As the Countryside Council for Wales was completing its 2012-2013 programme of work towards targets agreed with Welsh Government, Chair, Members of Council and Directors felt that it would be appropriate to record key aspects of the work of CCW over its 22 year existence. This book is our way of preserving that record in a form that can be retained by staff and Council Members past and present. CCW has had to ‘learn while doing’, and in many instances what we understand today is the fruit of innovation over the past two decades.
Little of the work of CCW has been done alone. Many of the achievements in which we take pride were made in the face of formidable difficulties. Rising to these challenges has been possible only because of the support, advice and active involvement of others who share our passion for the natural environment of Wales. They, like we, know that our ecosystems, and the goods and services that stem from their careful stewardship, are our most valuable asset: our life support system.
Together with our many partners in non-governmental organisations, from local community groups of volunteers through to national and international conservation bodies as well as central and local government, we have endeavoured to conserve and protect the natural resources of Wales. We are therefore offering copies of this book to our partners as a tribute to their involvement in our work – a small token of our gratitude for their friendship, support and wise counsel.
There is still a great deal to learn, and as we now pass the baton to the new single environment body, Natural Resources Wales, we recognise that the relationships with partners that have been invaluable to the Countryside Council for Wales will be equally crucial to our successor.
A Natural Step? The Countryside Council for Wales, 1991 to 2013
A Natural Step?
© The Countryside Council for Wales 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an information retrieval system or transmitted by any means, whether electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Internet publication, recording or any other medium without the written consent of the publisher.
All the contributing authors have assert their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998 to be identified as the authors of this work.
Published in the United Kingdom in 2013 by
The Countryside Council for Wales Maes-y-Ffynnon Penrhosgarnedd Bangor Gwynedd LL57 2DN
4 A Natural Step?
Ramsey Sound
Contents Page Foreword 6 Chapter 1 The Societal Context 8 Chapter 2 A Changing Environment – Evolution of CCW 16 Chapter 3 Our Land, Our Landscape 32 Chapter 4 Challenges at Sea 48 Chapter 5 Working with Others 64 Chapter 6 Big Challenges 80 Chapter 7 Protected Areas 96 Chapter 8 People, Education, Access and Recreation 112 Chapter 9 The Science 124 Chapter 10 Passing the Baton 144 Author Biographical Details 160 Picture Credits 161 Index 162
5 A Natural Step? Foreword by Roger Thomas, Chief Executive, CCW
.....that a man’s reach should exceed his grasp – or what’s a heaven for?
These words of Robert Browning are an apt summary of the philosophy that has underpinned the work of the Countryside Council for Wales over its 22 year existence. Evidence-based, independence of thought, innovative in addressing issues and sound in advice - yes, but above all, expansive in approach, aided by the experimental powers granted to us in legislation.
Since the Industrial Revolution, our natural environment has suffered the consequences of being devoid of any meaningful valuation in economic terms. The impacts of development upon our landscapes, habitats and wildlife have historically been paid little more than lip service; never, it seems, has the oft- quoted phrase ‘if it can’t be measured, it can’t be managed’ been more true than in our treatment of the planet we inhabit. We didn’t know how to measure its monetary value and so the environment made only a cameo appearance in our decision-making processes, where financial cost was king.
That began to change in the 1990s, at just about the time that CCW was established, with the global recognition of sustainable living as a prerequisite for securing the future of humankind. 1992’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro catalysed governments around the world into action and, for a time, there was a real prospect of concerted international action. Individual governments, together with intergovernmental alliances such as the European Union, implemented legislation that was broadly and collectively aimed at reducing our exploitation of natural resources to levels that the environment could, in the long term, support. This activity was supplemented by international movements, such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity, which continue to argue an evidence-based case for change.
In Wales, devolution heralded a further new dawn: our own government… and with a legal duty with respect to sustainable development - at the time one of only three worldwide with such a remit. But whilst in Wales we have been progressing this duty, the first decade of the new millennium has arguably seen the worldwide optimism of the mid-90s dented by inaction and disagreement at the international level. Even those putting the bravest of faces on the outcomes of Copenhagen’s Rio+20 Summit in 2011 could barely claim any success in negotiations at the global level. The challenge remains, yet the time within which we must deliver effective action has shortened; future targets thus become ever more demanding.
6 A Natural Step?
Against this backdrop of global intransigence, the development of an ecosystems approach for managing the natural resources of Wales is a bold step towards realising the holy grail of sustainability. Our government’s ambition is to be applauded and supported; with the eyes of Europe upon it, in recent years Wales has become a beacon for our continental neighbours, one which they hope will show them how to manage for a better future.
In concept, at least, an ecosystem is a simple thing comprising the rocks, soils, water, air and all living things – biodiversity – within a geographical area prescribed by natural boundaries. It is the way in which these components combine to provide us with our life-support system that we only partly understand. Stewardship of this life-support system amidst the ambiguity surrounding its functioning is a significant challenge but one that Wales recognises must be met head on.
Protected areas are a major plank in global conservation policy. Without them, the evidence suggests, our biodiversity would be in an even more parlous state than its present worrying condition. But an ecosystems approach requires a much broader perspective; decisions will have to be made on the specific benefits for which each particular area and its ecosystems will be managed – and the resultant management regime necessary to protect and nurture them will inevitably introduce new constraints on land use. Land management practices that provide such public benefits should therefore also attract financial support from the public purse.
This, then, is the context within which CCW bows out, on a note of optimism for a brighter future. Our book reflects some of the challenges and changes to the natural environment over the past two decades. The contributors, who present their own sometimes highly personal views on a range of these issues and the degree of effectiveness of our responses, have been selected because they played a significant part in the story.
I am indebted to CCW’s first Chief Executive Ian Mercer, who established the new organisation, and his successor and my predecessor Paul Loveluck, who drove the body forward. Together with our three chairmen, the late Michael Griffiths, John Lloyd Jones and Morgan Parry, and the dedicated service of our members, they created a successful organisation that history will record has punched well above its weight.
Very special thanks must go to Sue Parker and Pat O’Reilly. Without their drive and editing and publishing skills this volume could not have been produced.
But the unsung heroes of CCW are the staff who, whether through scientific and technical expertise or skills in the essential administrative functions that are the life-blood of any organisation, have made things happen. It is to all of them, with gratitude for their commitment across the years, that this book is dedicated.
Beth yw gwladgarwch? Cadw ty mewn cwmwl tystion. What is patriotism? Keeping house in a cloud of witnesses. Waldo Williams
7 A Natural Step?
Chapter 1 – The Societal Context In the midst of tensions surrounding environmental policy
A consideration of the fortunes of an organisation like CCW and its legacy must begin with the social and political context within which it has operated. Andrew Flynn argues that, because environmental policy impinges on so many interests, decision-makers have turned to making changes to the organisation of environmental policy rather than grappling with difficult policy content; in doing so, they have avoided the frictions that surround it, not least the tension between short-term political horizons and long-term environmental ones. CCW faced some particular difficulties, such as the location of its headquarters so far from the centre of power in Cardiff, and the treatment of its advice as coming from outside government, because it worked so closely with NGOs. Its remit letters, which detail what it must do with its grant-in-aid, proscribe its work in ever greater detail, and introduce new agendas. CCW’s ability to innovate is then illustrated in its work on agri-environment schemes, local-scale landscape mapping and projects with local government. However CCW’s experience, Andrew Flynn argues, underscores the weakness of statutory environmental bodies and the need for such bodies to command much greater government trust.
~~~ Introduction The substance of environmental policy presents enormous challenges to decision makers because it defies their conventional time-scales and functional divisions. Thus, where politicians’ horizons may normally be bounded by that of elections, the environment forces them to think on a quite different scale, of generations for which they cannot possibly receive any political payback. Meanwhile, organisations like to do things in their own way with the minimum of external interference. But environmental policy cross-cuts traditional divisions of government and raises, for those concerned, the unwelcome possibility of turf disputes about who gets to do what. Faced with these dilemmas, decision
8 The Societal Context makers have shown a greater interest in the organisation of environmental protection as a substitute, or at least an alternative focus, for the more challenging issues surrounding the content of policy. The result in Wales, as elsewhere, has been some grander thinking about the structures and the creation of a large, integrated body, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) in spring 2013. NRW brings together Countryside Council Wales (CCW), Environment Agency Wales (EAW) and Forestry Commission Wales, and both CCW and EAW are the result of earlier processes of integration of environmental functions. So, why the search for further integration? Larger, centralised bodies may fit less easily into Britain’s traditional administrative culture. In the past, small, specialised bodies, with for the most part low public profiles, have tended to be favoured. As we shall see, bringing together organisations does not immediately resolve tensions between them over their philosophy and working practices, it just means that they tend to take place out of the public gaze.
An integrated organisation? By bringing together conservation (Nature Conservancy Council) and landscape (Countryside Commission) responsibilities into a single body, from the outset CCW faced a challenge of internal integration. For Adrian Phillips (1995, p7) [1] it was the task of bringing ‘two distinct cultures. ... The one took an essentially scientific culture [those drawn from the NCC], the other [staff who had worked for the CC] adopted a more pragmatic approach’ to environmental management. Ian Mercer (1995, p23 [2]), the first Chief Executive of CCW, also recognised a cultural divide but formulated it in a different way : the executive authority involving regulation and land management of the NCC, and reviewing and advising duties of the CC. For both Phillips and Mercer what had previously been differences in approach that had been apparent between two organisations now became tensions within one organisation. This had important repercussions for staff and for programme delivery (see the example of Tir Cymen below). From the outside CCW is a curious body. It is the government’s statutory advisor on wildlife and landscape (or as it is now expressed sustaining natural beauty, wildlife and outdoor enjoyment) but has variable influence, it is also a partner with others in promoting its goals (e.g. education), and enjoys close links with NGOs and so can appear to be part of the NGO community.
Countryside Council for Wales and environmental governance in Wales In Britain it is the rural conservation agencies that have the greatest experience of country specific operations and the fragmentation that it entails. The reforms to the Countryside Agency, English Nature (merged into Natural England), the Countryside Council for Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage are illustrative of the way in which administrative structures influence environmental policy making and government thinking on the environment. All the conservation bodies can trace their origins back to the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. Under the Act two sets of responsibilities were established. The first was for nature conservation and is based on scientific and technical expertise and draws upon an elite tradition of interest in natural history and the preservation of flora and fauna. The other responsibility was for landscape protection. Thus was born a, perhaps, unique organisational division amongst public sector bodies in Europe of separating landscape and nature (Baldock et al 1987) [3]. The divide reflects some of the characteristics of British environmentalism: a strong scientific base to conservation, and a concern for access and notions of beauty in relation to landscape.
9 A Natural Step?
Born out of expediency rather than principle, CCW was always more at risk of the whims of Ministers than other environmental organisations. For example, unlike his predecessor and successor, John Redwood when Secretary of State for Wales (in pre-devolution times) was regarded as largely unsympathetic to CCW. Redwood’s antagonistic approach to CCW had a number of reasons, including what he perceived to be CCW’s failure to understand the needs of the private sector because of its opposition to development proposals, and its budget profile (about two thirds of its spend went on staff). In 1994, Redwood launched a review of CCW functions to see if some (such as managing SSSIs) could be transferred to local government or private bodies and if the organisation’s budget could be cut (Lean 1995) [4]. The swingeing nature of the cuts that were proposed would have significantly reduced CCW’s staff numbers and its ability to contribute to the development process. More practically CCW would have had to concentrate on its statutory responsibilities. As it turned out, Redwood was unable to realise his ambition when faced with a backlash from environmental groups, local governments unwilling to take on new responsibilities without additional funding and disquiet within the Conservative Party.
Devolution ushered in a new set of relationships between CCW and government. Environment Ministers such as Sue Essex and Jane Davidson were notably sympathetic to a Welsh sustainable development agenda. However, a more Cardiff-centric focus to policy making has not always worked as might have been expected. The newly devolved Welsh Government had limited experience of policy making (as opposed to policy delivery) and limited resources. As an official adviser to government CCW enjoyed privileged access to Ministers and civil servants, and could make up for some of the knowledge deficit faced by government.
However, CCW’s access and influence within policy circles has been more variable than might have been expected. Traditionally environmental groups, whether voluntary or statutory, have lacked the influence of economic actors in policy making circles. There is, though, more to CCW’s inability to promote its arguments in government. CCW is based in North Wales. It is geographically distant from Welsh Government in Cardiff. This reduces the opportunities for CCW staff to meet regularly with Ministers and senior civil servants, to better understand one another’s positions, to be able to develop relationships of trust which are so crucial for the policy process, especially when there is such a small policy community. As a result, there can be a degree of formality to relationships, and advice provided by CCW to Welsh government can be perceived as special pleading or lobbying so making it easier to marginalise.
Moreover, because of its role CCW can appear to be both in and out of government. CCW is in government because it is a statutory advisor to government, though its advice need not be privileged over other sources of advice that government receives. However, it is not unusual for CCW’s responsibilities to mean that it may challenge government policy (for example, campaigners opposed to the Cefn Croes wind farm sought to enlist CCW to bolster their case (see Little ed (2003) [5]) and so appear to be outside of government. Moreover, CCW works closely with environmental NGOs as part of its partnership style of operations. From the perspective of government it may sometimes be difficult to distinguish the activities of CCW from an NGO and to treat its guidance as akin to lobbying by an environmental NGO.
10 The Societal Context
CCW receives nearly all of its income from Welsh Government. As a Government Sponsored Body each year CCW receives a remit letter. A remit letter is one of the few levers that government has to effect change in Wales and sets out what actions the Minister expects of CCW. Over time, remit letters have become more prescriptive as governments have sought to specify how Sponsored Bodies can help to deliver on its agenda. So, for example, in its remit letter of 2012/13 CCW is given a lengthy list of ‘critical activities’ that it needs to undertake during the year. In this way Welsh Government can exert more control over the bodies that it funds and so potentially limit their independent activity. Remit letters, though, can also introduce new agendas for Sponsored Bodies. Again to take the 2012/13 remit letter as an example, the Minister is keen to emphasise that CCW should give attention to how its work may contribute to urban social inclusion.
The more detailed remit letters are a characteristic of the late 1990s. Prior to that CCW’s lack of consistent ‘insider’ status in its relations with government gave it some freedom of manoeuvre to promote its own agenda through a series of innovative projects. In nearly all cases these projects involved a form of partnership working with the public sector, NGOs or private owners and managers of land. The partnership style of working owed much to CCW’s Countryside Commission heritage where ’lacking the power to compel or coerce, it needed to build alliances’ (Phillips 1995, p7 op cit). In the section below a selection of the pioneering projects that CCW has been involved with are described.
Innovative projects Some idea of the depth of the creative thinking that was taking place inside CCW in the early 1990s is provided by Ian Mercer. He recalls how a seminal discussion paper ‘Threshold 21’ (CCW 1993a [6]) suggested adapting and refining the operation, methodology and legislation which underpins countryside conservation and recreation in Wales. It led to an ambitious strategy (CCW 1993b [7]) to be undertaken by ‘a comprehensive conservation and recreation agency’, and which to deliver the programme would require reorganising CCW so that it could play an integrated role across Wales (perhaps not too far removed from what may happen under Natural Resources Wales). Any grand ideas for reorganisation or rethinking the way in which conservation practices could be undertaken were curtailed in 1994 as CCW had to cope with budget cuts and justifying its existing remit to the then Secretary of State John Redwood. One project that did emerge was Tir Cymen, although it was shaped by both dominant professional norms in CCW and a more challenging policy context.
Tir Cymen Tir Cymen was the Welsh version of the English Countryside Stewardship Scheme and was launched by CCW in 1992. It operated in three pilot districts in North (Mierionnydd), Mid (Dinefwr) and South Wales (Swansea). The objectives of the Scheme were to conserve and enhance important wildlife habitats and landscape features, and to provide additional opportunities for the public’s enjoyment of the countryside. It was a voluntary scheme with resources targeted at farms which offered the greatest potential for wildlife conservation and provided the best value for money. Simon Bilsborough, one of the architects of Tir Cymen, has described how the Scheme was innovative but also sympathetic to the market rhetoric of the time: ‘A strong element of the philosophy that underlies Tir Cymen is the creation of a market in environmental goods, operated by CCW on behalf of the public… Farmers
11 A Natural Step? can produce environmental goods to the required standard (set by Tir Cymen management prescriptions), ‘sell’ them in the market operated by CCW and receive rewards in the form of payments…’ (Bilsborough 1997, p90 [8]).
