Watchdog Welcomes ‘Big Society’ Approach To Conservation
by Tim Barnes-Clay, LincsMag Writer.
Date: 08 June 2011
Lincolnshire’s rural watchdog, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), has welcomed a move to convert landfill sites, supermarket car parks and motorway verges into new nature reserves.
In the past, small areas of land were put aside for wildlife in fenced off 'nature reserves'. But this has meant that wildlife is confined to certain areas, meaning breeding pools become smaller and animals cannot move around the country.
The new Natural Environment White Paper will designate whole areas to protecting wildlife by asking public sector organisations and business to work together on 'landscape scale conservation'.
It is thought that around 12 Ecological Restoration Zones (ERZs) will be created over the next three years to try and stop the huge decline in wild flowers, woodland and wildlife like farmland birds or hedgehogs.
Back To First Principles
Landowners, local authorities and communities are expected to vie for a small amount of money to set up the areas but most of the work will be done on a voluntary basis as the latest embodiment of the 'Big Society' in action.
CLA East Midlands director Andrew Shirley said: “The laws we have for conserving biodiversity have been complicated, overlapping and in many cases counterproductive. All too often the result is a system that discourages land managers from making provision for wildlife when we want them doing precisely the opposite.
“We need to go back to first principles and determine what it is we want to protect, what activities should, in general terms, be permitted and how to go about keeping the regulatory burden to the minimum level necessary. I hope that this paper will get people thinking about these issues - it is definitely an opportunity for landowners and communities to work together to protect wildlife.”
Conservation Credits
In ERZs any neglected land must be managed to ensure plants and animals are allowed to thrive. If land is developed then companies are asked to create habitat elsewhere in a system known as 'conservation credits'.
Roadsides and car parks will be planted with 'bee-friendly' plants. Parks and woodland will be linked by 'green corridors' to allow animals to move around and industrial areas or old factories will be restored to create woodland or meadows.
