At last! A serious and detailed plan for nature from a political party; 46 pages on how government can, and a Labour government would, save nature.
Here are some quotes, rather a lot of quotes, from the document followed by my analysis of whether it is any good or not. I am pretty sure that there are more words in Labour’s nature plan than there are in the whole of the Conservative election manifesto (as well as fewer photographs of B. Johnson) which some people will hate but I love.
Our plan is designed for England but we recognise that we live in an island ecosystem. We will work with the additionally funded devolved government administrations of Scotland and Wales to ensure that nature recovery networks are developed to extend across the entire island of Great Britain and adjacent islands. We will fund a restored Northern Ireland Assembly to develop cross border arrangements with the Republic of Ireland. We also will work with Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and our European neighbours on all our marine and avian nature restoration plans
https://labour.org.uk/labours-environment-manifesto/ Page 8
A Labour government will reignite the founding spirit of the ten National Parks of England by giving them the task and additional new purpose of delivering nature restoration, along with new protections for the habitats and species found in them.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 7
10 new National Parks will be created under a single National Nature Parks Authority. Labour will propose and consult on the locations and establish the authority with an annual budget rising to £50 million a year to manage ten new parks in England.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 9
The National Nature Parks will increase our National Parks’ land coverage by 50% and to ensure that by 2030 75% of the English population lives within half an hour of a National Park or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Criteria for the selection of the new Nature Parks will include:
– current state of environmental degradation
– potential for carbon sequestration
– potential for biodiversity net gain
– existing management planning capacity
– accessibility and proximity to urban populations
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 9
Healthy peat bogs and wet upland moors are important stores for carbon. To help restore degraded peatlands to their natural state we will end the harvesting of peat and the burning of moors or blanket bog. We will establish an independent review of the habitat degradation and fire risks caused by grouse shoot management arrangements with a view to new restrictive licensing arrangements or other regulatory controls.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 13
The Climate Change Committee advises that to meet our 2050 international climate obligations we will need to plant across Britain a new forest the combined size of Norfolk and Suffolk. Labour will invest £2.5 billion over its first term to plant 300 million trees in Britain, with a target of reaching one billion new trees planted across Britain by 2030, and two billion by 2040. We will plant mixed native woodlands and enlarge commercial forestry to support housebuilding and other industries.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 13
Some of our plans will be delivered under framework agreements with the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales . The Scottish Government is already planting 10,000 ha each year, rising to 15,000 from 2024/25. The Welsh Assembly Government is planting 2,000 ha each year with the aim of adding 100,000 ha by 2030. Consequential funding from our investments will allow both to raise ambitions, as we also set out more ambitious targets for England.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 13-14
10 million tonnes of food is wasted each year, a quarter of all food purchased, costing £20bn and equivalent to 20 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 15
Labour will establish a People’s Access to Food Fund and review our food system under the governance of a National Food Commission. We will work across government to ensure our national diets become healthier and more sustainable, setting dietary and nutritional standards for hospital, school and prison meals, resetting food procurement standards and reviewing the food distribution and retail sectors. We will review food labelling with the aim of reducing harmful food consumption.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 15
Farmers have the ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions including methane and ammonia by changing common agricultural practises. They can manage feedstuffs, slurry and other waste differently.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 15
We will reform farm payments to reward the provision of public goods and promote environmentally sustainable land management systems, with more organic matter in soils, the restoration of natural environments, protections to habitats and wildlife and the provision of affordable, healthy, sustainably sourced food for everyone. Enhanced soil carbon storage in our farms could deliver GHG savings of 5mt CO2/year. Increasing woodland plantings could deliver savings of 0.7mtCO2/year. More managed hedgerows could deliver 0.5mtCO2/year.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 16
New classes of insecticides introduced in the last 20 years, including neonicotinoids and fipronil, appear to have been particularly damaging to insect life, sterilising soils and killing insect grubs. 75% of insect losses recorded in Germany have been in protected areas adjacent to farmlands.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 17
Our plans to reform British farming and farmlands will be financed by funds derived from:
• either the English portion of the British contribution to the EU Common Agricultural Policy payments
• or from our share of the structural fund payments received
This will be decided only in accordance with the final say of the British people in a legally binding referendum that will take place within the first six months of a Labour Government.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 18
Our final funding allocations to support the transformation of British farming are dependent on two imminent negotiations: the renegotiated terms of UK withdrawal to be completed within three months of a Labour government and the EU Budget negotiations in 2020. Either or both of these may adjust levels of domestic expenditure.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 18
Labour will reassert our domestic and international commitments to maintain healthy fish stocks and enable the sustainable management of shared resources in co-operation with international partners. We will pursue our fair share of fisheries in an environmentally responsible manner, more successfully. We will agree with our neighbours in and out of the EU maximum sustainable yield management plans for all shared fish stocks and we will maintain all agreed and demonstrably successful conservation measures. We will continue to develop actions to eliminate fisheries by-catch, including the incidental capture and drowning of seabirds, cetaceans and other marine wildlife in fishing gear.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 19
The English zone of the UK Exclusive Economic Area is a comparatively small part of a single, connected global ocean system. Our plans to expand offshore wind farms will require a review of Marine Spatial Planning arrangements. We will not permit expansion of marine extractions or dredging industries in the North Sea. We will establish new Marine National Parks and consult on candidates including Lundy and the Farne Islands. We will extend the network of marine protected areas (SACs).