Fig 1- 1 Dry stone walling under Tir Cymen
In a most insightful analysis Bilsborough then reflects on why the Scheme took the particular form that it did; the limits to innovation. A key assumption in Tir Cymen was that farmers need to be encouraged to supply environmental benefits rather than examining from a demand side what were the social benefits that consumers (citizens) might like from rural land. Bilsborough explains why this happens as the result of a number of factors: 1. ‘ the expected response of an agency which has inherited from a predecessor organisation (Nature Conservancy Council) a culture whereby conservation objectives on SSSI are agreed with farmers, as suppliers of environmental goods, rather than people as ‘consumers’ of environmental goods; 2. a strengthened emphasis upon ‘partnership’ with suppliers (farmers) to secure conservation objectives in the countryside; 3. a reluctance to see challenged the ‘elitist’ approach of scientists and landscape advisers to the setting of rural conservation objectives; 4. a desire on the part of CCW for success to be clearly demonstrated to its sponsors (the Welsh Office) leading to an approach that minimised risk of failure…’(Bilsborough 1997, p94)
Despite Bilsborough’s misgivings Tir Cymen was able to demonstrate successfully that monetary values could be attached to environmental improvements and that whole farm agri-environment schemes were an improvement on previous piecemeal approaches. In 1999 CCW introduced the Wales-wide Tir Gofal scheme.
Tir Gofal In its design of Tir Gofal CCW drew upon the lessons of Tir Cymen. Like Tir Cymen, Tir Gofal is an ambitious agri-environment scheme that ensures a minimum standard of environmental care across the whole farm. As the scheme operates for the whole of a farm it ensures that environmental improvements in one part of the holding are not undermined by intensification on another part. The scheme operates across the whole of Wales and is designed to support the farming community in protecting the countryside whilst simultaneously promoting sustainable agriculture. Tir Gofal has four objectives: x Protect and enhance habitats x Protect the historic environment x Protect and restore rural landscapes; and x Promote public access to the countryside.
12 The Societal Context
By the summer of 2006, shortly before CCW was to pass on the running of the Scheme to the Welsh Assembly Government (in October 2006) it covered about 20 per cent of agricultural land in Wales. By taking Tir Gofal in-house the Government removed a major non-statutory task from CCW, so narrowing its range of activities.
Tir Gofal was widely heralded as one of the most comprehensive agri- environment schemes in Europe. It was held up as an important example of partnership working (principally with farmers but also others in the public sector and WAG) and of the integrated thinking – embracing habitats and landscapes - that could take place in CCW. The effectiveness of the Scheme was examined by the Audit Committee of the National Assembly for Wales (NAW 2008) and it pointed out that although the Scheme has potential there is no evidence or that the evidence is inconclusive as whether Tir Gorfal is able to meet its objectives. More problematically, the NAW Audit Committee highlighted that by bringing the Scheme within the Government concerns were raised about the retention of Tir Gofal officers as ‘the experience and expertise of the officers is vital in many respects of the Scheme’s delivery’ (NAW, p30 [9]).
LANDMAP and ecosystem services For some years CCW has engaged in innovative work on mapping. Its first initiative was LANDMAP. This was developed as a novel method to integrate data on landscape and biodiversity that would reflect the dual responsibility of CCW. The method by which LANDMAP was developed was also innovative: it drew upon the expertise of a range of public and voluntary sector stakeholders who would advise on the development of the tool and test it, so ensuring widespread agreement on the term landscape and how it should be assessed (Owen and Eagar 2004 [10]). The contribution of LANDMAP to land use planning was recognised in awards at the national and European level (Owen and Eagar 2004, p191 ibid).
More recently, Medcalf and Small (2012 [11]) have described an ecosystems approach in Bridgend. Ecosystem services are the benefits that humans obtain directly or indirectly from our environment (e.g. food, water). The Bridgend ecosystems services project is to promote Natural Resource Planning by identifying the resources in the area, the resources that could be produced, and the constraints and opportunities underpinning resource availability. The ecosystem layers and modelling are to support Supplementary Planning Guidance on green infrastructure which can demonstrate the value of the approach to the wider planning community. To be of value to planners, the modelling work can identify the trade-offs for ecosystems services of development options.
The project methodology, like that of LANDMAP is based on a dialogue between stakeholders. Rather than the top-down imposition of scientific knowledge there is a commitment to a bottom-up approach that draws upon local expertise. In this way, the ecosystem services approach in Bridgend has been able to develop local scale datasets. For example, it is possible to produce maps that can show areas vulnerable to soil erosion and appropriate for carbon storage, and those where positive environmental benefits can readily be created such as for connectivity of woodlands.
13 A Natural Step?
Accessible Natural Greenspace Toolkit CCW’s work with Bridgend Council is part of a broader engagement with local government and urban communities. Whilst much of CCW’s work is rural in nature, the Welsh Government has used its remit letters to steer CCW towards an urban and social programme of work. CCW’s starting point in dealing with urban communities is to encourage more people, from different backgrounds, to make more use of the green-space close to their homes. The Accessible Natural Greenspace Toolkit (CCW 2006 [12]) is designed for local authorities to identify and assess green space in relation to the needs of their communities. In the Foreword to the report the Chair of CCW forcefully argued ‘This toolkit is not intended to help you protect nature for its own sake: it is to help you identify the sites that your citizens need in order to benefit from contact with nature. It will give you transparent, evidence-based, defensible reasons for acting to protect those sites for the benefit of the people who need them – often the most vulnerable members of our society.’
Fig 1- 2 This Pembrokeshire woodland site near the neolithic dolmen at Pentre Ifan has all-weather access and is valued and well used by the local community.
Conclusions To be able to move forward with confidence in our environmental institutions requires both rethinking the nature of environmental governance and a renewed commitment to environmental protection. On the one side it demands a model of governance that is comfortable with an independent body providing government with difficult and challenging advice and guidance because government recognises that there are conflicts and tensions in seeking to make more sustainable decisions. On the other side, there is a societal-wide recognition of the value of our environment. It is here that a deeper understanding of, and commitment to, environmental protection enables a body to speak for the environment in a more ecocentric manner, and to represent anthropocentric concerns for the environment.
14 The Societal Context
CCW has operated in an organisational and policy framework that has developed in a largely ad hoc and pragmatic manner, and is a vivid testimony to the weakness of the statutory environmental bodies. Judgements on the conservation bodies tend to be harsh but it is difficult to differ from that of Lowe and Goyder (1983, p67 [13]) in writing of the English and Welsh predecessors to CCW that they ‘have small budgets, little power and limited policy-making initiative, and they are politically marginal’. Lowe and Goyder however, present a partial picture as they concentrate on relations between groups and central government. What they omit is the way in which agencies, such as CCW, can innovate through their programmes and practices to bring about change on the ground, about the positive relationships that can develop with local government, and about the capacity that is nurtured amongst NGOS and how that can in turn promote further creativity. Finally, it is worth remembering what the first Chief Executive of CCW pointed out: if there is to be effective protection of the environment then what is needed is a ‘national authority, having the full support and trust of its parent Government’ (Mercer 1995, p27 op cit).
References 1. Phillips, A (1995) The Merits of Merger: A history of the issues in Bishop, K (ed), pp3-11 2. Mercer, I (1995) The Merits of Merger: The Welsh experience in Bishop K (ed), pp20-27 3. Baldock, D et al (1987) The Organisation of Nature Conservation in Selected European Countries, London, Institute for European Environmental Policy 4. Lean, G (1995) ‘Greens attack Redwood policies’. The Independent, 19 February 5. Little, K (ed) (2003) The Battle for Cefn Croes. How New Labour’s energy policy conspired to destroy the landscape of the Welsh Cambrian Mountains, Ceredigion, Cefn Croes Publications 6. CCW (1993a) Threshold 21: A Paper for Discussion, Bangor, CCW 7. CCW (1993b) Cynnal Cynefin, Bangor, CCW 8. Bilsborough, S (1997) Pricing the Countryside: The Example of Tir Cymen in John Foster (ed) Valuing Nature? London, Routledge, pp89-102 9. National Assembly for Wales (2008) Audit Committee Report AC(3) 08-08 Tir Gofal, September 10. Owen, R and Eager, D, LANDMAP: A Tool to Aid Sustainable Development in Bishop and Phillips (eds), pp188-200. 11. Medcalf, K and Small, N (2012) Modelling Ecosystem Services: Applying ecosystem services mapping to natural resource management objectives for identifying trade-offs and benefits, draft report, March 12. CCW (2006) Providing Accessible Natural Greenspace in Towns and Cities. A Practical Guide to Assessing the Resource and Implementing Local Standards for Provision in Wales 13. Lowe, P and Goyder, J (1983) Environmental Groups in Politics, London, George Allen and Unwin 14. Bishop, K (ed) (1995) Merits of Merger. Proceedings of a workshop organised by the Environmental and Countryside Planning Unit, Research Report, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University 15. Bishop, K and Phillips A (2004) Countryside Planning. New Approaches to Management and Conservation, London, Earthscan
15 A Natural Step?
Chapter 2 – A Changing Environment Evolution of CCW
James Robertson continues the theme of the relationships which both constrain and assist in the environmental work of Wales’ statutory countryside agency. He begins by describing CCW’s legislative and historical background, and reviews some of the challenges it faced during its 22 years. CCW was established in 1991 as a new body, with a new remit, operating in a distinct environment, both social, as we have seen, and geographical. However it inherited statutory functions and staff from its parent bodies, the Nature Conservancy Council and Countryside Commission, and a singular history.
Many years ago I helped organise a Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) workshop about law enforcement. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 had given NCC an enforcement role for Sites of Special Scientific Interest. One of the contributors to the course, a Detective Inspector who was working as one of the first police wildlife liaison officers, asked the assembled company what we thought marked NCC out in relation to legislation. He was answered with blank looks. ‘Everything you do’, he pointed out, ‘you do because you are empowered to do it by law. You cannot do anything which does not have a basis in statute. This is what makes you so different from non-government organisations (NGOs).’
It is a fair point, and I will try not to forget the role of the law in shaping the life and times of the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW). The functions and duties which CCW inherited in 1991 are themselves part of a story of how the environment came to be part of the machinery of government, so I will start with this historical context. It also illuminates the imperfect and changing interplay between government departments peopled with politically skilled generalists whose aim is to avoid mishap and statutory agencies with skilled, dedicated staff who want to make a difference.
16 A Changing Environment
Historical and legal background In 1941, during the darkest days of war, Collins began publishing a series of books called Britain in Pictures [1]. They used good quality paper, then in desperately short supply, had beautiful colour plates and have become favourites with collectors. More than 90 titles were published during wartime. They affirmed national pride, and eased the tensions of war; they reminded readers of the achievements of the nation: its poets, its sports, its institutions, even its furniture. James Fisher’s The Birds of Britain, Frank Fraser Darling’s Wild Life of Britain, along with titles on wild and garden flowers, trees, and marine life, were so successful that they were reissued in a single volume Nature in Britain. The first title in ‘Collins’ New Naturalist’ Library, Butterflies by E B Ford, also appeared in wartime. The stage was set for the environment to become a matter of public concern and government policy.
Fig 2- 1 James Maxwell McConnell Fisher (1912 - 1970) was a prolific writer and broadcaster and one of Britain’s leading all-round naturalists. As well as writing The Birds of Britain, he was one of the editors of the original Collins New Naturalist series, which did so much to raise public awareness of the natural world. Had he appeared on ‘Mastermind’, his specialist subject would certainly have been birds.
The post-war Labour Government’s radical programme of reform encompassed health, education, social security, agriculture, nationalisation and much more. Reform in relation to nature and the countryside came from two distinct strands: first, those who fought for their country should have a right to enjoy its natural beauty; second, there should be a place for nature in a civilized society. The Hobhouse and Huxley committee reports, published in 1947, dealt with these two strands separately, laying the foundations for the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949.
Most of the debate in Parliament concerned the access and National Park provisions, which were hugely controversial. They emerged in an attenuated form after the amenity lobby overplayed its hand, and because an alliance of landowners and County Councils, often the same people, conducted a successful rearguard action. They killed off the proposal to establish a Land Fund to bring ownership of National Park land into the public domain, which would in effect have meant nationalising the National Parks. From a modern perspective it is astonishing that such a radical plan was proposed, but at the time, equally radical policies were being delivered.
17 A Natural Step?
The first two parts of the 1949 Act concerned the setting up of the National Parks Commission (which became the Countryside Commission (CoCo), with additional functions, in the Countryside Act 1968); and of the National Parks themselves. Part 3 related to nature conservation. Parts 4 and 5, which formed the major part of the legislation, concerned Public Rights of Way and Access to Open Country.
The Nature Conservancy (NC) itself became a Body Corporate, answerable to the Privy Council, early in 1949. In a symbolic act, the Lord President of the Privy Council, Herbert Morrison, presented the Royal Charter to the NC governing council and Scottish committee at 11 Downing Street on 19th May. NC’s functions were to give scientific advice, establish and manage nature reserves and conduct research. Herbert Morrison, the Deputy Prime Minister, wanted to give NC a fair wind, in part because of his close relationship with one of its main architects, Max Nicholson; in addition, its functions largely took it out of the political arena into the sheltered field of science.
The nature conservation provisions of the NP & AC Bill slipped through easily, with an amendment adding a short clause giving NC the duty to inform local planning authorities of areas of special scientific interest. Despite its limited and largely advisory role, there were clashes with other interests. Some landowners viewed this creation of the Labour Government with suspicion; and the Forestry Commission (FC), established in 1919, viewed the newcomer as competition for biologically rich but agriculturally poor land on which it wanted to plant conifers. (A ‘dedication scheme’, introduced in 1947, had greatly increased its ability to plant up land.) In 1955 FC’s lobbying efforts resulted in a review of NC by the Playfair Committee. This exonerated NC and cast doubts over FC’s willingness to communicate with NC over high-level policy matters.
Fig 2- 2 Heavyweight bronze signs like this one were made to sit above National Nature Reserves notices, and indicate the special 'Privy Council' status of the Nature Conservancy, and the importance attached to the early NNRs
The first open conflict came when NC went to public inquiry in 1958 to oppose the building of a power station at Dungeness, on the largest area of vegetated shingle in Europe. The Minister gave consent, but it was a sign of the readiness of an independent statutory agency to stand up to government. This at times uneasy relationship with government was mediated through Departmental civil servants who lacked the relevant background or interest to be able to present NC policy advice adequately. This may have contributed to two major reorganisations, first in 1965, when it was downgraded and placed with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), an unhappy arrangement; and again in 1973, when the research
18 A Changing Environment arm of NC became the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE), and NC became a Council, under the Nature Conservancy Council Act 1973. Nevertheless, the Nature Conservancy developed and sustained an influence beyond anything its modest origins would have suggested, and its mix of scientific authority, independence from government and executive functions gave it an international reputation. This was enhanced in particular by the publication of A Nature Conservation Review in 1977.
Fig 2- 3 Sea Kale on shingle. Shingle habitats such as the great shingle beach at Dungeness are full of rare and strange plants and invertebrates, adapted to extreme, often desert-like di i Changing circumstances: the 1980s During the 1980s the public mood changed towards places which had escaped intensive agriculture, forestry or development, because of their stories. Human associations with places fused with natural history and wildlife habitats became places of cultural importance. Publication of The Common Ground by Richard Mabey in 1980, instigated by NCC, was important in this respect. Although its heartland was lowland England, messages about local distinctiveness and cultural landscapes had a more general resonance.
Fig 2- 4 Hay-turning in one of the author's hay meadows. Wildlife habitats such as traditional hay meadows, with their rich and colourful flora, came to be valued in part for the human history of management they embody. 19 A Natural Step?
In Wales, the natural heritage was far more intact than in lowland England. It was also valued more clearly as part of people’s cultural identity. A close association between people and the land remained, especially in rural counties like Gwynedd, where NCC Wales (and later CCW) had its headquarters. Most people were no more than one generation away from having family ties with the land. Like their livestock, many farming families felt ‘hefted’ to the land, their cynefin. This enabled livestock farming to persist even when it was barely economically viable.
Fig 2- 5 Rhaeadr Ddu on the Afon Gamlan, a Mawddach tributary. Away from steep, wooded hillsides with their tumbling streams and hard-to-harvest timber, even in what are now termed ‘least favoured areas’, forty years ago hardy Welsh farming families eked a sparse living by rearing livestock.
The physical landscape was changing more rapidly than ever before in the 1980s, fuelled in particular by the Common Agricultural Policy and its production subsidies. However, the era of publicly funded destruction of habitats was coming to an end and attempts were being made to develop policies to benefit the natural heritage; for example Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) were established under the Agriculture Act 1985.
Four main factors combined to change the context within which NCC was operating. These were the devolution agenda, especially in Scotland; the erosion of the honoured status of science in public life [2]; the impact of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which gave SSSIs legal backing but changed the relationship between landowners/occupiers and NCC; and, crucially, the politicisation of nature conservation.
