§ Gregory BarkerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent measures she has put in place to improve protection for wildlife. [137290]
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§ Mr. BradshawThe Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) is the principal source of legislation which offers protection for native wildife. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which came into force in January 2001, also introduced stronger enforcement powers for police officers investigating native species wildlife offences, and tougher penalties—including prison sentences—for people found guilty of committing offences under the 1981 Act.
Protection of wildlife often involves the protection of their habitat. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced substantial improvements to the legislative regime protecting our nationally important designated areas for wildlife and geology, more commonly known as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, implements the EC Habitats Directive in Great Britain, and provides further protection to various species and their habitats. The Government has consulted on a number of further improvements to the Habitat Regulations and on regulations to transpose the Habitats Directive to cover an area offshore. To date the Government has classified 242 Special Protection Areas under the EC Birds Directive and submitted 601 candidate Special Areas of Conservation to the European Commission under the EC Habitats Directive in the UK. Additionally 27 new Ramsar sites in the UK have been notified since 1999.
In addition to species protection through the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Habitats Regulations 1994 this Government also puts great effort into supporting the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES). This regulates trade in endangered or vulnerable animals and plants, and products derived from them, to ensure that the trade is sustainable. For example, at last year's Conference of Parties in Chile, the UK successfully proposed the listing of basking sharks on Appendix II of the Convention, protecting them from unsustainable and unregulated international trade.
The Department, together with HM Customs and Excise and the police, rigorously enforces the UK's commitments under CITES, campaigns vigorously to increase public awareness of the CITES controls, and takes firm action against anyone caught illegally importing endangered species in breach of the European CITES Regulations.
The Government also launched the National Wildlife Crime Intelligence Unit in 2002. It is a national focal point for gathering and analysing intelligence on serious wildlife crime, and is making an important contribution to the fight against these crimes at the national and international levels.
In addition to the range of protective measures, the Government has also put in place a number of measures to encourage efforts to deliver benefits for wildlife, such as Species and Habitat Action Plans and agri-environment schemes.
Action plans for the conservation and enhancement of 45 habitats and 391 species have been published under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Under section 74 (2) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 307W 2000 a list of habitats and species of principal importance for the conservation of biological diversity in England was published in December 2002. The list can be viewed at http://defraweb/wildlife-countryside/cl/habitats/habitats-list.pdf.
Section 74 (3) of the Act requires the Secretary of State to take or promote the taking by others of steps to further the conservation of the habitats and species of principal importance in England. In October 2002 the Government published Working with the grain of nature —a biodiversity strategy for England. The strategy aims to ensure that consideration of biodiversity is embedded into all relevant areas of public and private policy. It is the principal means by which we will comply with the duty under section 74 (3), including through continued implementation of the habitat and species action plans. The strategy can be viewed at http://defraweb/wildlife-countryside/ewd/biostrat/index.htm
Considerable efforts are currently being made to increase the efforts we put into farmland biodiversity including encouragement to enhance wildlife populations. Significant funding is provided for agri-environment schemes promoting environmentally sustainable farming practices; more than £1 billion has been made available for the seven-year period 2000 to 2007.
As part of our aim of streamlining and simplifying existing schemes whilst also improving their effectiveness we introduced in February this year a pilot entry level scheme to reward simple management practices designed to benefit a range of biodiversity and landscape objectives. If successful the Government will roll out the scheme throughout England in 2005.