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 20
The loss of ecosystem services for not implementing these laws is not accounted for, anywhere. We will work to progress the ways of better accounting for the true cost of business practises and environmental protections.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 21
Polluted air contributes to more than 40,000 premature deaths every year. Air pollution harms our natural environment by reducing biodiversity and poisoning both our water and our soils. It also limits crop yields. The current quality of the air we breathe breaches legal requirement standards for emissions of nitrous oxides, with direct harms done to children’s health around schools in our urban centres. Labour will introduce a new Clean Air Act enshrining the World Health Organisation’s advisory air quality standards into domestic law.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 23
All of England’s rivers and lakes were required to have achieved good ecological status by 2015 but by 2016 only 14% of our rivers and 16% of our lakes met this standard The Tories have deferred publication of the scheduled 2019 water quality assessments until after the general election. The water quality monitoring regime has seen resources halved since 2010 and in one study polluting plastics were found in every river tested.
We will restore and enhance our water environments with actions to ensure 50% of England’s rivers and lakes meet the standard of good ecological status by 2027
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 23
There are 275 Special Protected Areas for birdlife in the United Kingdom, including 82 sites covering 860,000 ha in England. The continuing population declines of bird species suggest that the level of protection afforded for birds is inadequate.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 24
Greater, interacting and more holistic responses will be required to restore the natural balances which support birdlife. As a first step, we will implement recommendations from the third review of Special Protected Areas, including measures to protect the Little Egret, the reintroduced Osprey, White-tailed Eagle and Red Kite, and non-breeding gulls and raptors in coastal areas.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 25
Urbanisation, artificial light pollution and climate change are all significant drivers of the insect population collapses but it is intensive agriculture that is the main driver of the declines, particularly the heavy use of pesticides.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 26
In 1950 there were an estimated 36 million hedgehogs in the UK. Reports now suggest that the hedgehog population had dropped to just one million by 2013.
…
Our Plan for Nature will provide connecting corridors in rural and urban hedgehog habitats.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 27
We will support the red squirrel conservation projects in the Isle of Wight and Cumbria, and monitor the reintroduction of pine martens in the Forest of Dean and Northern England. We will set aside areas of our enlarged forestry plantations and replanted native woodlands to provide suitable habitats for squirrel and pine martens populations.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 27
Protecting and sustainably managing natural habitats is the most efficient way of protecting the flora and fauna adapted to lie in them, and the fastest route to net biodiversity gain. Our Plan for Nature prioritises investment in the restoration of saltmarsh, peatbog, grasslands and mixed woodland habitats. These offer the greatest combined return on our investments for net biodiversity gain and rapid carbon storage. Peatbogs and saltmarshes are among the habitats with the greatest proportion of sites rated as unfavourable and declining in environmental status.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 28
Labour will – at least – maintain all the habitat protection and nature restoration efforts in the other vulnerable habitats found within existing UK Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCIs) included in the Bern Convention’s Emerald Network of protected areas. These include the Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protected Areas in the network of Natura 2000 sites, as well as Ramsar Convention sites to protect wetlands and marine special areas of conservation.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 28
Our aim is to go further than maintain current efforts. We will also consider strengthening the management requirements for all existing protected sites and assess the case for establishing new sites to protect more vulnerable habitats.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 28
Labour will boost the funding to Defra agencies and arms-length bodies by a combined annual total of £70m, to be focused on securing additional environmental science research, monitoring, evaluation and advice to government. Natural England will receive more than half of the additional funds to deliver expanded and restored monitoring and evaluation of the natural environment. Our selection and designation of candidate sites for nature restoration, carbon storage and biodiversity net gain will be evidence based.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 29
In 1949, when Labour first established the National Parks in our radical Access to the Countryside Act, it was one part of a broad sweep of new laws which opened up the best of our nation to everyone, from all walks of life. 70 years later, we still retain our commitment to the principle of access to the best of our common inheritance, for all.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 31
Meat and dairy products form part of a healthy, balanced diet but a recent Lancet report recommends a reduction of red, white and processed meat consumption by as much as 80% from current levels. We will ask Public Health England to review dietary health guidelines in, in line with scientific and nutritional advice
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 31