20 A Changing Environment
The environment had become the subject of public discourse, and hence a matter of political interest. Press coverage of losses to wildlife habitats was to some degree traceable to NCC, as over the planting of conifers on the great bog system of the Scottish ‘Flow Country’ as a tax break for the rich. The campaign lead to the scrapping of tax relief in the 1988 budget, but the fall-out contributed to the re-shaping of NCC into three ‘country agencies’, and the Joint Committee for Nature Conservation [3].
The ten National Parks, which had been put forward in the Dower Report of 1945, were all established by the end of the NPC’s first decade, starting with the Peak District in 1951; the three Welsh National Parks followed. This process was not always smooth, as there were sometimes painfully conflicting interests between landowners, who often dominated NP committees, and those who wanted NPs to attract visitors. By the 1980s CoCo had become adept at negotiating these difficult waters. CoCo avoided becoming embroiled in planning disputes by withdrawing from commenting on individual planning applications. Its focus was on policies to encourage the responsible enjoyment of the countryside, some of which, such as the Countryside Code, it became closely associated with. It was ‘people-friendly’ and it pursued its objectives largely through grant-aid to partners, notably local authorities in relation to access and recreation issues, funding Country Parks, for example. Although it lacked NCC’s depth of expertise, and employed consultants to develop for it a semi-scientific rationale for determining ‘landscape quality’, it had great strength in the policy and ‘people’ spheres.
An historic moment CCW came into existence at a crucial time. The environmental policy framework was changing, and so was public sentiment. The environment had risen up the public and political agenda. Neither CoCo nor NCC had been particularly well resourced in Wales, largely because so many functions of those organisations took place in Cheltenham and Peterborough, and Welsh staff often looked east for guidance. The new organisation had a bigger budget and greater responsibilities. It started with a small staff, but numbers were set to grow substantially. It was in a good position to develop and put into practice a distinctively Welsh environmental agenda.
This agenda now had to embrace a much broader spectrum of issues, concerns and interests than ever before. I will give some examples to illustrate how this influenced the work of CCW and took the organisation into different ways of working and engaging with other interests. It is equally true that throughout Welsh society individuals and organisations were responding in a myriad of ways to a realisation that the environment really mattered.
The UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (Rio Conference) and resulting Conventions gave the need to halt the destruction of nature new urgency and a new, local emphasis: decisions about the management of nature had to draw in all those whose lives it affected. Agenda 21 set the tone for the more inclusive approach to nature and landscape conservation that we have now. The term ‘nature conservation’ largely disappeared, as the new term ‘biodiversity’ captured this sense of shared interest and went down better with politicians and decision-makers.
21 A Natural Step?
This inclusive approach became an automatic part of CCW’s work on species and habitat action plans, which were the main product in the UK of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This resulted in a host of repairs and improvements to Welsh ecosystems. I for one am delighted that Sand Lizards, once extinct, are again thriving on Welsh sand dunes. It was also visible in CCW’s links with the three magnificent National Parks and its support for Local Authorities (LAs) and for increasingly professional environmental NGOs, such as the Wildlife Trusts. Partnerships such as the Wales Biodiversity Partnership have increased public involvement, and among the roll call of impressive achievements is the network of Biodiversity Information Centres across Wales. A new institution, the National Botanic Garden, is making an important contribution to knowledge about Welsh biodiversity.
We are a small country where people can always find connections, and barriers between, for example, the governors and the governed hardly exist, so this was a natural way to work. I sometimes tire of constant references to ‘working in partnership’, which can be a cover for endless meetings and lack of direction or action, but at its best, when it draws on the strengths as well as absorbing the interests of different groups, this way of working can be genuinely productive.
Fig 2- 6 Plant recorders survey a wetland white with cotton-grass. Volunteers, with CCW support, contribute much to environmental conservation through what is now called 'citizen science'.
CCW was indeed fortunate to inherit a well-oiled grants management system from CoCo. Based in Newtown, this achieved expenditure of the grants budget effectively and flexibly, with thorough accountability but without the kind of overblown procedures often associated with public expenditure. This grants budget supported committed staff within LAs and enabled them to carry out programmes of landscape, access and nature conservation work, and helped land managing organisations like RSPB, the National Trust and the Wildlife 22 A Changing Environment
Trusts to buy and manage areas of important landscapes and habitats. It also built the capacity of NGOs, which are much stronger now than they were when CCW started life.
Farming policy Agri-environment schemes to limit or reverse the environmental damage caused by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and to limit production, were being designed and introduced throughout the EU, following major CAP reform in 1992. After an initial pilot scheme, in October 1992 CCW introduced and ran the Tir Cymen agri-environment scheme. This was a whole-farm scheme which operated in three areas, Meirionydd, Dinefwr and Swansea/Gower. Farmers were given area payments to sign up to a code of practice and to manage land for wildlife, landscape, archaeology, geology, and access. Capital payments were also available for improvement works to boundaries, gates and stiles, for bracken control and for headlands on arable fields.
Fig 2- 7 Ponies graze a mesotrophic grassland mosaic on the author's mixed organic farm. Nature on the farm has benefitted from ESA and Tir Gofal agri- environment schemes, and from the Organic Farming Scheme for Wales.
It was a dress rehearsal for the Wales-wide, environmentally successful Tir Gofal scheme, introduced in 1998. In the execution of these schemes, and in working with farmers to implement them, CCW staff had to learn new skills and develop a better understanding of on-farm realities, including economic ones. It also provided the old hegemony of agricultural policy implementation with competition; the Welsh Office Agriculture Department operated the ESA scheme, which was already running in 1991, and the Habitats Schemes, introduced in 1994. They (and their successors) campaigned to run Tir Gofal, and the scheme (including 23 A Natural Step? some CCW staff, although many left) was duly transferred to Welsh Assembly Government in October 2006. I shall make some observations on the impact of this and other changes to the agri-environment regime later on.
Fig 2- 8 A bumblebee pollinates bird's-foot trefoil. Environmental policy needs to find practical ways to restore the connections between pollinators, wildflower nectar sources and agricultural crops.
There was a huge shift towards environment-friendly agricultural policy in the 1990s, in which CCW played an important part. Arguably a highpoint was reached in 2001 with the publication of Farming for the Future. Its author, Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones, ‘rising star in Welsh politics’ [4] spent a year with leading lights from the food, farming and environment sectors to come up with a vision for the industry. It represented, for the first time in Wales, the publication of an embracing philosophy for farming. The transfer of Tir Gofal to WAG and the abandonment of ambitious organic farming targets are two examples of recent slippage. In 2007 under the coalition Welsh Government, CCW became answerable to the Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Jane Davidson, whose appointment was a great success. However this effectively left CCW out of the agricultural loop. Added to this, the then Minister for Rural Affairs, Elin Jones, showed little leadership and the most modest of environmental ambitions, backtracking on a series of elements in the Glastir scheme, the replacement for Tir Gofal, in the face of farmer opposition.
Nature at sea Wales’ marine and coastal heritage is of great importance, economically and psychologically, and gets fuller treatment elsewhere in this book. A thumbnail sketch of how CCW developed its marine nature conservation role provides
24 A Changing Environment my second example of a journey which exposed CCW to new areas of public interest. In the early 1990s concerns about the marine environment were hitting the news. There were articles about the impact of fisheries on dolphins and on fish stocks generally, and about fish farms, the role of the Crown Estate Commissioners in relation to sea bed licences (‘landlord and planning authority’), the cultivation of Pacific oysters, oil exploration, invasive species and so on. CCW had only one marine biologist and one marine policy officer at this time.
The challenges were huge, and although the UK’s first statutory Marine Nature Reserve had been established in the waters around Skomer in 1988, the outlook for the conservation of nature at sea, the last great commons, was unpromising. Although fishing interests have benefitted from Skomer MNR, no further marine nature reserves have ever been declared.
Skomer has provided a huge amount of biological data, and also links with the fishing community. Headed up by some strong individuals, CCW’s marine team has punched above its weight, through a combination of highly committed, hard- working individuals, strong underpinning science, and a willingness to engage with others with legitimate interests in the marine environment. Integration of science and policy has been strikingly successful in this area of its remit, unlike others, as I argue elsewhere.
Fig 2- 9 The interface between land and sea creates some wonderfully rich and accessible habitats, like this rock pool on rocks adjacent to Aberffaw Beach, Anglesey.
25 A Natural Step?
The strength of CCW’s pioneering intertidal survey (1995-2005) has been in the use to which this fascinating body of information has been put. Gathering new information about the marine and intertidal resource, using it (for example in relation to the major exercise of designating some large coastal Special Areas of Conservation) and communicating it has left an important legacy. The same is true for the geological heritage, where a small number of staff have made a big impact. CCW’s legacy in relation to survey and monitoring of the terrestrial environment has been more modest. The equally pioneering ‘Phase 1’ field by field survey of habitats [7] could have become a useful tool for helping direct all kinds of developments, but that would have involved a major effort by ‘science staff’ in the policy and ‘people’ sphere. In 1995 CCW established an environmental monitoring station on Snowdon as part of the Environmental Change Network, an important initiative in a place particularly vulnerable to the effects of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, acid rain and climate change. This valuable work has been well covered in news reports and articles [8].
The difficult business of integration CCW was the first Country Agency to bridge the historic gulf between ‘countryside’ on the one hand, and ‘nature’ on the other, when CCW took over the responsibilities of CoCo and NCC in Wales in 1991, and was followed by Scottish Natural Heritage in Scotland a year later. Its statutory framework was set by the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (and subsequent amendments). Joining the disparate parts together into a coherent whole proved more of a challenge than observers had expected.
Most of the staff of the new organisation came from NCC Wales, with a few additions from NCC outside Wales. CoCo had a small staff in Wales, mainly working through the medium of grant-aid and ‘partners’. The first Chief Executive, Ian Mercer, was a former National Park Officer with a keen interest in landscape and access issues. He had sat down in many farm kitchens on Dartmoor and listened to complaints from farmers about the SSSI provisions. He understood the resentment that landowners felt towards NCC staff who, as they saw it, used a legalistic process, couched in an impenetrable scientific language, to dictate how they could farm their land. He had his own vision of what the new Agency should strive to achieve, which he set out in a discussion paper Threshold 21. He wanted the whole countryside to be managed in a way which made designations unnecessary. If he achieved his vision, CCW would do itself out of a job. Yet he was not able to apply the high level of management skill needed for this commendable vision to take root, and for staff to unite behind a common cause.
The staff structure, which emerged as new posts were filled, did not lend itself to the happy integration of the different parts of the new remit. Although ‘science’ and ‘policy’ were in theory within the same directorate, staff from the two teams had little contact with each other, let alone worked together in a seamless way. There was tension in particular between headquarters staff, who wanted to see their policies implemented on the ground, and regional staff, who had the responsibility for local action and understood local sensitivities. To address this, a radical restructuring plan was announced at the end of 1993. Called, to much amusement, ‘organic evolution’, it put forward a complex matrix management model which gave staff in headquarters responsibility for regional staff. This
26 A Changing Environment soon became mired in dispute, and in the end the consultants who were asked to advise on its implementation recommended that it be dropped. Restructuring was frozen in 1994 when the Welsh Office and the new Secretary of State decided to start the quinquennial review of CCW two years early.
John Redwood was appointed Secretary of State for Wales in May 1993, and immediately started to introduce his ‘Welsh experiment’ of Thatcherite policies distant from Welsh political sentiment. His woeful attempt to mime the Welsh National anthem, at the Conservative Party Conference in 1993, was caught on camera and endlessly repeated and cemented his neo-colonial image. He disliked ‘quangos’ and believed that environmental regulations were a boulder in the path of ‘progress’. Initially cutting CCW’s budget by a sixth, he then produced a plan to take responsibilities away from the organisation and reduce its budget by a third over two years. There was an outcry over this ‘dismemberment of wildlife and countryside protection’ [5]. Significantly, he wanted to hand Tir Cymen to the Welsh Office, privatise some NNRs [6] and take some SSSIs, access work and country park funding away from CCW and give them to Local Authorities. Some of this agenda came from LAs, who resented CCW’s powers over SSSIs on their patches and had been irked by some of CCW’s access and countryside policies.
Fig 2- 10 Public sentiment towards landscapes can be greatly influenced by the presence of charismatic animals like red squirrels (above). However characterising landscapes according to subjective criteria is problematic.
Laudable attempts to give the term ‘landscape’ a broader meaning, embracing visual, sensory, literary and cultural aspects, resulted in a largely unworkable but very expensive project called ‘LANDMAP’. Local Authorities were told to use 27 A Natural Step? this to characterise landscapes, and funding was tied to this theoretically splendid but impractical system. I became used to hearing complaints from disillusioned Local Authority colleagues. As we have seen, two very different cultures had developed since 1949. Landscape specialists ‘see the world but nothing in it’, while nature conservationists ‘have PhDs in myopia’ [9]. This compounded a much greater problem, which related to two separate parts of the organisation, a regionally based one which looked to the centre for support, and a centre which looked to the regions to carry out its initiatives.
Fig 2- 11 When improved grassland is taken to the cliff edge, and grazing or other management cease on the cliff, bracken, brambles and scrub develop. The outcome is neither good for wildlife nor enjoyment of the magnificent coastal scenery from the narrow coastal path. This scene, at Dinas Island, Pembs, is typical.
The relationship between the different parts of the remit matured and settled down, without complete integration. It would have been good if improvements to coastal access, for example, could have done more to improve the management of the land surrounding coastal and cliff-top paths, to benefit wildlife and walkers. That may be for the future. Landscape is now a term to which everyone can lay claim. Natural Resources Wales will have an even bigger integration task; and, as with CCW, it will be in the relationships between local offices and central ones that tensions will most need careful, sympathetic handling.
In CCW, internal conflict eased when a new Chief Executive, Paul Loveluck, arrived in 1996. A skilled manager, he reversed plans to integrate the organisation’s remit. Staff worked within a segmented structure, which did not 28 A Changing Environment encourage them to see what was going on across the organisation, except at senior management level. CCW’s relationship with the then Welsh Office improved greatly. Its budget grew substantially during this period, but there was a cost to its autonomy. Inevitably there was some erosion of independence, so that CCW became more an organ of government, carrying out necessary environmental processes, than an independent adviser to Welsh Government . However, it fared well compared to sister agencies in England and Scotland.
It took a long time to heal the historic divide between landscape and access, on one side, and nature on the other. In the reverse of that earlier characterisation, landscape specialists and ecologists all see the big picture, in which humans loom large. They also see the small things, that silent majority which is nature, and understand that it is in the detail that environmental management succeeds or fails. NRW has even greater divisions to heal. Its component parts have very different histories. It will take courage and skill to forge an organisation which makes full use of its staff’s talents and retains a degree of independence to achieve the best possible outcomes for the Welsh environment.
Final thoughts The environment is not high on political agendas at the moment, and fears about climate change and food shortages now occupy some of that ground. That doesn’t make it any less vital, and only increases the need for an environmental champion within government. The ‘countryside’ – not the happiest term – remains close to the public’s heart. As the shutting up of the countryside during the Foot and Mouth crisis of 2001 showed, it is hugely important to the economy. There is much in CCW’s legacy to take pride in, including its willingness to take on the big guns at a number of high-profile Public Inquiries. I will be looking forward to seeing some of the same ‘Dungeness spirit’ in NRW.
CCW put considerable energy into the sphere of agricultural policy, and its Tir Gofal agri-environment scheme delivered substantial benefits for the environment. This scheme was expensive, but it delivered results. It has now been superseded by Glastir, which offers less to farmer, taxpayer and environment alike. Indeed, as many environmentalists have pointed out, the gains made under Tir Gofal at public expense may be reversed because of the way the scheme has been designed. The environment may have slipped from agri-environment centre stage. This, and the inertia introduced into farming by the bureaucracy which attends the subsidy regime, may lead to renewed questioning of the benefits of all agricultural subsidy.
Despite this, there are good reasons for optimism about the context for NRW. The establishment of a National Assembly can be credited with the emergence of a more self-confident, outward-looking Nation which values and takes full responsibility for its environment. Wales is poised to emerge as a leader in environment and sustainability, giving it a prized ‘green’ identity internationally.
Much of the bread and butter work of CCW, on National Nature Reserves, MNRs, SSSIs and in relation to the planning system, now part of NRW’s remit, was unglamorous and unsung. Yet it contributed to beneficial outcomes for the natural heritage and for people, since good decisions leave a good legacy for
29 A Natural Step? the future. The knowledge, skills and dedication of staff at all levels of CCW who advised planning authorities, gave evidence at Public Inquiries, worked with SSSI owners, promoted the conservation and enjoyment of the landscape and so on, provide a huge asset for NRW.
