What should the Government be doing for the Environment?

The Environment Act 2021 was a fantastic step forward in the UK government recognising what needs to happen to get biodiversity on the road to recovery in this country. But, writing the initial legislation was in some ways the easy bit - it’s the delivery of the ambitions in the Act that really matter, and frustratingly the government is already shockingly behind on this.

According to the Office for Environmental Protection (the independent body established to hold government and other public authorities to account on environmental law) the government has “a pattern of missing legislative deadlines” which undermines the UK’s ability to restore nature. They also highlighted the “slow progress” in implementing the government’s 25-year environment plan earlier this year.

Now, the government’s environmental programmes will be pushed even further down the priority list as a consequence of the Retained EU Law Bill. 

Defra's to-do list includes these promised but missing policies:

Environment Act targets

These targets were promised in the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto and have been described by the government as a “key commitment” of the Environment Act. Even though the government has been developing these targets for over three years, and has had more than four months since the public consultation closed, the deadline has been missed and the targets not yet published. Without these targets, the government also risks missing the legal deadline to publish a new environmental improvement plan, which is required under the Environment Act by the end of January 2023.

Environmental Principles

The Environment Act also requires the government to publish a new legally binding policy statement to establish environmental principles – such as the precautionary principle – in law. The aim of this is to help guide ministers and policymakers towards opportunities to prevent environmental damage and enhance the environment. Despite being first promised in 2017, and a draft published earlier this year, the final statement is not finalised.

30 by 30 target

In 2020, through the Leader’s Pledge for Nature, the UK government committed to protecting at least 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (its 30 by 30 target), but little progress has been made. A recent report has found that only 3.22% of England’s land is effectively protected for nature – an increase of just 0.22% compared to 2021.

Landscapes Review

In May 2018, the government asked Julian Glover to lead an independent review into whether the protections for National Parks and AONBs are still fit for purpose. The review’s final report was published on 21 September 2019 with 27 wide-ranging recommendations. The government responded to the review in January 2022, accepting a number of the review’s recommendations, such as strengthening National Parks and AONB’s statutory purpose to drive nature recovery. Government action to implement these recommendations is long overdue.

Nature Recovery Green Paper

The government published a consultation in March this year on how protections for sites and species can help best meet their ambition to restore nature and halt the decline in species abundance by 2030. A response to the consultation has yet to be published.

Highly Protected Marine Areas

Last month, the government announced that they are planning to pilot Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) following a review led by Lord Benyon last year. HPMAs will give stronger levels of protection to allow nature to fully recover at sea. Ministers have until 6 July 2023 to designate the pilot HPMAs.

New farm schemes in England to reward farmers for benefits to society

The UK governments are in the process of setting out post-EU farming policy frameworks, moving from an area-based subsidy approach towards paying public money for public goods. In England, this comprises the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes which will pay farmers for sustainable farming and restore areas for nature. However, progress on these schemes is plagued by delay and uncertainty, with farmers and land managers still unclear on what they will be paid for, putting the success of these schemes in jeopardy.

Local Nature Recovery Strategies

The Environment Bill requires Local Nature Recovery Strategies to be produced by responsible authorities such as county councils. These strategies will cover the whole county and provide a plan for nature’s recovery and reaching the 30 by 30 target. The government should have published Regulations last spring that set out how the strategies should be developed and what they should contain. They are yet to be published.

National Action Plan on Sustainable Use of Pesticides

The UK government consulted on the draft National Action Plan (NAP) in December 2020, but is yet to publish the final version of their plan to replace the 2013 version, despite being promised by Spring 2022. The review of the NAP is a statutory requirement, as well as a commitment under the 25 Year Environment Plan, and intends to lay out a 5-year strategy to increase the sustainability of pesticide use in the UK.

River Basin Management Plans

In June, the Office for Environmental Protection wrote to Defra regarding ongoing delays to the adoption of updated River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs), which are over a year overdue. With all of England’s waters currently failing chemical standards, and only 16% achieving ecological standards, ambitious plans to bring our waters into ‘Good Status’ are urgently required.

Ban on horticultural peat use

The government has consulted on the ban on the sale of peat and products containing peat earlier this year after the failure of voluntary targets. The response to the consultation was clear, with over 95% of responses calling for a ban on the sale of peat. The government has since committed to banning the sale of peat and peat containing products in England by 2024 but have yet to introduce legislation to enact this ban.

Deposit Return Scheme

Six years ago, the government promised the introduction of a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles to cut marine pollution. Defra launched an initial consultation in 2019, saying that it was minded to implement a scheme from 2023. The scheme has yet to be introduced and is now expected late 2024 at the earliest.

Beaver reintroductions

In May 2021, the government announced that it was looking positively towards further reintroductions of beavers in England and changed the legislation to protect wild-living beavers in England and safeguard them from persecution. Following a consultation last year, the government must set out their proposed approach to further reintroductions of beavers in England and the management of the species in the wild.

Bycatch mitigation initiative to protect rare sea life

Plans to protect rare marine life from being unintentionally caught by fishers were finally approved in August but with no timeframes or measurable actions, and have not come to fruition. The objective to minimise and, where possible, eliminate incidental catches of sensitive marine species is included in the Fisheries Act 2020.