20 million recreational angling and game fishing days a year support 27,000 full time jobs and are all dependant on the maintenance of healthy water environments. Safe sailing and boating requires effective marine spatial planning, keeping recreational boaters out of shipping access lanes around our ports and away from other hazards. The coastal path, traditional rights of way and the right to roam that we will champion provide ramblers and visitors with healthy walking and climbing opportunities.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 32
Many people, especially young people, are concerned about the degradation of the natural environment and what it means for the future. Understanding nature and our human role in environmental management is a task for everyone. We are cheered and reassured by the enthusiasm of younger generations for sustainable, forward looking environmental policies, and by a different future relationship between human society and the natural world.
We still need to address the harms done by the prevalent commercial attitudes which simply seek to remove the natural environment from the equation whenever it is considered to be an obstacle to more efficient – meaning more profitable – business practises.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 33
We will end the unnecessary cull of this protected species [Badgers].
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 33
The return of Ospreys to Loch Garten and the successful reintroduction of Red Kites to the Chiltern Hills demonstrate how the sustained management of nature restoration can capture the public imagination and harness the efforts of volunteers. We will review all the options for species reintroduction.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf
The licensed reintroduction of Devon’s wild beavers on the River Otter expires in March 2020. What will happen after that? We will review the evidence on the beavers’ impact on water quality, wildlife and the surrounding landscape, farms and communities. Wildlife has thrived where beavers have returned elsewhere in Europe
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 34
We will encourage participatory decision making, establishing local citizens assemblies across the country to debate and bring agreement on the way forward, including in areas such as the carbon emissions associated with lifestyle choices like diet, travel and our throwaway culture.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 35
Labour will transform our economy by investing in our critical infrastructure. We need to ensure that proper account is taken of the environmental impacts. Under the Conservatives, the profit and cost of such developments always override environmental concerns, which is what has given rise to approvals for the destruction of ancient woodlands along the route of HS2, an inadequately mitigated proposal for Heathrow expansion and the imminent insect catastrophe that is risked by Tilbury Phase 2.
Labour’s plans are different. We will fully integrate environmental considerations into our planning systems and develop better assessment tools to avoid environmental harm and gain biodiversity. We will establish clear mitigation standards for any unavoidable harms, including nature restoration requirements \ as projects complete.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 37
We will ensure we meet our international obligations under the Aarhus Convention to ensure participation in environmental decision making.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 37
We will review all the environmental impact assessments for development consents on land and at sea, focusing on the standards and rigour of assessments so that they can take better account of the wider environmental effects and urgency of the climate and environment emergency.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 37
[The Green Belt] is an imperfect tool for environmental management but remains a considerable asset for nature, and in particular for improving access to nature. It represents what can be achieved with an effective adaptation of our planning system.
Labour will reframe Green Belts. We will introduce a new primary purpose into the planning framework recognising the role they play in adapting to and mitigating against climate change. The policy framework will be underpinned by a new measurement of the economic and environmental benefits of the vital natural capital and ecosystem support provided by Green Belts
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page38
Improved management of our roadside verges, rail lines and canal paths will provide natural corridors, including spaces for additional wildflower meadows
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 38
We urgently need more housing and by the end of the Parliament Labour will be building at least 150,000 publicly-funded, affordable homes a year, with 100,000 of these built by councils for social rent in the biggest council housebuilding programme since the 1960s. We will set up a new English Sovereign Land Trust with powers to buy land more cheaply for low-cost housing.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 39
Labour will consult on new planning rules to stop developers building inappropriate housing in high-risk areas such as flood plains. We will instruct the Environment Agency to take a more robust approach to halting planned development where there is serious risk of flooding.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 40
We will introduce measures to encourage sustainable, efficient design and manufacturing processes and bring about the changes we need to reduce the waste we create, increase recycling and use the recycled materials to manufacture new products here in Britain. We will discourage our throwaway economy with measures including small scale investments like bottle return schemes and large scale investments including steel recycling plants. We will ensure that waste producers are made to pay for the costs of recycling or disposal of the waste for which they are responsible.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 41
Despite the best efforts of the Conservative government, the United Kingdom retains huge influence in the institutions of global governance, with the fifth largest economy in the world and a seat on the UN Security Council. Whatever the formal future relationship between the UK, its constituent nations, and the EU it is vital that we maintain close environmental co-operation and retain high environmental standards.