Site protection remains the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. The linking of EU grants moneys to satisfactory progress with SAC notification was a great boost to this work. The current SSSI legislation, which preceded CCW by a decade, will need reform. This should embrace a broader interpretation of the value of SSSIs to people, and help them become much more owner/manager friendly. In time, I hope NRW and WG, working at a UK level, will bring about a system of site protection which makes their owners and managers proud to be custodians of these inspirational places.
Acknowledgements I would like to thank Joanna Robertson for valuable comments on this text.
Background reading: 1. Robertson, J. The Thin Green Line. Unpubl. 2. Adams, W M. Future Nature – a vision for conservation. Earthscan 2003. 3. Wilkinson, Sir William. The Union of Hands and Hearts. Speech to RSNC National Conference, 21 April 1990. 4. Robertson, J. The future of farming. ECOS 22 (3/4) 5. Blackstock, T & Howe, E. The habitat survey of Wales. Natur Cymru 6. 6. Turner, A. Environmental monitoring on Snowdon. Natur Cymru 35. 7. Lean, Geoffrey. Redwood misled Commons over plans to cut conservation in Wales. Independent on Sunday 25 May 1995. 8. Marren, Peter. Nature Conservation. Collins 2002. 9. Robertson, J. Biodiversity: all spin and no substance? ECOS 21 (2)
30 A Changing Environment
Fig 2- 12 Cae Blaen Dyffryn, a Plantlife reserve. Public attachment to the countryside, and disappearing but astonishingly beautiful habitats like this orchid-rich meadow, is a powerful force in support of better public environmental policy.
31 A Natural Step?
Chapter 3 – Our Land, Our Landscape Farming, agri-environment schemes and protected areas
Gareth Wyn Jones continues and develops the story of CCW’s early days, its ambitions and the major set-back it had to overcome. He describes its involvement in agri-environment schemes, which might have followed a different management model. Although these schemes had the potential to be transformative, he describes how Treasury rules lost Wales a great opportunity. CCW’s greatest practical and intellectual challenge, he suggests, is ’landscape‘. He discusses the issues surrounding the landscape dilemma and the fraught relationships between landscape and development. For example, views about wind turbines have become polarised; but cherished assumptions, he argues, will need to be re-examined.
~~~
The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) was conceived in a rebellion of landowners. Ironically not Welsh landowners, but influential Scottish landowners and speculators who were disillusioned with and wanted rid of the ‘British’ Nature Conservancy Council (NCC). After a very short gestation new bodies were born in both countries inheriting their legal wildlife and habitat duties from the NCC and broader advisory and promotional responsibilities in relation to landscape, leisure and recreation from the Countryside Commission (CC). In England these two elements remained separate for another decade. CCW also inherited from CC an intermediary funding, appointment advice and advocacy role between the three National Parks and the then Welsh Office. Some of the old NCC stalwarts were distinctly unimpressed and felt the new devolved bodies, in Wales especially, would be ineffectual in protecting wildlife. Fortunately CCW had a skilled and canny midwife in the long serving junior Minister in Welsh Office, Wyn, now Lord, Roberts; also the constituency MP for Bangor where the new body’s headquarters was sited.
32 Our Land, Our Landscape
He ensured that the Council had an experienced Chairman in Michael Griffith, an old style, one nation Tory from an established, land-owing family in the Vale of Clwyd who had wide commercial and banking experience. A charismatic, far-sighted Director, Ian Mercer, previously Chief Executive of Dartmoor National Park Authority, was appointed who had for a number of years advocated the integration of ‘countryside and conservation’ functions. Wyn Roberts went to considerable lengths to select a council (board) whose members were representative of the various stands of rural life and conservation in Wales. They included two other farmers, Tom Jones and John Harrop, a Labour leader from Merthyr, Morgan Chambers and a community activist from Gwynedd, Merfyn Williams. One vital consequence of Wyn Robert’s perspicacity is that the board had, in its early days, a feel for the pulse of rural Wales - essential given the newness of the body and the simple fact that most of Wales is owned by individuals and its ‘natural beauty’ is the product of some 4,000 years of interaction between people, usually trying to secure a living, and their raw bio- and geological resources. Individuals and families, not quangos or agencies or societies!
Uniting the very different cultures of the two parent organisations was not easy. Mercer insisted that the overriding purpose of wildlife and habitat and landscape designations lay in societal values, not in the interests of individual species enthusiasts or any a priori claim of the species itself. Ian saw the plethora of designations, some wildlife or habitat, some landscape or natural beauty, as a recognition of human weakness, a pragmatic and partial answer to insensitive exploitation, not an end in itself. In an ideal world where every citizen fully appreciated and treasured their heritage, such designations would not be necessary [1, 2]. (Fig. 3-1 shows the number and extent of designated areas.) Also both Ian and Michael regarded farmers and landowners as partners, not the irresponsible enemy; the latter view was – and indeed is still - not unknown in the conservation community!
Even as CCW was settling in and staff were being hired, minds were focused on these fundamental relationships by a request from the Secretary of State, David Hunt, that CCW should establish a pilot agri-environmental scheme, to match Countryside Stewardship in England. Its name, Tir Cymen, usually translated ‘well-wrought land’, was coined by Llyr Gruffydd, the newly appointed publications officer. When I was appointed as Director of Research and Policy in May 1991, it was immediately clear that this important initiative could, if successful, point the way to a fresh, more integrated approach to the duties and responsibilities of CCW and to a new bargain between farmers and landowners and ‘conservation’. This was the period leading up to the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, when the concept of sustainable development was enjoying a widening currency. Interestingly, the concept was written into the legislation establishing Scottish Natural Heritage but not CCW.
33 A Natural Step?
Fig 3- 1 National Protected Areas in Wales, March 2008 This map is based upon Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Countryside Council for Wales, 100018813 [2008]
34 Our Land, Our Landscape
Given Mercer’s experience of running a small agri-environmental scheme in Dartmoor, he determined that, unlike the English Countryside Stewardship Scheme and the ESAs, we should launch a positive, whole-farm scheme seeking to reconcile and integrate the conservation of wildlife/habitats and landscape and where possible recreational assets such as new paths, within a holding with practical farming and food production. Being whole farm it avoided the difficulty of farmers being tempted to over-exploit land outside a specific prescription. As a result of both my youth helping on farms in Llansannan and my overseas experience in agricultural and eco- physiological research and rural development, I found this approach most congenial and exciting. A small core team of Clunie Keenleyside, Simon Bilsborough, Buddug Jones and Hilary Miller, supported by specialist advice from in-house land agents, species, habitat, landscape and recreation experts was established with also some external archaeological expertise. Our task was to design, test and launch a scheme which had to receive both UK Treasury and European Commission approval in short order. The intention was that Tir Cymen would be launched by David Hunt during the Royal Welsh Show of 1992 and that the first whole farm agreements would be signed by late Autumn 1992. This was accomplished… just!
It may be worth examining some of the crucial elements. The pilot under CCW’s experimental powers, which required ten-year contracts between the farmer and CCW, was designed to cover 10% of Wales and all the major farming systems. The agreements covered capital and management payments for land use, habitat management and creation, landscape and archaeological assets. Three representative areas were selected - Meirionnydd, Dinefwr and Gower/Swansea - which also allowed three management models to be tested: a) Meirionnydd - a project team embedded in the local planning authority (Snowdonia National Park), b) Dinefwr - a de novo CCW team in the locality and c) Gower - a smaller area run by the existing CCW staff with one extra post. It was agreed that the project officers should be drawn from the community - people with local knowledge and trusted within the farming community. Any deficiencies in their ecological knowledge were balanced by the appointment of an experienced ecologist to two teams. Local credibility was considered the key. Similarly Chris Gilmore, from FUW but with conservation experience, was appointed to head the project nationally and became a vital and effective manger. We were pressed by Michael Griffith to achieve a low ratio of administrative costs to the sums paid out. By the fifth year his target of 10% was, as I understand it, achieved. The basic strategy was also new. CCW sought to act on behalf of the public by paying for defined environmental goods and services. Payments were calculated as a result of surveys, carried out by Simon, which sought to establish how much should be paid to secure a 50% uptake in the provision of a specific environmental good or service by the farmer i.e. not the conventional ‘profits foregone’ concept of ESAs etc. However, it must be acknowledged that we cross- checked our figures recognising that farmers could, in effect, be overbidding!
The uptake and farming reaction proved highly satisfactory in all three localities in 1992 and 1993, although few intensive dairy units entered. However, at an early stage some feared CCW was ‘nationalising’ land and seeking to emulate
35 A Natural Step? the powers of old County War Agricultural Committees. The fears gradually subsided, but again it emphasised the critical importance of public engagement and perception. Undoubted we made some errors, especially in not ‘stepping down’ payments on extensive areas of moorland. The same environmental goods could have been achieved at a lower price and avoided a perception of our favouring the large holdings. Unfortunately I was swayed more by ecologists’ insistence that large areas are of greater conservation value than by the socio-economic arguments. However, access for ramblers was part of the moorland prescriptions and was achieved in ways that both protected wildlife at sensitive times, such as the nesting season, and created goodwill (usually!); well before the ‘Right to Roam’. Our approach, in my view, rightly recognised that rural holdings have a legitimate asset to offer to the public.
Leading up to the 1993 spending round, David Hunt formally ring-fenced the Tir Cymen budget, which was anticipated to rise to about £6M per annum by 1996, compared with the rest of the CCW budget of about £13 to14M. However, as in all human activities, externalities and events can confound our best-laid plans. In this case it was the promotion of David Hunt in mid 1993 and his replacement with John Redwood as Secretary of State. Unfortunately relations between CCW and Redwood were partly bedevilled by the chasm created in the Thatcher years between traditional one nation Tories (the wets) and the new thrusting breed of free-market ideologues (the drys). While Redwood appeared well disposed to National Parks, he was sceptical of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). I vividly recall a meeting in Gwydir House in which he wished to know how many SSSIs there were in Wales (about 870 at the time) and, given this large number, why more were required. And, by implication, how could we justify any more? Indeed, were all the existing SSSIs justified? He later enquired how many were within five miles of the M4 and A55 and might curtail ‘development’. I emphasise he asked totally legitimate questions and, in responding, serious deficiencies in the NCC procedures were revealed. He appeared to view species and habitat conservation as largely a private matter, not a matter of securing a public good. Aficionados should club together a la RSPB or Wildlife Trust or the National Trust to protect and conserve areas of special interest to them. Attempts to feed Michael Griffith with appropriate quotations from Adam Smith on the value of public goods were to no avail.
Matters were to worsen. CCW decided to promote a major annual Environmental Lecture, and Prince Charles was invited to deliver the inaugural presentation at the Margam Orangery in early December 1993 [3]. With two others I was invited to St James’s Palace to assist Richard Aylard, HRH’s personal secretary, with the contents of his speech. Although we all sought to restrain the Prince’s enthusiasms, his lecture was an impassioned plea for conservation and rural life, which was interpreted in Welsh Office as a personal attack. Charles quoted the famous passage from Saunders Lewis’ play, Buched Garmon ’Gwinllan a roddwyd i’n gofal yw Cymru fy ngwlad, I’w thraddodi i’n plant, Ac i blant fy mlant, Yn dreftadaeth dragwyddol.’ etc [4]. I became aware of this only a few minutes before its delivery and hurried to explain that these words were written by a fiery nationalist leader, one of the three responsible for the ’Tân yn Llŷn‘ - the fire at the proposed Pen y Berth bombing range. After a hurried confab I was assured he was unconcerned.
36 Our Land, Our Landscape
But the event caused serious damage to the relationship between CCW and the Secretary of State. Protestations of our restraining innocence had no effect. However, many years later it may now be of interest that Saunders Lewis’ words closely anticipate the famous Gro Harlem Brundtland declaration on ‘sustainability’, being about our responsibility to our children and our children’s children – ‘i'n plant, ac i blant fy mlant’!
It became clear in the late summer 1994, during the negotiations for the 1995/96 fiscal year, that the next spending round would have a serious impact. But, under the terms of Tir Cymen, the third tranche of farmers - a commitment of about £0.5M - were to be signed up in Nov/Dec 1994. A few weeks later the CCW budget was cut by 16% and the Tir Cymen ring-fence removed. Redwood told Mercer that he intended to reduce the CCW budget by £3M and that it was to be achieved by reducing staff numbers. When it was pointed out that redundancies cost money he was content to pay! CCW’s legal obligations to the 1992, 93 and 94 Tir Cymen intakes remained in place thus increasing the effective size of the cut. Many were incensed, including senior Conservative peers, by a policy stance unique to Wales and unsupported by both John Selwyn Gummer, the Environment Minister in Westminster, and, as far as one could tell, the people of Wales. Later it became known that in April 1995 Redwood returned £100M of the Welsh Grant to London unused. Regrettably no member of the CCW Council chose immediately to resign, although later Steve Ormerod did do so.
Interestingly, National Park budgets were not cut. Clearly CCW had to lose staff to cope with the cuts. Michael Griffith, I feel confident, decided that he would outlast John Redwood, which indeed is what happened, and subsequently he established an excellent relationship with William Hague, Redwood’s successor. Hague immediately reversed the £3M cut, but too late to reverse the redundancies. In mid summer 1995 Redwood, on behalf of the dry, Euroseptic right, challenged the Prime Minister John Major but lost, bringing his short but eventful reign in Wales to a close. Had it continued it is difficult to envisage what might have happened to CCW. As it was, public money was wasted but the case for devolution given a ‘vulcanic’ fillip!
Tir Cymen continued to flourish and the approach engendered much interest in the rest of Europe. Close links were established with comparable initiatives such as the MEKA project in Baden-Württemberg. Chris and Clunie and the regional teams had to cope with many visitors as it was widely regarded as the most innovative and advanced scheme in Europe. This is not the place to make a formal assessment of the impact of Tir Cymen, but it did lead on to the all-Wales Tir Gofal. Two factors deserve to be noted. The first arose from our wider European links. It became apparent that the funding rules applied by UK Treasury were significantly different to those pertaining in the German Lander and other member states and regions. Agri-environmental schemes were specifically funded and encouraged by Brussels, with Europe initially covering 50% of approved expenditure; this is why in 1992 we had to go though the Commission vetting process. Later in 2000 under Objective 1 status, which covered roughly half the area of Wales, this rose to 75% of approved expenditure.
37 A Natural Step?
However, in Wales and the rest of the UK additionality was not practiced or permitted. In the Lander and elsewhere, EU monies were added to the local budget line to fund the total project. In the UK the EU monies were returned to the Treasury with no impact on the project spend. Their argument was that, as the Treasury would receive through the Fontainebleau Abatement some 70% of the difference between the EU spend in the UK and the UK payment to Brussels, it was (largely) theirs to reclaim and allocate as London decided! Thus the UK Treasury, and consequently Welsh Office, had no motivation to maximise the use of EU resources in Wales or by CCW. Ironically, as CCW was seeking to respond to the Redwood cuts, a cheque of ~£1M was paid by CCW to the Welsh Office as a result of the EU support payments for Tir Cymen, but it did not elicit an enthusiastic response! It is clear that, with a different mind set and different Treasury rules, a comprehensive all-Wales version of Tir Cymen could have been rolled out around 2000 at little if any extra cost to Wales and modest cost to the UK. It could have transformed conservation of wildlife and landscape and created many recreational and tourism opportunities. Undoubtedly it would have helped the rural economy, as economic multipliers are greater with agri-environmental schemes than with direct farming subsidies [5]. It might also have been the basis of a marketing scheme for Welsh meat, combining high environmental standards with good welfare and local slaughter etc. It might have produced a return on the public investment and been an example of real sustainable development. A wasted opportunity, or ideological soundness?
Secondly the very success of Tir Cymen and other agri-environmental schemes led to the launch of an amended all-Wales version, Tir Gofal, in 1999. This raised a difficult issue for CCW. Undoubtedly Michael Griffith and Ian Mercer, and in all probability their successors in the Chair and as Chief Executive, saw a comprehensive agri-environmental scheme as transformative both for conservation and for the ability of CCW to fulfil its broader mandate and aspirations. However, such a scheme would inevitably enjoy a budget as large as or larger than CCW’s core budget and thus potentially could be a source of distortion and jealousy. The question can be posed in terms of adopting either the Dinefwr/Gower or the Meirionnydd/Snowdonia NP management model. The latter had a precedent in the organisation of the CCW-supported Coed Cymru, whose officers were placed in local authorities. Understandably CCW adopted the in-house approach, although it was not my preferred option. In the event, after a few years the project management was taken into Welsh Government, with all those bureaucratic implications. The alternative approach was made unattractive by the huge number of small, ill-funded local authorities (22 unitary authorities and three National Parks), an unfortunate legacy of an ill- conceived and expensive change imposed by David Hunt and John Redwood. However, in my view it had much to commend it. The staff responsible for day-to-day management could have been located in but not paid by local authorities and, with Coed Cymru officers, formed a cadre of dispersed expertise. CCW would have retained a project design, oversight and audit role. It is singularly unfortunate that the wealth of experience built up in designing and running Tir Cymen, Tir Gofal and ESAs etc., and the critical lesson of consulting with and listening to the farming fraternity and others with similar direct interests and knowledge, e.g. fishermen, seems not have been heeded in recent initiatives.
