Conservation groups are warning that the UK
could lose several species of bird within a decade if, as expected, billions of
pounds of European funding to help farmers promote biodiversity are cut.
Under details being thrashed out as part of a
rebalancing of the Common Agricultural Policy budget, some £8bn for rural
development is likely to be lost, according to the RSPB. Billions more could
also go under new rules allowing EU member states to divert money to food
production away from schemes that protect fields and heritage sites. The RSPB
said the plans would spell disaster for wildlife in England and
the rest of Europe.
"It is outrageous news that President van
Rompuy is asking EU leaders to cut the largest single budget for wildlife
conservation in the UK," said Martin Harper, the RSPB's director of
conservation. "It would be a disaster. We've seen a proposal which could
have led to the pot of money for wildlife-friendly farming being cut by up to
one third. The loss of wildlife from our farmed countryside is a crisis which
to date no politician has faced up to. We need European leaders to recognise
that funding to tackle this must not be traded away when they next come
together to thrash out a deal. Our landscapes, farmers and wildlife depend on
the future of this funding."
Rural development cash is used to develop
agri-environment schemes that pay farmers to manage hedgerows and wildflower
flowers that provide vital food and shelter for birds. The cash funded England's
Higher Level Stewardship Scheme which has been credited with playing a major
part in protecting wildlife. Since the first agri-environment schemes were
introduced in 1987, tens of thousands of farmers and landowners have helped
wildlife, according to the RSPB.
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