Labour’s ambition is to return Britain to its proper place as a respected, influential, world leading beacon of good environmental practice. We will ensure natural climate solutions and effective climate change adaptations are included in DFID funding programmes. We will invest in our diplomatic capacity to deliver ambitious global climate agreements. We will champion both the ecosystem approach to land management and basic human rights, so we will add environmental good practise to the reasons we promote the rights of Chagos Islanders, indigenous Amazonians, the people of West Papua and the Western Sahara and the peoples of Arctic regions to live freely on their own lands.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 44
We will lead the campaign for environmental justice on the international stage, including ensuring we honour the obligations of international agreements like the Biodiversity Convention’s Aichi Targets, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 44
Only Labour will rebuild Britain’s leadership of the most serious threat to our shared humanity. We will rebuild our climate expertise within the Foreign Office, putting climate diplomacy at the heart of our foreign policy. We will use our influence at the UN, EU, G7, G20, World Bank and other global institutions to promote policies to tackle the climate emergency. We will use our diplomatic expertise to negotiate and deliver more ambitious global targets to deal with the climate emergency, starting with COP 26 in Glasgow next year. We cannot tackle global heating on our own. We cannot halt biodiversity loss on our own.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 44
We will commit to environmentally sustainable, transparent trade policies and apply these to any future trade relationships we negotiate.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 44
Labour will lead the world in a better way forward. We cannot afford not to. The cost of inaction on the environmental emergency vastly outweigh the costs of tackling it now.
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 45
It will take time to implement in its entirety. We will need years of sustained, consistent decision making leading to real change. We will move as fast as we can for the time it takes.We will set legally binding targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050, with the aim of reaching net zero by 2030 and full nature restoration by 2050. We have set out clear commitments for a first term, informed by the direction of travel required to meet our ambitious primary goals and the timely satisfaction of all our international obligations
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FINAL-FOR-WEB_13172_19-Environment-Manifesto.pdf Page 46
Wow! This is good.
There is much talk about Workington Man in this general election but Workington Woman, Sue Hayman, the Shadow Secretary of State for DEFRA and candidate for Workington has led a process which has delivered an exciting, left-leaning, ambitious and pretty coherent plan for nature under a Labour government. It has taken a long time for Labour to deliver something this good – previous manifestos have been rather disappointing but this weighty plan, as an adjunct to the full manifesto, is a serious document which recognises the devolved nature of nature in the UK, the international elements of delivering environmental improvement, the role of communities in finding solutions, the importance of public money delivering public goods, the role of government to deliver change instead of relying on the markets and the far-reaching changes that need to be enacted. This is an impressive document – one which few will read – but one which deserves widespread praise for its depth compared with the shallowness of much of the present electioneering.
I’ll vote for this.
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“return Britain to its proper place as a respected, influential, world leading beacon of good environmental practice”
When was that?
Unrelated
Good morning, Mr Cobb.I came on here to ask Mark to see if he could possibly persuade you to write another guest post, since these are dark days and your first two are so cheering I keep them bookmarked to re-read. And here you are.
Too kind, H! Well in fact I did let Mark know many months ago that I was working on something and a half-idea but it has taken a long time to get it moving mainly because I have a butterfly brain and got sidetracked into London’s underground rivers and Charles Dickens and Earl’s Sluice and cholera and two World Wars and Chocolate, Jams, Biscuits, Custard, Spices, Fruits, Pickles, Vinegar, Beer, Glue, Leather Goods, Hats and Cosmetics all of which were made in Bermondsey which became known as ‘London’s Larder’ but all now sadly gone but recently I was on an involuntary journey across Southwark on a C10 bus and slowly passing the end of “Neckinger” was the most exciting thing that happened all day. But I will try to re-focus and return to the task even if it means I have to put Dearly Beloved Mrs Cobb’s organic walnut demands on hold for a few hours. That reminds me – Marsha Moor if you are there – my discovery is The Happy Snack Company Kids Roasted Fava Beans (Lightly Salted). Sorry about that, H, it just popped into my head. Where was I – Oh Yes once I have found a way to re-align what is to me fascinating history with something beautiful in the living world I hope Mark will post it here on a quiet day for news. The title will probably be “Incongruous” because I do so like incongruity.