38 Our Land, Our Landscape
Fig 3- 2 Although Wales is famous for its natural beauty, very little is truly ‘natural’ and free from human impact. Roman Steps (above) up to Rhinog Fawr - not Roman at all but the remains of a mediaeval packhorse trail.
39 A Natural Step? Landscape Dilemma Perhaps the greatest practical and intellectual challenge facing any conservation body in Wales and elsewhere is ’landscape‘. No doubt the issue will exercise and challenge the new body. Although Wales is famous for its ‘natural beauty’, very very little is truly ‘natural’ and free of human impact, and ‘beauty’ famously lies in the eye of the beholder. However, compared with our easterly neighbour much of the land is hilly, some mountainous, and we enjoy a disproportionately long and varied coast. The land has escaped agricultural intensification but not deforestation or mining or quarrying or caravan parks. Nevertheless, it incorporates a wealth of artistic and poetic illusion and allusion in Welsh and English as well as being a source of tranquillity, exercise and fun. Wales has three National Parks (25%) and five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (5%) (see Fig. 3-1) and even these are supplemented by additional local designations; few countries have a greater proportion of their area subject to landscape designations.
The 1947 Hobhouse Report [6], which led to the National Parks in Wales and England, recommended that half of the country should be designated (compare Figs. 3-1 and 3-3). The Park boundaries were drawn to avoid local industry, exemplified by the Blaenau hole in Snowdonia in both maps, and arose from a different philosophy to current thinking on triple bottom-line sustainability. Even then it is not apparent when driving, cycling or walking whether one is in a designated area or not. Nevertheless, they have proved the most resilient and resistant of all the post-war Labour social interventions - c.f., for example, the changing National Health Service. The landscapes are of course not ‘natural’ but the product of human intervention - dramatically in the case of the East Anglian Fens; a little more subtly in Wales. A mischievous Irish Professor of Forestry in Bangor, Larry Roche, used to refer to the largely treeless Carneddau as the most degraded landscape he knew outside of Ethiopia [7]. Our appreciation of a landscape is highly subjective. Frequently it is matter of what we are used to - what we have ‘grown’ to love!
Attempts were made in CCW to clarify and understand the complexity of our perceptions. As summarised in Fig 3-4, it was recognised that our landscape perceptions are the product of our varying, sometimes conflicting, values imposed on the layers or strata embedded in a view. These layers ‘rise’ from a core of often unseen geology, through its biological coat and surface of human constructs, be they hedges, fields or dwellings etc. to, finally, the notional associations we impose upon them [7]. These elements, of course, change with time; geology slowly over millennia; notions in the time it takes for a cloud to pass or a poem or kiss to be recalled. CCW tried to cull something of greater practical use from this in its landscape policy. LANDMAP was developed by the Wales Landscape Partnership led by CCW, which defined landscape as ‘consisting not only of the objective reality of rocks, plants and buildings, which make up the physical form, but also the environment perceived, predominantly visually, but with all the other senses. Sight smell, feel and sound all contribute to landscape appreciation; as does our cultural background and personal and professional interests’. The analytical system rests on five interests - Geological landscape, Landscape habitats, Visual and sensory, Historical landscape, and Cultural landscape. These could be evaluated and synthesised critically into management recommendation pointing out potential conflicts. It was intended that LANDMAP would assist in unitary development plans and related policy documents and enhance sustainability [8,9]. 40 Our Land, Our Landscape
Fig 3- 3 National Parks and Conservation Areas in Wales as proposed by the Hobhouse Report 41 A Natural Step?
a Changes of human perception 1 Economic association b Development of human intervention (Pre- 2 Leisure association historic/Historic) c Evolution of biological formations (since 3 Artistic associations – Belief, myth, fashion latest glaciation (GB)) 4 Historical associations d Progression of geological formations 5 Scientific associations (Precambrian – Holocene) 6 Buildings, etc 7 Ski slopes, etc I Utilitarian (cultural) heritage 8 Images – composition, colour, texture, II Recreational landscape perspective, movement III Scenic landscape 9 Valued artefacts IV Historical (cultural) landscape 10 Man-made habitats V Ecological landscape 11 Crops VI Sustainable economic yields 12 Natural facilities for sport & recreation VII Sustainable recreation – Protected, 13 Modified land cover enhanced, renewed facilities 14 Flora & Fauna VIII Future images 15 Minerals, waste, energy IX Protected historical and new patterns 16 Modified land X Enhanced, renewed ecological patterns 17 Earth heritage & life support Fig 3- 4 Diagrammatic representation of Landscape
42 Our Land, Our Landscape
With Cadw, CCW developed a non-designatory, non-statutory map of ‘Landscapes of Historic Interest’ (Fig 3-5) which naturally include some of the most polluted areas such as Mynydd Parys, Merthyr and Blaenafon and cross Park boundaries as well as recognising more traditionally beautiful areas.
Fig 3- 5 Register of Landscapes of Historic Interest in Wales
43 A Natural Step?
The fraught relationships between landscape and development and between our personal value systems and collective priorities have grown in importance in recent years. The issues addressed by the agri-environmental prescriptions were relatively small in scale and consequence, e.g. the retention of a patchwork of hedgerows or stonewalls. These are ‘cymen’ and attractive to our sensibilities. However the justification for the purchase of these environmental goods is based on a social and political judgment, which can be challenged. But neither this initiative nor indeed LANDMAP does much to address the much more profound difficulty. Namely responding to large scale economically- or environmentally-driven change at the expense of the traditional landscape and its attendant wildlife. What might be the public reaction in the unlikely event of finding a rich and valuable deposit of a vital rare earth element for our computers under, say, the Beacons? Would we mine or would we prefer to despoil/use people’s land and resources or even do without our computers?
A stark, acute version of this dilemma is facing us. The prognosis for climate change is dire. Much talk has centred on avoiding 450ppm of C02 equivalent o (C02e) and 2 C rise in mean global temperature, assuming that, below this, change would be manageable. The 2012 season of sea ice and Greenland ice sheet melt and of erratic and dangerous global weather patterns suggests, but of course does not yet prove, that this assumption is far too optimistic [10]. Thus in all probability the pressure for both terrestrial and maritime renewable energy production will intensify. It will be recognised that we cannot wait until 2020 to 2030 to come to grips with a problem which, if the 2012 melt rate and some annual 50 Gigatonnes (Gt) of anthropogenic GHG emissions continue, could presage a one, maybe even two metre sea-level rise in some 50 to 70 years as well as other major climatic changes, including more floods which will command the attention of ex-EA. The WG Sustainable Development White Paper commits to Wales ‘using only our fair share of the earth’s resources’. In terms of GHGs this means that even to maintain the status quo, which is itself the problem, our share should be six to seven tonnes each, not our current ~17 tonnes. See [11] for detail. We are faced with painful dilemmas even within CCW’s limited remit. Unchecked, climate change and global warming will obliterate many coastal SSSIs as well as threatening human communities. Some gems dear to this writer, such as Porthdinllaen, will be lost early. The ‘interest’, which inspired many SSSIs will be undermined by changing weather patterns, but living at ~53o N it is almost impossible to foresee, given our position vis-à-vis the Gulf and Atlantic jet streams, what these changes will be! Should we be re-industrialising the countryside to maximise our low-GHG renewable energy resources? Revisiting the attitudes of our mining forbears? Should we, in order to personalise the dilemma, challenge all our communities and each of us as individuals to decrease net emissions by say 70% in a decade or two? Can we live prosperously on say three to four tonnes CO2e?
Since emissions from agriculture, land use and the food chain amount to about 20% of Wales’ emissions, how should our land use and food production systems change to mitigate emissions, and what might be the consequence, e.g. is opposition to the planting of 100,000ha of bracken and acid grassland to forest well founded or ill-judged? [12] - Fig 3-6.
44 Our Land, Our Landscape
Fig 3- 6 Some 300,000 ha of land in Wales (nearly 15%) is currently wooded, with conifers comprising ~55%. [13] Should more of our land become forest?
In the 90s, when CCW was faced with the first wind farm applications, the opinion surveys revealed, counter to expectations of some staff, that public perception was rather positive. As the numbers have increased and combined with new pylons, the picture has changed. But, as I intimated for rare earths, what are our options? What are the moral imperatives given the likely impact on the world’s poor? If not wind, should a community be challenged to save an equivalent amount of energy? Or what of hydro-power? If water is exploited, should we be worried about a rare lichen or bryophyte which might itself not adapt readily to a changing climate? Or do we prefer nuclear power or a Severn Barrage? Are we prepared to change ourselves?
In a very real sense the work of CCW has barely started. Many cherished assumptions will need to be re-examined, including our habitat and landscape designation machinery and our land-use priorities. One can only hope that the successor body, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru/Natural Resources Wales, is up to the task and can engage with the people of Wales, rural and urban, rich and poor, and is able to explain the dilemma, seek their active cooperation and learn from experience.
Finally let me say how much I enjoyed and learnt from my years with CCW and how much I appreciated the companionship and stimulation of my colleagues.
Acknowledgements I am delighted to acknowledge my debt to my old colleagues Ian Mercer, Clunie Keenleyside and Rob Owen for checking and contributing to the manuscript.
45 A Natural Step? References 1. Mercer, Ian. Cynnal Cynefin CCW Policy Document 1993 2. Rees, Ioan Bowen. Beyond National Parks, ‘Changing Wales’ series ed. Meic Stephens, Gomer Press 1995 3. HRH Prince of Wales lecture published by CCW 1993/4 4. Lewis, Saunders. Buchedd Garmon (play), Aberystwyth Press, 1937 5. Wyn Jones, R. Gareth. Funding, Fairness, Farming and the Future, Institute of Welsh Affairs, Discussion Paper No.12 Cardiff 1999 6. Hobhouse, A. Report of National Park Committee (England and Wales) Cmd.6628, London HMSO 1947 7. Wyn Jones, Gareth and White, David, Perceptions of Landscape and the Environment. In ‘Contemporary Wales Vol. 11’, eds G. Day and D. Thomas university of Wales Press 1998 8. CCW and Wales Landscape Partnership Group. The LANDMAP Information System, CCW 2001 9. Owen, Rob and Eagar, David. LANDMAP: A Tool to Aid Sustainable Development, in ‘Countryside Planning’, eds. K. Bishop and A. Phillips 10. Wyn Jones, Gareth. The Arctic Sea Ice Collapse. IWA Agenda, Dec. 2012 11. Wyn Jones, Gareth. Overshooting Limits: Seeking a new paradigm. in ‘Wales’ Central Organising Principle: Legislating for Sustainable Development’, eds. A. Nicholl and J. Osmond. IWA, Cardiff 2012 12. Wyn Jones, Gareth and Prosser, Harvard. Land Use and Climate Change Report to Welsh Government, 2010 13. Woodland Trust, The State of the UK’s Forests, Woods and Trees, 2011
46 Our Land, Our Landscape
Fig 3- 7 Looking across farmland from Llanfor Parish, near Bala, towards Arenig Fawr.
47 A Natural Step?
Chapter 4 – Challenges at Sea CCW and the ‘blue’ parts of Wales
Having looked at some of the landscape and agricultural policy issues that CCW struggled with, Ivor Rees now reviews CCW’s pioneering work in the marine environment, which has presented very different challenges. Attempts to establish a Marine Nature Reserve in the Menai Strait illustrate the difficulties facing the protected areas approach at sea. Further, there has been a lack of knowledge of the nature and locations of wildlife communities at sea. CCW has conducted or contracted surveys of estuaries, shores and shallow seas and the mapping of seabed habitats further offshore to plug this gap and underpin the science base of its work. The complexity of marine habitats and the threats to them, such as pollution affecting the marine food chain, have been compounded by the complex legal and administrative arrangements for the marine environment. Progress has been helped both by collaboration within the small community of marine scientists, and by the development of new techniques for surveying the seabed.
~~~ The world may have entered a new geological era, the Anthropocene, with some influence of Homo sapiens in virtually every habitat on the planet including most of the blue 70%. For Wales, even the apparently most natural parts of the land have been substantially modified by our ancestors or their livestock for several thousand years. The shores and shallow seas were exploited for fish and shellfish as soon as hunter gatherers returned to these islands after the last glaciation, but much of our seas still retain a degree of naturalness long since lost from the land. Nevertheless, there is scarcely an estuary around Wales, large or small, that has not been modified in some way by land claim, or by urban, harbour or industrial development. Significant changes to the structure of fish populations resulted from removal of almost all the older individuals of the main demersal species and the local extinction of a few (Roberts, 2007) [1]. With a few exceptions, such as beds of the native oyster Ostrea edulis, most of the expected range of marine habitats
48 Challenges at Sea and associated species (biotopes) can still be found somewhere. It is possible that the overall biodiversity is increasing as more non-native marine species get a foothold here than native ones are lost.
As far back as 1911 ‘Sites worthy of Protection’ on the land were listed by the most eminent naturalists of the day. They acknowledged the need for a similar list for the sea, but could not name any sites. More than a century later it still remains challenging to get adequate evidence for more than a few very special sites beyond the tides. An overview of the series of committee reports and suggested actions on marine conservation in Britain, more or less up to the time 22 years ago when CCW was formed, can be found in the introductory Rationale and Methods volume of the Marine Nature Conservation Review (Mitchell & Hiscock, 1996) [2].
When in 1991 the former Nature Conservancy Council was divided, it says something that there was only one marine ecologist in the Welsh headquarters, although a few staff in the regions were preparing for the statutory Marine Nature Reserves which had become possible under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). Having previously been a Voluntary Reserve, Skomer became the first and only Welsh MNR in 1991, with small a team at Martin’s Haven to look after it.
Fig 4- 1 An undeveloped part of the Llŷn coast near Trefor. On the right the ecosystems of the sea remain largely natural. Lobsters and crabs may be taken from it, but they are an entirely natural sustainable resource. The shingle storm beach which is limiting coastal erosion is also functioning naturally. By contrast on the left, grazing by domestic animals in enclosed fields has long since totally altered the composition of the vegetation. Quarrying on the side of the mountain has also changed the landform.
49 A Natural Step?
Fig 4- 2 Saltmarsh in part of the channel between Holyhead Island and the mainland of Anglesey. Owing to the building of road causeways in the 18th century for strategic routes, tidal currents were reduced and saltmarsh has built up mud banks. An unusual feature found here, during the CCW Phase I Survey of the whole Welsh coast, is the presence of patches of brown seaweeds growing within the marsh rather than being attached to rocks. In the foreground of this photo there is an atypical diminutive growth form of Fucus spiralis along with free-living clumps of Pelvetia canaliculata. Note also the extensive colonisation of the creek beyond by the hybrid form of Spartina. Although this channel and the Inland Sea between the causeways are scientifically very interesting, with some of the best populations in Wales of several scarce species, the situation was regarded as too ‘unnatural’ to be put forward for SAC status. Habitats created by much more direct human action on land would be considered eligible for SAC status.
In North Wales, MNR proposals for the Menai Strait became something of a saga. The initial suggestion had been to concentrate on the section between the bridges, with the spectacular tidal rapids and the unusually rich fauna associated with them. However, at the same time, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) was emerging as a desirable concept. It was then proposed to extend the possible MNR to cover the whole Menai Strait, effectively using the MNR mechanism as the cornerstone for bringing ICZM to a waterway with a multitude of conflicting interests. With the benefit of hindsight, it is possible that an MNR just in the section between the bridges might have gained approval, but the full ICZM- scale proposal proved a step too far. So, after a decade of work which got as far as preparing for a Public Inquiry, the scheme was quietly shelved by the Welsh
50 Challenges at Sea
Office. By this time, attention had turned to the wider questions around identifying areas which fitted the criteria set out in the EU Habitats & Species Directive and the Birds Directive (collectively, Natura 2000 sites). Seen from outside, choosing the Natura 2000 sites on purely ecological criteria was relatively straightforward. Developing and implementing monitoring schemes required more effort and expenditure; some of it needed external contractors. However, the real difficulties lay in finding the resources to develop and enforce management plans for these large sites. Interpretation of what actions should require appropriate assessments has developed piecemeal. Only in 2012, with sternly worded letters to government from the EU, did some significant failures to heed CCW advice concerning the regulations, come to public notice.
