HC Deb 19 April 2004 vol 420 cc129-30W
Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to meet(a) the UK Biodiversity Action Plan targets and (b) the target adopted by EU Ministers in Gothenburg to halve biodiversity loss by 2010. [165067]

Mr. Bradshaw

[holding answer 1 Apri1 2004]: Work to meet the targets set for habitats and species as part of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP) is being undertaken at national, regional and local levels by a wide ranging partnership including Government, statutory agencies, conservation organisations and the private sector. Lead partners for the action plans will report on progress towards the targets in 2005.

In October 2002 the Government published "Working with the grain of nature": a biodiversity strategy for England1. The strategy aims to facilitate implementation of the UKBAP in England and to ensure that the implications for biodiversity as a whole are considered as an integral part of other key policies. It sets out a series of actions that will be undertaken by Government and their partners to make biodiversity a fundamental consideration in agriculture, water, woodlands, urban and the marine and coastal environment and in people's everyday lives.

Action undertaken as part of the strategy and the UKBAP will contribute to achieving the target adopted by EU Ministers to halt biodiversity loss by 2010. In addition, we have put in place a range of other biodiversity and sustainable development measures including our extensive network of protected sites and the development of agri-environment schemes. We have set challenging PSA targets to bring into favourable condition by 2010 95 per cent. of all nationally important wildlife sites; and to reverse the long term decline in the number of farmland birds by 2020.

1The Biodiversity Strategy for England can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/ewd/biostrat/index.htm.