Try Dec 12th Filbert, should be a quiet day!
I will be glad to see it, it will make a great change from the side streets of Berlin and ask me anything you want to know about how to train a Messerschmitt pilot, and how to get out of one, (a plane not a pilot), when you run out of fuel over the Channel. In the BL there is a thin book with cut pages, some uncut still, of letters from the German ambassador in London on the eve of WW2 assuring the folks at home that the English speak only of peace. I found it horribly topical. The good news is, Mark, that the fieldfares are back in Derbyshire, and the thrushes love the berries on the evergreen honeysuckle more than anything the RSPB can offer. Speaking of which not always illustrious organisation, I was very disappointed to find that my bulk order of suet filled coconut halves came with every single one individually shrink wrapped.
Can’t tell you how much I look forward to the organic walnut deviation (it’s a bit late to pickle them anyway) and thank you, Mark for your hospitality here.
Sounds very good, and something to hold up to the Tories as what they should really aspire to
Really the Tories are only interested in the countryside in order to farm it to make money, shoot or chase things in it for fun or as a resource to make money in other ways from.
Any conservationist, environmentalist or anyone with any real interest in our environment, countryside or its non-human inhabitants who thinks that these things are non-political ( yes there are some!) or is still thinking of voting Tory needs to read this, it ought to change their mind.
Although a series of quotes/extracts this obviously comes from a very comprehensive and detailed piece of work. It mentioned food waste which made me rather happy! I’ve read a couple of excellent books about the countryside recently, but throughout they kept referring to the challenges of maintaining and even increasing food production whilst improving the situation for our wildlife. All the time my mind was screaming – ‘Bollocks’!!! We throw away at least a third of our food’ – something that never got a mention. There was also a reference in the document to the Lancet claiming for health reasons that we need to drastically reduce our consumption of meat – well the vegetarian sausage advert hating NFU will be apoplectic about that which is another reason to love what labour have done.
‘Bollocks’!!!
Edible
Johnson and for that matter Farage refused to take part in the leaders Climate Change debate last night probably says all you need to know about their environmental credentials.
I think this is fantastic – comprehensive, penetrating and right. And before anyone asks ‘where’s the evidence ?’ much of the landuse are recommended by the Natural Capital Committee and the hard economics is already in the public domain,
The one place Labour have perhaps missed a trick is portraying most of this as cost. Yes, it will need upfront investment but the Natural Capital Committee reccomendations are based on the long term economic return – so 250,000 ha of new Community Woodland around our towns and cities is estimated to yield £500m pa of economic benefit. Also, they talk about re-allocating existing agricultural spend but average losses from flooding add another £1 billion pa of cost – which could be better spent on mitigation.
Their delving into food is hugely welcome – the food industry is hitting us from every angle – the carbon cost of feeding so much of our grain to cattle is rarely mentioned, cheap meat and superprocessed foods are doing so much damage to so many people’s health and a large part of the problems in farming come back to a few huge and aggressive purchasers preying on thousands of small producers – the market isn’t working.
The cost of the programme would be hugely reduced by a few judicious tweeks to Government policy – the planning system is a rationing system that the big housebuilders have turned into a financial instrument. Why shouldn’t Labour simply say ‘if you want to build on greenbelt (or maybe all greenfield) bring 5-10 hectares of land for green space -woodland, wetland, heath, grassland
– with every hectare you want to develop’.
This definitely gets my vote. And it is deliverable and affordable.
Thank you, Mark, that is invaluable.
Unfortunately last night’s Ch4 Debate on the Environment was hi-jacked by Johnson and Gove and today’s press and radio over concentrate on melting images.
I thought Krishnan Guru-Murthy was a competent chairman and gave each leader adequate time.
As a Green i thought Sian Berry did well but I was impressed with Corbyn. He produced a copy of the manifesto but was chided by Khrish who said it could be downloaded. JC did not emphasise the document enough I thought but he was clear and concise. Jo Swinson seemed out of her depth and Nicola Sturgeon was rather pompous and complacent.