Fig 4- 3 Crucial to understanding seabed habitats off Wales is recognition that most of it was under ice during the last glaciation and that relative sea levels were much lower. Deposits of glacial till or peri-glacial outwash cover the bedrock except near the modern coastline. Erosion of the till during the post-glacial sea level rise carried away the finer components and much of the sand leaving lag deposits of gravel, stones and boulders. The remnants of moraines and other landscape features are still present offshore and detectable on side-scan sonar records. The range of attached organisms growing on these hard grounds is strongly influenced by the scouring effects of sand swept across it as bed load. Differences over short distances in such factors can result in complexes of biotopes that are difficult to fit into established classification schemes, to map and to predict. The anemones (Urticina sp.) and encrusting organisms shown here are species able to withstand frequent sand scour. This image was taken by a remotely-operated camera about 16km north of Anglesey. 51 A Natural Step?
Since CCW came into being, the science behind marine conservation has advanced by leaps and bounds, as also has the scale of responsibilities given to the conservation agencies. By 2013, the Marine & Freshwater Science Group in CCW had about 27 (full-time equivalent) staff to cope with the demands of topics and habitats ranging from saltmarshes to offshore biogenic reefs and marine mammals, as well as outreach and interpretation. In addition the regions have a few people mainly concerned with the ever-increasing amount of marine casework. The team running the Skomer Marine Nature Reserve still does sterling work with only the absolute minimum number of staff needed for diving operations. The Skomer team also has a special role in monitoring long-term changes in the marine environment. Several European Directives covering the marine environment came in during the past 22 years which not only called for site designations but also for work to report on the favourable condition, or otherwise, of key features. In spite of the general upsurge in public concern for the marine environment, marine wildlife conservation still lags behind that on land by several decades. Expectations for the new forms of Marine Protected Area, under legislation passed in 2009, are proving very difficult to meet and concepts will have to be re-thought.
Fig 4- 4 On land the notification of ‘Potentially Damaging Operations’ to the owners of areas scheduled as SSSIs can be effective in maintaining the favourable status of sites. On the seashore many impacts come from activities by unidentified third parties so the PDO mechanism is largely ineffective. Here an area of muddy gravel in a sensitive part of a SSSI, near Four Mile Bridge, Anglesey, has been very intensively dug over by sea anglers seeking rag worms for bait. There are obvious conflicts of interest between continuing unimpeded freedom to gather bait and sustaining various other resources including nature conservation.
52 Challenges at Sea
Wildlife conservation in the marine environment is subject to challenges which are greater than on land. Obviously the marine environment itself is a challenging one in which to make even relatively simple observations of the fauna or flora, let alone to determine the distribution and status of whole habitats and communities of organisms offshore. Significant technological advances in methods made during the CCW decades are beginning to bridge the gap, but equipment costs are relatively high and specialist support is often needed. It should be noted that the CCW Marine and Freshwater group, with their associates, were often in the vanguard of trialling and developing protocols for new equipment to be used for conservation science purposes.
Secondly, but often more frustratingly, the challenges that arise from the extremely complex administrative and legal arrangements affect almost anything to do with the sea. For practical purposes, the oceans have often been regarded as gigantic ‘commons’. One only has to look at the histories of many fisheries to find prime examples of the ‘tragedy of the commons’ and the unsustainable depletion of resources. With a vast number of potential ‘stakeholders’ and many different statutory bodies often just acting as champions for particular industries, getting consent for even the most obvious and urgent restraints can be difficult.
Fig 4- 5 Horse mussels on the biogenic reef of the North Llŷn coast. The individual mussels grow to age 40+. A wide range of other animals grow on and amongst the mussels. The one in the centre is slightly open and filter feeding.
53 A Natural Step?
Until the late 1960s, almost everything to do with living resources in the sea revolved around fisheries. A major wake-up call came in 1967 with the wreck of the Torrey Canyon. Following this, there was a wholesale shift of emphasis in applied marine ecology towards understanding and reducing degradation in the seas from all causes. Shore ecology was given a new impetus by this major oil pollution incident. The mass mortality of Guillemots in the Irish Sea in autumn of 1969 raised the profile of organo-chlorine and heavy metal pollution in marine food chains. Concerns later extended to endocrine disruption, as exhibited by the occurrence of the imposex condition in dog whelks Nucella lapillus caused by Tributyltin (TBT) from antifouling paints. Greater understanding of the workings of soft sediment benthic communities came directly from concerns about the discharge to the sea of sewage sludge, paper mill waste and oil contaminated cuttings from drilling rigs. However, it was the rise in the popularity of diving, which took off shortly before the start of the CCW era, that provided the extra impetus for nature conservation to extend underwater.
Fig 4- 6 Reefs made by the honey comb worm Sabellaria alveolata are one of the features of the Welsh coast, particularly the boulder shores of Cardigan Bay. The distribution was recorded in detail during the CCW Phase 1 survey. They are sensitive to damage by trampling and inclined to die back in severe winters, but the worms are short lived and colonies are resilient.
54 Challenges at Sea The extent of ‘blue’ Wales Given the continuity of the ocean, and even if none of the sea around Wales is truly the blue of the deep ocean, what should we treat as the marine part of Wales? With several peninsulas and complex inlets, the length of the Welsh coastline is about 2740km. Depending on how it is allocated, ‘the sea area of Wales’ adds very significantly to the total area which can be considered as Wales. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) countries have Territorial Waters, now usually extending 12 nautical miles (nm) from low- water or bay-closing lines. Together with the areas between the tides, this notional Welsh sea area amounts to 15,942 km2 (Hatton-Ellis et al, 2012) [3]. The Welsh Government has only been given responsibility for some aspects of marine affairs, and most of these powers only extended out to the 12nm line. But wildlife and the ecosystems that provide useful services do not respect such political divisions, and so CCW effectively has had roles beyond just providing advice to the devolved Welsh administration in territorial waters. Beyond the 12nm inshore zone, countries have rights out to the edge of the continental shelf (roughly the 200m depth contour) or to mid-lines with other jurisdictions. Mid lines with Ireland, the Isle of Man and England would obviously constrain such a notional extension of ‘Welsh Seas’. Under this interpretation the maximum reach of Wales is in the Celtic Sea, south-west of Pembrokeshire. Precise positions of the mid lines are complicated by unresolved differences between the UK and Ireland over what constitutes ‘land’ from which arcs might be drawn. This seemingly abstruse geographical topic became important with the prospect of hydrocarbon finds in St George’s Channel. A bilateral agreement was reached here for seabed responsibilities to coincide with the rectangular Oil and Gas Licence Blocks. This is why one proposed offshore Marine Conservation Zone was drawn with an odd zig-zag border. Indeed one of the weak points of the process leading to recommendations for Marine Conservation Zones arose from the irrational division of the seas off Wales. Preparatory work was done separately for areas inside and outside 12nm with little co-ordination. If a coherent network of Marine Conservation Zones is to be created and managed then this downside to devolution must be overcome. In practice, during CCW’s 22 years, its marine scientists frequently linked with opposite numbers in other countries in joint projects, including several EU Interreg programmes with Ireland. Directly, or indirectly through JNCC, they were also concerned in matters relating to the Irish and Celtic Seas as a whole, including the periodic reporting on the State of the Seas. In the case of some endangered species and habitats, advisory work has also concerned the wider north-east Atlantic. Collaboration with European partners, as envisaged by Heip & McDonagh (2012) [4] will continue to be important for Natural Resources Wales.
Charting the natural resources A major strand of Welsh Government policy revolves around sustainability - hence the need for a means of developing Ecosystem-based Marine Spatial Planning. This cannot happen without really good data/maps on what is present where. For the intertidal, the Sea Empress incident showed the need to have knowledge of the distribution of habitats and sensitive species all around Wales in advance of incidents. This was achieved by using high quality air photos to inform recording on foot. But it needed a dedicated CCW team working for 10 years whenever tides and seasonal weather allowed (Brazier et al., 2007) [5]. As a result of this project Wales has a better data set than any other part of the UK. 55 A Natural Step?
Fig 4- 7 Beds of the Common Eelgrass Zostera marina are scarce in Wales. They occur in a few sheltered bays at and just below the level of low water on spring tides. Here at Porth Dinllaen, within the Pen Llŷn SAC, there is one of the most extensive beds in Wales. Unlike ones in Pembrokeshire, parts of this one dry on spring tides. However, the bed coincides with a well-used mooring area. Pits form in the bed where vessels swing around on mooring chains and where vessels ground at low tide. Grooves left where tractors and other vehicles have been driven may take years to heal. A locally agreed management plan with a code of conduct is needed to limit impacts here.
56 Challenges at Sea
It may seem obvious, but as visibility through seawater around most of Wales is limited to a few metres at best, it is remarkably difficult to get a wider perspective on sub-sea habitats. During the last decades of the 20th century, considerable technological developments were made in methods for getting such perspectives. Before this, maps were largely based on extrapolation between widely spaced sampling points. Even for relatively uniform sediment plains the potential for uncertainty was huge, bearing in mind what might have been present between samples taken several kilometres apart. Moreover, until the advent of GPS, and now Differential GPS, position fixing could be subject to wide margins of error.
Fig 4- 8 Off shore in the northern part of Cardigan Bay off Barmouth there is a small ‘bubbling’. Such features form when methane gas from under the seabed is used by bacteria and in the process forms concretions. They are very unusual in British waters though some occur in deeper water off the Irish coast. The CCW diving team have surveyed the feature in detail and noted the way some fish species seem to be attracted to such local biodiversity hotspots.
Good maps showing not just depths, as on navigation charts, but also the small- scale superficial morphology of the seabed environment, sediment types and any biotic structures, are essential for understanding the seas and for any form of ecosystem-based planning.
57 A Natural Step?
Fig 4- 9 Shingle storm beaches provide excellent but dynamic natural coast protection barriers. However, in the past many coastal settlements as well as railway lines were built on or just behind them and hard engineering schemes are often proposed which disrupt the natural functioning as well as impacting on Marine Protected Areas resulting in a considerable amount of casework for the CCW coastal geomorphologists. The partly vegetated shingle bank shown here at Morfa Abererch is one of the most extensive and least disturbed ones in Wales.
Sound happens to be the one part of the energy spectrum that penetrates the sea well, travelling in predictable ways at known velocities. Hence the use, at the most basic level, of echo-sounders. The strength of the return echo from the seabed varies with different types of seabed. From an ordinary echo-sounder as used on many fishing vessels and with appropriate computer processing of the returned echoes, it is possible to derive useful indirect information on the hardness and roughness of the seabed. By plotting these variations along a vessel’s track, it became possible to note where changes in seabed characters occurred. Using this approach off Wales, it was noticed in the 1980s that some biological features gave characteristic responses. One of these was a bed of Horse Mussels Modiolus modiolus off the Llŷn Peninsula. For the first time, by running closely- spaced lines across such features, it became possible to produce reasonable maps of the extent of such biogenic features. However, adequate ground-truth information continued to be needed, from actual samples, by diver observations or from remote underwater cameras. This was just one example of the frequent collaboration between CCW scientists and others in the Universities, other statutory bodies and NGOs. In the Horse Mussel case, collaboration was with Bangor University and North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee. 58 Challenges at Sea
Using the SFC patrol vessel Aegis, closely-spaced sounding lines were run over a part of the Llŷn ar Sarnau SAC. This showed how patchy and complex the seabed biotopes were.
Fig 4- 10 Part of the Horse Mussel reef off Llŷn. This image was derived from multi- beam sonar records joined together from a series of runs over the site. The mussel clumps are the irregular mounds in the strip diagonally across the image. Other irregularities represent features on the seabed left after re- working of glacial deposits as sea levels rose. Horse Mussels on the biogenic reef of the North Llŷn coast. Image created by C. Lindenbaum.
Another useful survey tool, side-scan sonar, also became more readily available during the CCW era. In this case sound beams are sent out to either side of the vessel’s track from transducers in a towed sonar fish. The transducer is narrow in one plane and elongated in the other and so it produces a beam that is narrow at right angles to the track but spreading in the other plane thereby insonifying everything from directly on the track to a considerable distance on either side. The strengths of particular parts of the return echo depend both on the nature of the seabed and the grazing angle; thus protruding objects produce hard echoes, while
59 A Natural Step? echoes from those sloping away are less hard and may even appear as acoustic shadows. Even relatively subtle features of the seabed produce patterns on the records, particularly if the transducer is towed low down in the water column. The orientation of dune-like sand waves becomes very obvious, and even the slopes on both sides of ripples allow inferences about sand transport. Collaborating again with Bangor University, a side-scan system was acquired for joint use. Because it was a small self-contained system with its own winch to handle the armoured fibre-optic towing cable, it has been used in many surveys around Wales and from a variety of vessels both large and small. By towing the sonar fish about 5m off the bottom, with a range setting of 150m, quite small features can be detected as well as larger biogenic structures such as patterns of mounds formed by accumulations of Horse Mussels. It is particularly good at showing where there are patchy veneers of sand over the glacial lag gravels which do not result in depth variations. In some situations it even shows the nests made by spawning fish. The side-scan shows human impact on the sea bed, revealing disturbance scars left by anchoring and by towed fishing gear. The tracks left by otter trawls, beam trawls and scallop dredges can be plotted. It is even possible to see how many dredges a scallop vessel has been towing on each gang-bar.
Fig 4- 11 What Skomer MNR would look like with the water removed. This is a computer generated 3D image based on detail bathymetric surveys and information on seabed types. This model was produced as part of projects to help interpret the reserve to the many visitors to the information centre.
A still more complex type of sonar system has so far only been used to a limited extent. This is multi-beam which, as the name implies, uses a series of beams looking outward from the vessel with the transducers mounted on the vessel. The really sophisticated part of the equipment is not the sonar but the systems needed
60 Challenges at Sea to compensate for the rolling and pitching of the vessel. These systems are essential in order to produce very precise depth information out to each side of the track. CCW was able to get an area round Skomer surveyed with this as an offshoot from work for Milford Haven port. This technique was used to create coloured 3D images of the area. Later, as part of a joint Interreg project with Irish scientists, multi-beam surveys were done of the North Llŷn Horse Mussel reef and other features using the Irish research vessel Celtic Voyager.
Wales is a small country with only a small community of marine scientists, and so collaboration both in the use of facilities and in joint projects has been important. This applies both to collaboration with the EA and the SFCs (before they were abolished), the Universities, and some NGOs. Particular mention must be made of the two-way collaboration with Seasearch divers. Wales has a small number of micro- or SME-scale marine environmental consultants who undertake contract work for CCW. A significant almost annual event was a monitoring workshop ostensibly to bring together the teams working for CCW on various projects. In practice it provided a wider information exchange function for the broader marine ecology community. There is a place for something on similar lines to be sponsored by NRW. Over its 22 years the marine part of CCW produced more than 70 scientific reports and a suite of informative leaflets for the public.
Fig 4- 12 The pink seafan Eunicella verrucosa is very delicate, very vulnerable to damage by fishing gear and also slow growing. In Wales it seems to be restricted to a few rocky area off Pembrokeshire. The Skomer MNR team has been able to monitor the growth and condition of a series of individual colonies over many years using frame-mounted camera systems developed specifically for the purpose. Without the degree of protection, and a team on site, such studies which contribute to long-term investigations of the effects of climate change would not be possible.
61 A Natural Step?
An alternative and innovative approach to habitat mapping was tried out for a major part of the seas between Wales and Ireland under an Interreg project called HabMap, lead by CCW (Robinson et al., 2009) [6]. In essence this linked the best available biological data with input from models of the physical and chemical environment. This then allowed computer predictions to be made and maps to be drawn using GIS programmes. Various refinements are continually being made to reduce uncertainties and to extend the predictive maps to cover all Welsh seas.
There is still an urgent need to produce comprehensive maps of the seabed habitats to modern standards across the whole of the Welsh part of the continental shelf, and ones that are less reliant on predictions. This can only be done using sonar and other technologies such as drop-down or towed cameras to ground truth. At present, coverage is very patchy, having been done for differing purposes. It is known that there have been frequent surveys of potential cable routes, wind farm sites and possible new aggregate dredging areas, but commercial confidentiality sometimes prevents such data being made available, and there can even be duplication of effort.
Acknowledgement This short chapter is a personal view from an outsider, although one who until retiring benefitted from collaboration with several members of the CCW Marine & Freshwater Group. It cannot do justice to the advances made in several aspects of marine conservation by many people over the 22-year period. I hope somewhere there will be a proper report setting out the full history and a full listing of the large number of scientific reports and other publications produced.
