§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to reverse the decline in the lapwing population; and if he will make a statement. [87277]
§ Mr. MealeMy Department is working with MAFF to assess the impact of changing farming practices on the lapwing. A 5-year project, involving collaboration between MAFF and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Game Conservancy Trust (GCT) and the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, is investigating the role of pesticides and other factors in the decline of farmland bird species.
The Government also fund agri-environment and other schemes to encourage farmers to provide conditions which will benefit breeding lapwing. The Government are committed to a continuing expansion of areas under the major agri-environment schemes is making an extra £40 million available over three years for these schemes in England.
In addition MAFF has commissioned research into:
the possible relationship between farming practices over the last 20 years and the changes in the populations of a number of representative farmland birds,the effects of agricultural change on bird populationsthe effects on birds of changes in lowland grassland management.