Hopefully Johnson and Gove will be seen for what they are: ridiculous.
it is possible of course that Johnson did not appear due to his minders fearing he might be ” found out”
His unmanaged appearances in the past have been full of gaffs, cockups and some quite outrageous lies or off the cuff bollocks.
The tory voting faithful are and they hope the rest of us will be conned by this right-wing chancer, blusterer, philanderer and disaster waiting to happen because of his apparent charisma and blokishness.
Thanks Mark, it’s great stuff and would get my vote save that both places where I can vote are safe Labour seats and I can vote Green without any agonies over how best to vote to keep the Tories out.
You did a little thought-experiment the other day over whether you would vote for Zac Goldsmith. Your conclusion surprised me! A different thought-experiment might concern a marginal seat with Lib Dems and Labour running neck and neck to oust a Tory. This manifesto – and last night’s debate – would persuade me vote Labour.
” … need to plant across Britain a new forest the combined size of Norfolk and Suffolk. Labour will … plant two billion by 2040″
That be 9,172 sq.km and that be only 4.6sq.m/tree; a 2.14m square which seems a bit stingy. Mind you they have already finished off the footballers with the solar panels so they will have to be careful. There is an upside – despite having to abandon their homes and everything the populations of Norfolk and Suffolk will find there is a whole Country to the west of Emneth.
What bothers me a tad is the rate of planting, rather than the area – who cares if populations are displaced and they have to give up footy? Take one for the team! It’s that there are 7,300 days between 2020 and 2040. This means that 125.5 ha are needed every day on which to plant about 274,000 trees. For 20 years, with no time off.
As amusing as ever, but the BBC fact-checker is positive: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/50591261 In summary: ambitious but achievable – and we must be ambitious. The problem is that all these numbers sound very large, we’re not good at understanding them. In fact the Tory 30 million per year is not a net figure and may not even be enough to increase the total number of trees.
“This means that 125.5 ha are needed every day on which to plant about 274,000 trees. For 20 years, with no time off.”
Forget messing around planting trees. Instead exorcise all the bare uplands and induce a mass woolly Gadarene swine event.
We already have Mangolitzas, but some experts think they are Chinese Water Deer
I hope you’re not advocating Brexit, which would have roughly that effect.
This is a surprisingly good document. I say that as someone who has voted in every General Election since 1979 and never voted Labour. For the avoidance of doubt I have never voted Conservative either, and am certainly not about to start now! But that is surely the crux of this election given how high the stakes are? Despite a document like this, I’d argue that the highest priority is to reduce or remove any hope of a Tory majority, and tactical voting is the key. In England and Wales in particular, Labour, Green, Plaid and Lib Dem voters need to do the right thing and vote smart, even if it means voting for a party you might not normally support. What was interesting about last night’s C4 debate was actually how close those five parties are on many – fair enough not all – environmental issues. I think the presence of Johnson and/or Farage would have thrown that into even sharper focus. You’d have to hope that a minority Labour Government (the best outcome we can hope for?) would be supported by the Greens, Plaid, the SNP and the Lib Dems on an issue-by-issue basis on much of this agenda, and hopefully, we might make some much-needed progress.
Impressed that Labour regards Nature as of sufficient importance to be worthy of its own policy document, but I am disappointed by the wobbliness of the content
The paragraph below is paricularly waffy. What does the first sentence mean – what specific responses are required?
“Greater, interacting and more holistic responses will be required to restore the natural balances which support birdlife. As a first step, we will implement recommendations from the third review of Special Protected Areas, including measures to protect the Little Egret, the reintroduced Osprey, White-tailed Eagle and Red Kite, and non-breeding gulls and raptors in coastal areas.”
Why are those particular species identified as requiring protection measures? They’re already flourishing.
In fact, the main threat to the welfare of osprey and sea eagle would probably be the proposed development of more windfarms which steal huge expanses of habitat and bring turbine-collision risk.
“We still need to address the harms done by the prevalent commercial attitudes which simply seek to remove the natural environment from the equation whenever it is considered to be an obstacle to more efficient – meaning more profitable – business practises.” Could apply to grouse moors?!
Just wish Labour stood a chance in my constituency.
Meanwhile…
They’re not known as the Countryside Areliars for nothing!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/simon-hart-pembrokeshire-swastika-graffiti-nazi-sympathy-election-christina-rees-a9226291.html?amp&fbclid=IwAR2WD3UAy9D_Ogfz9RwVEbXGncUMapLK39O_4Avcw8lW7O0mYGDK_g4drKQ