Fig 4- 13 Stormy seas at Skomer
62 Challenges at Sea References 1. Roberts, C. (2007). The Unnatural History of the Sea. Gaia, London. 2. Mitchell, R., & Hiscock, K. (1996). Historical perspectives. Section 1, pp 9-15 In Hiscock, K., ed. (1996). Marine Conservation Review; rationale and methods. Peterborough, Joint Nature Conservation Committee. (Coasts and Seas of the United Kingdom, MNCR series). 3. Hatton-Ellis, M., Kay, L., Lindenbaum, K., Wyn, G., Lewis, M., Camplin, M., Winterton, A., Bunker, A., Howard, S. Barter, G., & Jones, J. (2012). MPA Management in Wales I: Overview of current MPA management in Wales and a summary of new MPA management tools. CCW Marine Science Report 12/06/01, 56pp. CCW Bangor. 4. Heip, C., & McDonagh, N. (2012). Marine Biodiversity: A Science Roadmap for Europe. Marine Board Future Science Brief 1. European Marine Board, Ostend, Belgium. 5. Brazier, P., Birch, K., Brunstrom, A., Bunker, A., Jones, M., Lough, N., Salmon, L., & Wyn, G. (2007). When the tide goes out: The biodiversity and conservation of the shores of Wales – results from a 10 year intertidal survey of Wales. CCW Bangor. 6. Robinson, K.A., Ramsey, K., Lindenbaum, C., Frost, N., Moore. J., Petrey, D & Derbyshire T. (2009) Habitat Mapping for Conservation and Management of the Southern Irish Sea (HABMAP). II: Modeling & Mapping Studies. in Marine Biodiversity and Systematics from the National Museum of Wales. BIOMOR Reports 5(2).
Fig 4- 14 Little Cuttlefish Sepiola atlantica
63 A Natural Step?
Chapter 5 - Acting Together Local perspectives, global outcomes
Having started this book with a look at changes in society, with examples of CCW partnerships in following chapters, Alan Underwood describes the emergence and contribution of community groups - the environmental third sector. Volunteering drew its inspiration from a desire to maintain the natural world for its own sake, and ‘citizen scientists’ have provided a unique contribution to this goal. The arguments have now broadened as people have come to recognise that the natural world and the ecosystem services it provides are vital to our future and that much can be done on a broader front at the local community level. Community woodland groups have spread rapidly, and opportunities for waste management have generated effective social enterprises. Alan argues that we should not underestimate the role of inspired individuals and groups in seeking out a route to sustainable living.
~~~
Fallen leaves crunch crisply underfoot, made brittle by that same early visitation of cold air that sprinkled this woodland glade with glittering white while this small band of volunteers slept. Ahead, the sun’s weak rays pierce smoke that rises lazily through the still air and reveals, as does a scatter of freshly cut coppice stools, that the volunteers have been out of their beds and hard at work for some hours. Warmed by their labours, the flames, and cups of steaming tea, their fireside chat turns to the coming spring and the waves of white and blue that their morning’s work will help unfold across this woodland floor, as Wood Anemones and Bluebells take turns to carpet the ground, as a new year rises in vitality.
~~~
64 Acting Together
Fig 5- 1 Waves of Bluebells flow over the ramparts of this Iron Age hillfort at Coed y Bwnydd, a National Trust woodland and Scheduled Ancient Monument overlooking the Usk Valley in Monmouthshire [1].
If there is a traditional stereotype of environmental volunteering perhaps the cameo scene above goes some way to capturing it. The volunteers here are in intimate contact with Nature. They come to this wood to recapture some sense of an imagined idyllic and bucolic past. They do so by mimicking the everyday activities that our ancestors once engaged in to wrest the resources that sustained a way of life now long gone. Volunteers come to conserve that which the flood tide of modern times threatens to sweep away. To conserve the intrinsic natural beauty of the wood for future generations. To maintain the potential for simple wonder and delight that comes from contemplation of the spontaneous activity of Nature, of things unbidden by the mind of man.
A quarter of a century ago these echoes of Romanticism still provided much of the justification for the activities of environmental charities large and small, national and local. It all formed part and parcel of the soft sell to the public that by turns sought, via the seal pup and the tiger for example, to appeal to feelings for the sentimental and the awe-inducing aspects of Nature as things worth keeping in their own right, for their individual beauty and splendour.
Traditional national or well established voluntary organisations have always operated from a wider platform than this. They have been the home of the amateur naturalist; the volunteer experts in botany, entomology, ornithology and more; the acclaimed and accomplished citizen scientists that have done so much to record, investigate and celebrate the natural world - and to chart its relentless decline. Their role could never have been filled by professional scientists. It is they and the national environmental charities that played a large
65 A Natural Step? part in raising the alarm about what man was doing to the environment and the living web by which every member of our species is sustained. For many years to proclaim the value of the natural and the wild was itself to be in a wilderness imposed by society’s lack of understanding. Through these times the environmental charities (the environmental third sector) persisted in championing and acting, to promote and conserve that which was largely unseen, unaccounted for and hence undervalued by society at large.
As the decades have unfolded and the flood tides of modernity and post- modernity have continued their seemingly unstoppable and all-engulfing rise, to the detriment of all things natural, other new perspectives have come to be articulated. These fresh perspectives on the significance and importance of Nature have gradually come to be less specific and more encompassing as the focus of the effort to conserve has moved from individual species and the scenic, to habitats and smaller protected areas, to landscapes and ecosystems, and to that most encompassing of concepts, sustainable development.
Fig 5- 2 The dormouse is one of many woodland creatures whose populations have declined in recent years.
It became clear that if individual species were to survive in the long term they would not do so in zoos, aquaria, or even relict areas of natural habitat with special protection but only as parts of the wider natural environment and systems which had, through evolution, given rise to them.
66 Acting Together
The inheritance of Romanticism and its preoccupation with form, aesthetics and feeling began to give way to a view of nature based more on function. This view was grounded in a new appreciation of the dynamic, uncertain and ever changing reality of the natural world and sought to comprehend how its myriad living and non-living components interrelated. How did these self-referencing natural systems operate? How did the feedbacks within them regulate and moderate one another? What did this all imply for our relationship and attitudes towards the natural world? And how did our participation in and exploitation of these systems change the game?
Contributing to this shift to ever-wider contexts as a means of framing the argument for conservation has perhaps been the increasing scope and breadth of development pressure, assisted by the impact of rapid globalisation and the rise of information technology and social media that have made the long- vaunted global village a reality. In our global village everyone is now everyone’s neighbour. Significant dislocations in the economic, social or environmental order in one area soon ripple round, impacting to some degree on all the earth’s inhabitants, human or otherwise. It seems clear that in such a world individual or isolated actions to save individual species are unlikely to be sufficient to maintain the integrity of the global environment. It becomes apparent that the integrity of the environment is not only fundamental to the functioning of human society and economy but the very foundation on which they are built. The rise of awareness and concern about the dangers posed by anthropocentric climate change has perhaps done more than any other issue to elevate discussion about the nature of our relationship with the natural environment at all levels of society. While climate change has taken centre stage there has been an increasingly widespread realisation that we live at a time when the natural world is under ever increasing pressure from the demands that we place on it in order to meet our own requirements. This continued exploitation has resulted in a great loss in the natural variety and abundance of animals and plants - a loss of biodiversity. These concerns together with interrelated problems such as pollution, ocean acidification, resource depletion, waste management and the nature of agricultural production and energy generation, represent a storm which, in the face of an ever increasing human population, has the potential to be significantly greater than the current financial one that has so consumed the attention of global society and the media of late.
In response to this, organisations making up the environmental third sector, along with environmentally minded colleagues in the statutory and private sectors, have increasingly come to portray the conservation of the natural world, the preservation of wildlife and the ‘saving’ of the environment as a matter of utility, pragmatism and self interest for everyone on the planet. The imperative has shifted from maintaining the natural world for its own sake to ensuring its continuation for the services and renewable resources that it provides to us. The focus of the ‘saving’ has drifted away from individual species and habitats to focus firmly on… us.
These changes of perspective in the way that the case for environmental conservation is articulated, have been matched by practical changes in the approach taken by traditional environmental third-sector organisations (and by other organisations in the third sector).
67 A Natural Step?
Amongst the traditional environmental charities there has been a recognition that the romantic emphasis on form, feeling and the aesthetic must be extended to give full recognition to the function and utility of natural systems and the role they serve in maintaining not only themselves but human society too. It is further recognised that although these natural systems operate on all scales, including individual plants and animals, the maintenance of their integrity requires their extent to reach to regional or national scales, and that if they are to operate as systems they must be in communication, be joined up, allowing both natural materials and living things to move and migrate between them.
Such realisations have resulted in (among others) an increasing emphasis on landscape-scale conservation, integrated rural development initiatives, and biosphere reserves. Inevitably these larger scale and more integrated approaches make working in partnership across the whole spectrum of stakeholders essential. This is perhaps an opportunity for a practical application of biomimicry - not, as has often been the case, to improve and enhance the design and efficiency of individual technologies but to inform organisational structures and operations.
Fig 5- 3 Another successful phase of work is completed and celebrations ensue at Penmoelallt Community Woodland [2]. Situated immediately north of Merthyr Tydfil, with panoramic views of the Taff Valley, the woodland is, in part, a SSSI. The site is being sensitively and imaginatively managed by the Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalists’ Society in partnership with Forestry Commission Wales.
68 Acting Together
This ambitious and systemic approach to partnership working poses real and significant challenges for all concerned. For the environmental third sector much remains to be done if it is to play its full part in these new explorations of our relationship with the natural world. Not least new narratives are needed that present the ecosystem goods and services approach to the wider public and the wider constellation of stakeholders, many of whom it seems have yet to begin coming to terms with the reframed view of the natural world.
In the woodland management cameo that began this piece there is I think every chance that the volunteers involved would, those decades ago, have been associated with one of the major national environmental charities - The Wildlife Trusts, perhaps, or The Conservation Volunteers. Reflecting on my more than thirty years involvement with the third sector it certainly seems to me that nowadays there is at least a fifty-fifty chance that volunteers in a similar cameo would be linked to a local woodland management group representing the aspirations and needs of the local community rather than volunteering with a national environmental charity. Such community woodland groups have appeared at a remarkable rate and can now be found in many parts of Wales, often managing woods of significant size. They exemplify one of the strengths of the third sector, the way that local people can respond creatively and quickly to perceived needs that arise within their communities. This is often achieved, at least initially, with the minimum of support and resource. These groups are value driven and frequently motivated by the desire to further environmental objectives. Profit is not the driver; the need to foster a feeling of local community, cooperation and wellbeing often is. From the outset or as they develop, many embrace wider social, cultural and economic objectives that make them exemplars of sustainable development at a local scale. This wider agenda is often reflected by a multitude of activities that become organised around and incorporated into the management of the woodland, perhaps including charcoal production, the production of timber and small timber products, environmental education and forest schools, the provision of activities for those with special needs or mental health issues, environmental art and sculpture trails, walks and talks, and community events.
Fig 5- 4 This modern take on an Iron Age roundhouse has been created by Menter Y Felin Uchaf at their Community Enterprise Centre located towards the western tip of the Llyn Peninsula [3]. It sits amongst a patchwork of small gardens, wildflower meadows, newly planted woodland and other imaginative eco-builds.
69 A Natural Step?
The establishment of such new, more locally-based environmental voluntary organisations is one measure of the degree to which the importance and need to value and care for the environment has penetrated at grass roots level. Another might be the extent to which environmental third sector organisations in Wales have developed in topic areas beyond those of nature conservation and habitat management to reflect the spectrum of responses needed if we are fully to embrace our aspirations for a sustainable society and sustainable lifestyles. Here again there is much to be positive about.
Fig 5- 5 From very small beginnings in 1986, Wastesavers grew steadily and was one of the early pioneers of kerbside collection and sorting [4]. Today their social enterprise recycles more than 15,000 tonnes of material per annum, collected from the households of Newport using their fleet of specially designed kerbside collection vehicles, two of which are shown here outside their Newport HQ and recycling centre.
In ‘waste’ management the third sector has made an enormous contribution over the past two decades. Growing from nowhere, or at best from a few small community-based paper and can recycling schemes, third-sector recycling and re-use organisations have led the way in developing, trialling and implementing effective methods of collecting, processing and selling recyclate. They developed effective recycling methods to match many situations from large special events and agricultural shows to residential kerbside collections reaching tens of thousands of households, to office and small businesses collections. In addition scrapstores sprang up, collecting safe industrial waste such as textiles, plastic, paper, and an Aladdin’s Cave of other odds and ends and providing them to children’s play and activity groups. Last but far from least amongst all of these recycling and re-use diversifications are the furniture recycling initiatives, collecting the whole range of unwanted domestic household items, including furniture and white and brown goods and diverting them from landfill to those in need.
70 Acting Together
Fig 5- 6 A fine range of furniture, but one with a difference. Everything on display at this CFE showroom near Caerphilly is recycled, but the high standard of work makes it indistinguishable from ‘new’ – except for it ecological footprint [5].
Perhaps few of the new-style environmental projects of the last decades have so well addressed the integration of the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainable development as the recyclers. They have demonstrated, as few others have managed to, effective action at the point where environment, social inequality and deprived communities meet.
71 A Natural Step?
Throughout their growth and development they have also played a key role in helping to define the reality of social enterprise whilst also charting the benefits of and potential pitfalls in forging productive relationships with local authorities and other statutory agencies.
Fig 5- 7 For many years Ceredigion Recycling and Furniture Team, CRAFT [6], operated from small and run-down premises in a back street in Aberystwyth. Now located in a highly visible site at Aberystwyth Station, they successfully completed a combined new-build and platform- restoration project prior to moving in. As well as making a wide range of domestic items available for re-use, heating is via a large woodchip boiler, while the roof is in part a green one.
Further cause for optimism can be found in the number of third-sector organisations whose main remit is not an environmental one but who have nonetheless come to appreciate the role and significance that the environment can play in their activities and operations. We have for example seen the creation of a large number of local community gardens that draw up a planting list with biodiversity and wildlife in mind, which incorporate a sensory garden for those with various sensory impairments, and which incorporate the readily edible. In short they use techniques that encourage people to interact with the plants they encounter in the garden rather than taking the ‘keep off the grass’ approach.
72 Acting Together
Fig 5- 8 Scarecrows brighten the plots at Crucorney Allotment Society’s site north of Abergavenny. This independently-established two-acre site was set up three years ago and lies just within the Brecon Beacons National Park. There are twenty-eight plots, and a community fruit orchard is also planned. This initiative is typical of the renaissance in local food production that is taking place at community level.
73 A Natural Step?
Similar in theme are Natural Play Areas, Hospital Wildlife Gardens, Living Churchyards, School Wildlife Areas (even better when integrated with an ECO Schools approach), and housing associations seeking to create greener estates.
There has been a similar upwelling of activity across a wide range of project themes within the third sector and at community levels, with topics as diverse as beekeeping, local food production and allotments, the marine environment and alternative energy in all of its many forms. Micro-hydro deserves a special mention as something that might not immediately spring to mind as a basis for community activity.
In all of this new activity one of the things that strikes me most forcibly is that third sector organisations at all levels have become more integrated in what they do, in the sense that the ethos of sustainable development asks and encourages us to integrate around its three pillars of environment, society and economy. This is undeniably easier to achieve at community and third sector scales than it is on regional, national and government policy levels. However, the fact that it has happened at all at the grass roots speaks volumes for the willingness, appetite and imagination of countless individuals and groups to work for the change that is needed. It is increasingly clear that the speed of that change needs to accelerate if we are to build robust, resilient and, as far as appropriate, self-reliant communities that the times increasingly demand. The success of such community and voluntary groups can frequently be placed at the door of a single person or a very few committed and charismatic individuals who are able to gather the support needed to bring about local change. Supporting and enabling such groups is therefore as much about supporting individual people as it is about agreeing outcomes – a prospect that many statutory funders and support agencies find hard to accept. So it is that all across Wales innovators are enthusiastically taking practical local steps to re- imagine and redefine the way that we, and their communities, view the world.
These individuals and their groups know that the new way of looking at things means that what was once ‘rubbish and waste’ is now ‘a valuable resource’; that ‘natural habitats and wildlife’ are our ‘essential natural life-support systems’; and that the energy for society to function is now to be sourced from ‘renewables’ rather than ‘fossil fuels’. These groups have abandoned the ‘others should do this for us’ attitude and now embrace, as far as they are able, ‘we can do this as a community’. We do not recognise, help and celebrate them nearly enough.
It is all too easy to dismiss community actions as small and insignificant, but the people involved know that every step counts and the greatest mistake is to do nothing because you can only do a little. Over the years it has been my privilege to watch many such community projects grow to become significant contributors to local wellbeing and leading examples of what sustainable development means at local level.
