Nature’s needs go hand in hand with people, says Trust

10 November 2008

Protection and restoration of ancient woodland as a wildlife habitat - plus a push on new woodland creation - are key factors to not only halt further UK biodiversity losses but also to reconnect people with nature, says the Woodland Trust in response to a major Parliamentary report.
Defra must move quickly to adopt an all-round ecosystems approach to stop further biodiversity loss, says the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, responding to today's Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) report 'Halting Biodiversity Loss' which concludes that the Government will fail to meet its 2010 target to arrest loss.

“We warmly welcome the Committee’s report, particularly the call for a new approach,” said Dr James Cooper, Trust head of Government affairs.

“The Government must look beyond protected sites and do more in the wider countryside to encourage positive land management for wildlife as well as preventing loss,” he says.

"We are losing biodiversity at a time when we have never needed it more in our hectic, increasingly urbanized society”

Ancient woodland is the UK’s most valuable space for wildlife, home to more rare and threatened species than any other UK habitat. The Trust describes it as the UK’s equivalent of rainforest and therefore irreplaceable, having been wooded for over 400 years.

“We need to champion biodiversity across Government - not just within Defra, encouraging green infrastructure as part of any new developments and ensuring that the planning system is up to the job of protecting and enhancing biodiversity, which at the moment it fails to do," James explains.

“Current planning policy for ancient woodland, for example, needs tightening up so that it provides the absolute protection this vital habitat deserves, stripped of the current get-out clause.”

The pressure on our ancient woodland is huge, confirms the Trust, which has just launched its Woodwatch campaign after collating evidence that 100 square miles (26,000 hectares) of ancient woodland in the UK has come under threat in the last decade from destruction or degradation -equivalent to an area the size of Birmingham.

Over the last ten years 800 woods, covering a total of 26,000 hectares (five per cent of the total amount of ancient woodland remaining in the UK), have been threatened from developments including roads and houses, airports, golf courses and utilities. Half of the ancient woodland that existed in the 1930s has been destroyed or degraded.

Protection of ancient woodland is not enough on its own, however, says James.

“There has to be an emphasis on woodland creation to offer green space for people and wildlife, for exercise and mental relaxation, improving water quality, reducing localised flooding, and playing a role in mitigating the effects of climate change."

MPs have concluded that Government needs a new approach to halt loss of species and habitats and address the dramatic biodiversity loss that is occurring in England and in the UK’s overseas territories.

In its report, the EAC concludes that despite some good work by Government, many species and habitats continue to face severe declines and local extinctions across England. It warns that the Government will miss a key international target to halt biodiversity loss by 2010.

The Committee says there is a compelling economic case for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity. But to achieve this Government will have to go beyond traditional nature conservation policies to reverse the decline and enable growth in biodiversity into the future.

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