Biodiversity (Hansard, 28 October 2002)

§ Lord Whitty:

Today we are publishing a biodiversity strategy for England. The document, Working with the grain of nature, is being placed in the House Libraries.

The undertaking to prepare a biodiversity strategy for England was made in the rural White Paper, Our Countryside, the future: a fair deal for rural England. The strategy is intended to build on the progress that the Government have already made in protecting and enhancing biodiversity in England, for example with greater protection for sites of special scientific interest under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and the implementation of 436 biodiversity action plans for priority habitats and species. We recognise that we can only secure the long-term health of biodiversity that is needed to bring a truly sustainable future by also achieving fundamental changes to public policy and the behaviour of people across the board.

The strategy sets this process in train by seeking to embed biodiversity considerations into all the main sectors of economic activity, public and private. The strategy sets out a vision and programme for the next five years for five important policy sectors.

In agriculture, we aim to encourage the management of farming and agricultural land so as to conserve and enhance biodiversity as part of the 8WA Governmment's sustainable food and farming strategy. In water, we aim for a whole catchment approach to the wise, sustainable use of water and wetlands. In woodland and forestry, we are looking for the management and extension of woodland so as to promote enhanced biodiversity and quality of life. In marine and coastal management, we aim to achieve the sustainable use and management of our coasts and seas using natural processes and the ecosystem-based approach. In urban areas, we want biodiversity to become a part of the development of policy on sustainable communities, urban green space and the built environment.

The strategy also identifies a number of crosscutting themes, with the aim of involving society as a whole in the achievement of biodiversity improvements. For example, we aim to encourage business to act for biodiversity in the boardroom, through the supply chain, in their management systems, in their annual reports and accounts and on the ground. We will also help make biodiversity part of people's everyday lives through information, communication and education and establish a mechanism to involve children and young people in the development of biodiversity policy. In addition, we will continue to encourage partnerships for biodiversity at local and regional levels in England.

It will be essential to ensure that we measure biodiversity trends and the effects of our policies. Much work is already under way to improve the information that is available to understand the status of habitats and species, and the strategy announces the development of a new web-based biodiversity action reporting system to be launched in 2003 and the adoption of a set of biodiversity indicators to measure our progress. These indicators will be published in full within a year.

This government strategy has been prepared, uniquely, with the active contributions of a large number of partners and stakeholders. We shall continue to rely on the widest possible partnership as we move forward to implementation. The partnership will be represented through the England Biodiversity Group, which will review the strategy annually and publish a report on progress in 2006.