Last week, the latest UK Biodiversity Indicators were published. Did you see the government press release about them? Did you hear Defra ministers quizzed about them on every news bulletin through the day?
I’m keener on th ‘stqate’ indicators (ones that are about real biodiverity numbers) than the ‘pressure’ or ‘response’ indicators, although there is no getting away from the fact that without some money we aren’t going to save much biodiversity. The earliest blog post in this short series did show though, that agri-environment schemes have not worked well enough despite the investment in them.
It is however striking though that government spend on natre cosnervation has plummetted;
You’d think that the continuing decline in UK biodiversity might merit increased spend and increased effort (and a concentration on the things that matter) but no, across the UK we are spending less and proportionately less too, than we did when the Tories took control of our environmental future. NGOs are spending more but their rise in spend does not compensate (and shouldn’t) for the dereliction of environmental duty shown by this government.
We are spending more abroad, because our house is so well in order (not!):
We volunteers are spending more time;
And there are more data:
But we are failing to conserve priority species:
And we aren’t managing priority habitats well enough:
And even protected sites are in poor condition with only half of them in favourable condition and that figure having declined a smidgeon over the years:
I can see why Defra doesn’t shout these results from the rooftops but where is the NGO howl of rage?
See earlier blog post about the indicators in general and farmland wildlife in particular. And another about the marine environment.
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Truly appalling, and yes, the NGOs should be howling in outrage.
If they howl with rage, they might lose their grant in aid. However, this government has days to go so maybe they have nothing to lose by making a but of noise.