The former atmosphere secretary has warned it could be a “terrible mistake” for the brand new authorities to scrap protections for nature in a splash for financial progress.
George Eustice MP mentioned “the body language” of the brand new administration has unsettled wildlife teams, and he urged the federal government to decide to inexperienced progress that creates jobs and improves the atmosphere.
In an unique interview with Sky News, he mentioned: “We will only have sustainable growth if we’re looking after our planet.
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“You are at all times going to wish to have strict protections for species which might be weak or endangered. And you are at all times going to wish to have some strict protections for sure habitats.
“You can’t just turn a blind eye and say: These don’t matter.”
The RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, the National Trust and different environmental charities are alarmed by the federal government’s lack of dedication to nature in its progress plans.
They worry laws that defend vegetation and animals, and set requirements for air and water high quality, might disappear or be watered down.
Mr Eustice mentioned whereas he was in workplace he had developed an agricultural coverage that incentivised farmers to reinforce nature, together with the usage of natural leys, a combination of grass and flowering vegetation which might be good for soil, livestock, and wildlife.
“It would be a terrible mistake to abandon that,” he mentioned.
“The way you get growth is by having healthy soils, a healthy environment, and actually embracing some of those regenerative agricultural techniques that our policy was all about encouraging.
“If you abandon that and return to the form of Nineteen Seventies imaginative and prescient of heavy use of pesticides and unsustainable cropping of land, then I feel you are in a foul place each for the resilience of farming financially but additionally for nature.”
The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. According to the RSPB, 41% of plant and animal species are in decline and 15% are at risk of extinction.
Mr Eustice added that some environmental laws based mostly on EU directives have been “clunky” and did not do a correct job in defending nature.
But they need to be simplified, not scrapped.
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He mentioned: “I hope we’re not going to see a reversion to people talking about newts and bats being the problem, because they’re not.
“It shouldn’t be about nature being the barrier to progress. It’s a few of the processes that have been arrange that have been extra cumbersome than they wanted to be.”
The authorities mentioned it was dedicated to reversing the decline in nature by 2030.
Source: information.sky.com”