The annual health check for meeting our environmental commitments has been published. The news is not good
Recently, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) published their latest report on the state of Progress in improving the natural environment in England. This covers the year from April 2023 to March 2024 and, as mandated by the2021 Environment Act, must be done every year.
The report was launched at an event in London and the message was sobering. Of the 10 Goals in the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP), progress has deteriorated compared with previous years, whilst the prospects of meeting the commitments are bleak for 8 of the Goals:
The OEP summary assessment of past trends, progress and overall prospects of meeting ambitions, Environment Act targets and other commitments across the 10 goals of the EIP23.
A very worrying situation but the OEP did have some constructive suggestions as to how to get back on track.
- We must get nature friendly farming right
- Protected Sites are key and they have to be protected and funded
- There is a need for strong incentives, oversight and regulations to mobilise investment
- The new Water Commission and EIP review could be a step change for speeding up progress to meet the goals
In particular, the OEP recommend that the EIP review should be a plan for Government and not just Defra - with targets coming up in the next few years, there is an urgent need to both speed up and scale up work. The OEP’s view is that the EIP must set out the actions needed for the Government to catch up on lost progress and then keep the momentum up.
As the Environmental Audit Committee chair, Toby Perkins MP, said at the event, “The OEP’s latest progress report paints a sombre picture, but its forensic analysis and its clear and comprehensive recommendations offer a roadmap to improvement to the current Government.”
Time is running out to meet these important targets and with only 5 years to meet 30by30 (30% of land and sea managed for nature by 2030), we have a long way to go. We need action on the ground at a significant scale. National Landscapes, covering 15% of England and working in strong partnerships, are in an excellent position to contribute to the national targets and commitments. But to do that, they will need suitable levels of core funding, in particular to develop the necessary relationships with land managers to get projects up and running. As well as that, they will need to be able to direct agri-environment funding (such as Farming in Protected Landscapes) to the places where it is needed.
Enable National Landscapes and they will deliver a significant portion of the EIP commitments and then, hopefully, when it comes to the 2025/26 report, we will have a chance of being back on track.
Dr Cathy Maguire (Office for Environmental Protection) delivering the bad news