 

DEFRA recently published consultations on its green paper on nature recovery and environmental targets. These consultations run until 11th May and we will be responding and highlighting what we believe needs to be included in any future white paper to make it effective.

We are in a climate and biodiversity emergency and urgent conservation action is required to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss in Britain.  Our Red List for Britain’s Mammals published in 2020 showed that one quarter of our native mammal species are at risk of extinction. We need to act quickly to prevent that risk from becoming reality.

Whilst the green paper does ask the right questions in how can species and site protection be improved, it unfortunately falls short on both targets and meaningful solutions. A few of our initial concerns are:

• There seems to be too much of a focus on simplifying procedures rather than on actual solutions themselves. Ironically, this process of simplifying procedures will likely take much needed time and focus away from actual working solutions between now and 2030. 
• It could also result in a weakening of the existing protections and safeguards that exist. One particular example of this is the proposed shift in designation of sites away from nature conservation bodies themselves to minister/s – potentially opening up designation to political rather than evidence based decision making.
• It’s also not really clear how the new proposals assess the needs of species for which we have almost no current evidence. We have concerns over this for mammal species in particular. Species like the harvest mouse are considered widespread and common but their true conservation status is unknown – something we at the Mammal Society are trying to address through our ongoing harvest mouse survey.

Overall we echo a number of the thoughts of Wildlife and Countryside Link, of which we are a member:

On the green paper:

• It’s right to consider how the protection for sites and species can be strengthened.
• We welcome some elements: proposals for statutory site improvement plans, stronger penalties for wildlife crime, and ideas for a new Nature Recovery Network designation.
• But the proposals in the paper would not constitute the improvements for sites and species needed for nature’s recovery by 2030.
• The proposals include clear risks of removing key elements of the Habitats Regulations site protection process, and protection for species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

On the targets:

• We welcome the focus on the 2030 species abundance target as an “apex target”.
• But the long-term wildlife target must be ambitious enough to truly “pass on nature in a better condition”. As written, species abundance could at best take 20 years to get back to 2022 levels, and may actually be lower in 2042 than it is today.
• We need a protected sites target to restore SSSIs to favourable condition. As written, there is no target to improve the condition of SSSIs.

The Mammal Society will be responding to the consultations and we would encourage you to do the same – either as an individual or for your organisation.