For me it is their activities that help to celebrate ‘the local’. It is their activities that encourage us all to value and care for the natural world on our doorstep, and which provide us with the vital link to a more immediate and grounded appreciation of the natural environment stretching far beyond our local patch. In this work the role of voluntary and community groups should not be
74 Acting Together underestimated. For me it is their local action that brings environmental issues to life in their communities and makes them real. It is their activity that provides the vital example and demonstrates that everyone can make a contribution. They reach out to those not yet engaged and provide tangible evidence that implementing environmental and sustainable development projects at local level can enhance the quality of life for everyone.
Fig 5- 9 Leading social enterprise Antur Waunfawr’s seven-acre Community Garden and Park is open to the public throughout the year. Located south of Caernarfon, Antur Waunfawr provides employment and training opportunities within their own community for people with learning disabilities. Many third sector groups and organisations have adopted the ‘environment’ in one of its forms to deliver social outcomes via training, sheltered employment, or self development programmes. Antur Waunfawr also operates extensive and diversified reuse and recycling operations [7].
It may be that in the future people will look back and recognise that a tipping point was reached when we collectively committed to seek out the route to sustainable development through a shared societal value reflecting one earth living, and that we did it with determination and vigour. If so it would be my earnest wish that the role of inspired individuals and groups acting within their own communities was fully recognised as contributing much of the essential work needed to create the conditions for such a transformation to take place.
75 A Natural Step?
Fig 5- 10 At their 33-hectare Penmoelallt Community Woodland, Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalists’ Society have created a woodland classroom and circular walks, which are supported by online materials. Spaces have been created for a range of practical activities and these spaces are enhanced by a variety of quality environmental sculptures that encourage visitors to ‘open their eyes’.
Fig 5-11 Beautiful Badgers: one of the many inspirational features at Penmoelallt Community Woodland 76 Acting Together
Fig 5- 12 Llangattock Community Woodland Group’s new log splitter is put through it paces [8]. The group has developed close links with other similar groups in Talgarth, Crucorney and Cwmbran and has good links with the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and the Canal and Rivers Trust. The Woodland Group is part of Llangattock Green Valleys, a Community Interest Company which is pursuing ambitious sustainability and zero- carbon plans for the whole village.
77 A Natural Step?
~~~
In the early light of a May morning a lone volunteer sits on a tree stump and contemplates the sea of blue that washes at his feet. The Bluebells are back, risen with the regularity of the morning sun and the birdsong which greets them all. All those years ago he was one of few who came here, who knew the wood. A quarter of a century of fallen leaves crunch crisply underfoot; made brittle by that same early visitation of cold air that sprinkled this woodland glade with glittering white while volunteers slept. Ahead, the sun’s weak rays pierce smoke that rises lazily from a large cylindrical metal kiln; the next batch of charcoal from this coup’s harvest is well underway. In the distance small children, a long line of brightly coloured dots, bobble towards the clearing that forms the forest school. Local school and youth groups have been visiting the wood for some years now and two years ago they helped to construct the roundhouse that, together with the woodland theatre, provides the focus for many community activities as well as the forest school. Later that same long brightly coloured line will bobble its way around the nature trail where each wooden sculpture of a living form will help tell the tale of how its species makes its home in the wood and also helps to make the wood a home for others; and, yes, how the wood helps yet others, living far beyond its perceived edges, sustain their lives. A Land Rover draws up pulling a powered log-splitter on loan from a nearby community woodland group in exchange for the wood processor they have on return loan. The wood processor is new, bought with the proceeds of sale of charcoal, logs and woodland products derived from last year’s management of the wood.
Now the wood is a focus for the community again, as it was for so many past generations. Now, he feels, the relationship between Man and Nature has, here at least, been set aright. The scent of Bluebells rises as the morning warms, and he delights at listening to the language of Nature. With the birdsong, his thoughts and dreams float out across the wood and into the wider world.
~~~
References 1. Coed y Bwyndd Iron Age Hillfort, National Trust. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/home/view-page/item492394/ 2. Penmoelallt Community Woodland, Merthyr Tydfil and District Naturalists’ Society. www.merthyrnats.org.uk/locations/penmoelallt-woods 3. Community Enterprise Centre, Menter Y Felin Uchaf. www.felinuchaf.org 4. Wastesavers, Newport. www.wastesavers.co.uk 5. Community Furniture Enterprise (CFE) is based at Rhymney, in Caerphilly Borough - http://www.community-furniture.co.uk/ 6. Ceredigion Recycling and Furniture Team, CRAFT. www.craftaberystwyth.co.uk 7. Antur Waunfawr. http://www.anturwaunfawr.org/en-GB/ 8. Llangattock Community Woodland Group. llaisygoedwig.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CS3-Llangattock.pdf
78 Acting Together
79 A Natural Step?
Chapter 6 - Big Challenges Four of the many high-profile complex problems tackled by CCW
Three contributors who, while working for CCW, were involved with major environmental cases recall the events that unfolded and CCW’s changing involvement with them.
Malcolm Smith describes the aftermath of Britain’s third largest oil spill, when in February 1996 the Sea Empress hit rocks in the Milford Haven channel, spilling 73,000 tonnes of crude oil. This time, thanks to fortunate timing and conditions, and the £60m clean-up operation, Pembrokeshire’s coast and wildlife seem to have avoided lasting damage.
Peter Williams was involved from the beginning with proposals to construct a barrage at Cardiff Bay which would destroy the whole of the Taff-Ely SSSI. He describes the changing role of CCW, from opposition to the Barrage, followed by a mediation role between Government and NGOs, and finally, after the campaign for mitigation was won and the Newport Wetlands became a functioning part of the Severn Estuary and was designated a National Nature Reserve in 2008, as site managers.
John Taylor considers the impact that the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic had in 2001, and the lasting message it left about the importance of the countryside to the rural economy. He concludes his contribution to this book with a controversial assessment of the contribution made by offshore and onshore wind farms to Wales’ efforts to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and to turn more towards ‘renewables’.
80 Big Challenges
Sea Empress on the Rocks, by Malcolm Smith
Some of the most impressive cliff coast and the longest coastal footpath in Britain. Huge numbers of breeding seabirds, some of world importance. Fantastic sandy bathing beaches and shingle coves. A local economy based largely on tourism. Several thousand breeding Grey Seals, a coastal National Park and an established Marine Nature Reserve teeming with underwater plant and animal life. And all of this cheek by jowl with a busy oil port and a regular traffic of supertankers. A recipe, you might assume, for a disaster waiting to happen.
Just after 20:00 GMT on the evening of Thursday 15th February 1996, it did! The supertanker Sea Empress was entering the Milford Haven Waterway at St. Ann's Head en-route from the North Sea to deliver 130,000 tonnes of North Sea crude to the then Texaco oil refinery near Pembroke. Sailing against the outgoing tide and in calm conditions, the ship was pushed off course by the current and became grounded after hitting rocks in the middle of the channel. The collision punctured her starboard hull causing oil to pour out into the sea. With further damage to her hull, Sea Empress altogether spilled 73,000 tonnes of crude oil and 480 tonnes of fuel oil into some of the most ecologically sensitive waters in Britain. Nearly a week after the ship’s initial grounding, she was pulled free from the rocks and towed to berth at a disused jetty in the Milford Haven waterway. Her remaining cargo of 57,000 tonnes of oil was pumped out for refining.
Fig 6- 1 When the single-hull oil tanker Sea Empress hit rocks while entering Milford Haven, vast stretches of coastline were seriously polluted by the crude oil that spilled from her ruptured hull.
The initial impact was horrendous. Viscous, black crude oil clothed pristine sandy beaches used by thousands of holidaymakers. It coated tonnes of shingle in coves isolated by high sea cliffs. And it replaced the seawater in animal-rich rock pools with lethal, coal-black oil. Altogether, oil had come ashore along 200km of the Pembrokeshire coast.
A ban was imposed on commercial and recreational fishing in the region and there was huge concern that tourism, vital to the local economy, would be badly affected by the heavily oiled beaches. Several thousand oiled birds washed ashore, leading to a major cleaning and rehabilitation operation. And a cornucopia of marine invertebrates from anemones and barnacles to crabs and sand hoppers inhabiting huge swathes of coastal habitat washed by the tide had been killed off. It was Britain's third largest oil spill and the twelfth largest in the world at the time.
81 A Natural Step?
Ironically, if a major oil spill had to happen in such a sensitive location, it could not have been at a better time! While its impact on coastal invertebrates and some of the creatures that live in deeper water was just as bad as at any time, Grey Seals in February were well away from their breeding beaches and far out to sea while the extraordinary numbers of seabirds that breed here mainly on the close-by offshore islands (39,000 pairs of Gannets and 165,000 pairs of Manx Shearwaters for example) had not yet arrived for breeding. And early spring is almost always a fairly stormy time in these seas, a process that helps substantially in creating a water/oil emulsion for naturally occurring bacteria to break down the oil.
Fig 6- 2 Sea Empress oil in waters around Tenby. The boats are removing surface oil.
A rescue centre for oiled birds was set up in Milford Haven. Among those treated were hundreds of Common Scoter ducks from the large population (around 20,000 birds) wintering on the sea in Carmarthen Bay. The others were mainly Guillemots that had returned early and were fishing offshore. Many more birds, an estimated 5,000, were oiled, never washed ashore and would have died at sea.
Fig 6- 3 A rescuer cradles a heavily-oiled Scoter. Sadly, despite valiant efforts very few of birds that were cleaned and cared for survived more than a few days, and the long-term survival rate was depressingly disappointing.
82 Big Challenges
In the first study of its kind, in spite of all the effort made by many volunteers to clean, treat and re-habilitate these oiled birds, we found that over 70% of released Guillemots died within 14 days while just 3% of them survived two months and only 1% survived a year. It was a depressing experience.
The main containment and dispersal of the oil slick at sea was completed within six weeks. However, the removal of oil on shore took over a year until the late spring of 1997 although the vast bulk had been removed from the most used holiday beaches by the summer after the spill, an amazing achievement by a range of public organisations and a small army of volunteers. Small amounts of oil were, however, still found beneath the sand on sheltered beaches and in rock pools in 1999, three years after the spill.
Much of the Pembrokeshire coastline recovered relatively quickly [1]. Comprehensive monitoring of key populations of coastal and shallow water species carried out mainly under contract to CCW showed that, by 2001, the affected marine wildlife population levels had more or less returned to normal. There was no discernible impact on any of the breeding bird populations, and wintering Common Scoter numbers were back to normal within a few years. Questions remain about the long-term impact of such a spill and the possible consequences for some species at the top of the food chain of the incorporation of oil breakdown products into their tissues - species such as Common Porpoises, Grey Seals and Bottlenose Dolphins that feed and breed in this area. However, as far as we can tell, all of these species seem to be breeding normally and have healthy populations.
Fig 6- 4 West Wales is home to some 5,000 Grey Seals, the majority of which are in Pembrokeshire. Fortunately it seems the Sea Empress Disaster has not had a noticeable long-term impact on their population.
The cost of the clean-up operation was estimated to be £60million. When the effects to the economy and environment are taken into account, the final cost is estimated to have been twice that. [2]
Following the spill, Sea Empress was repaired and renamed twice before being de-commissioned in 2004. In her final eight years of service, she was prohibited from entering Milford Haven and never again visited Pembrokeshire.
Sea Empress still ranks as one of the world’s worst oil spills. This time the exquisite Pembrokeshire coast with its outstanding scenery and wildlife got off comparatively lightly, though it did not seem like that at the time. A future oil spill, at a different time of year, could so easily spell environmental disaster. 83 A Natural Step?
Cardiff Bay Barrage, by Peter Williams
When CCW was set up in April 1991 it inherited the Cardiff Bay case. One of the most significant casework challenges ever handled by a UK conservation agency, the Bay ranked with the construction of the Channel Tunnel landfall site in Kent, and the extensive forestry planting in the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Fig 6- 5 View over Cardiff Bay from Penarth
Prior to the start of the project in 1985, Cardiff’s docklands area was one of the most economically deprived parts of the city. The original proposal was for a barrage to support the peripheral distributor road; this later became much more ambitious, with the construction of a barrage to impound the waters of both the River Taff and Ely. With an attractive waterfront, redevelopment of the area to include theatres and restaurants as well as attractive homes would revitalise the local economy.
The proposal threw up many problems. Raising the groundwater level would risk flooding surrounding parts of Cardiff, and there were concerns about pollution or poor water quality in the impoundment; but, for the conservation agencies, the key concern was that the project would result in the loss of the whole of the Taff- Ely SSSI. This site was of critical importance in the context of the wider, internationally important Severn Estuary: its high-level (in relation to Ordnance Datum) mudflats provided valuable extended feeding times for overwintering birds from the surrounding areas, particularly at the beginning and end of high spring tides. In addition, the sheltered location ensured secure feeding conditions for a high density of waders, particularly Dunlin, Redshank and Curlew, during stormy weather.
The Cardiff Bay Barrage Act From the outset proposals for a Cardiff Bay Barrage had huge political significance and profile, with support from the highest levels of Government, including the then Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards. Of the three parliamentary bills involving the proposed Barrage, one was ‘talked out’ - in no small measure as a result of the efforts of local MP Rhodri Morgan, later to become First Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government. Eventually a hybrid
84 Big Challenges bill received Government support, and the Cardiff Bay Barrage Act was passed in 1993. It is interesting to note how the role of NCC, and then CCW, changed during this period. From a position of strong opposition to the barrage proposals in the first two private members bills, opposition was then restricted to certain elements of the proposal: CCW did not have the power to oppose the principle of the hybrid bill. This significant reduction in CCW’s ability to object was a key contributing factor to this being the first Government-sponsored Act to result in the complete loss of a SSSI.
Similarly the role changed as the key relevant legislation shifted from domestic UK acts of Parliament, where CCW had the lead site-protection role for SSSIs, to the European Birds and Habitats Directives where Government, as signatory, has the lead protection role for SPAs. With CCWs role mainly advisory, opposition now came from the voluntary sector, notably RSPB, WWF and FoE.
Overriding Public Interest During the period up to 1993, the compensation clauses were deleted from Cardiff Bay Barrage legislation on the grounds that it would be too expensive. In 1991 the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Wales also decided to exclude the Taff/Ely SSSI from the proposed Severn Estuary SPA. As the balance shifted towards overriding public interest and away from conserving the overall integrity of a European site (the whole basis of the Birds and Habitats Directives) the voluntary conservation movement became more involved. RSPB lobbied Brussels, threatening to urge EC to take infraction proceedings against the UK Government; and a letter of objection from WWF resulted in the opening of a Complaints File. This lobbying pressure, and progress with the designation of the Severn Estuary as an SPA, led the European Commission to take more interest and become directly involved in the case.
Headed by Yoannis Paleokrassas, in 1993 a group of commissioners visited Cardiff Bay and potential compensation sites; subsequently they confirmed, in a letter to the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Wales, details of the compensation package which the Commission would require if they were not to pursue infraction proceedings for the loss of the Taff/Ely part of the Severn Estuary SPA. Some measures were in direct mitigation for the loss of the overwintering wading birds of the SSSI and part of the SPA, and others were more compensatory in nature.
Fig 6- 6 Dunlin (pictured here) and other wading birds made extensive use of the Taff-Ely mudflats, especially at the beginning and end of the tidal cycle. This was the first mudflat on the estuary to be exposed by the tide and the last to be covered by the rising tide - the last available place for the birds to feed. 85 A Natural Step?
CCW’s role during this period was essentially one of mediation between the Government, both UK and Wales, and an increasingly frustrated voluntary conservation movement; advising the former on practical and effective compensation and mitigation options, and the latter on the approaches likely to gain the greatest measure of Government support.
Fig 6- 7 Cardiff Bay at Night. Picture: Cardiff Harbour Authority/Wikipedia Commons
The Fight for Mitigation and Compensation There had always been debate - both generally, and specifically in relation to the Cardiff Bay Barrage case - about the distinction between mitigation and compensation. The issue was whether the measures would accommodate the displaced waders, in particular, redshank and dunlin. In reality the situation on the ground is dynamic and the provision of any additional feeding and even breeding and roosting habitat for any overwintering bird species must incrementally reduce the pressure on birds further along the adjacent coast. In the event the principal compensatory requirements were for improved overwintering wader habitat management, for monitoring in estuaries around the UK coast, and for an accelerated UK SPA designation programme.
The major mitigation requirement in the Paleokrassas letter was the creation of significant wetland habitat at one or more locations along the South Wales Coast. The work of locating and acquiring the land for this site was overseen by CBDC working closely with the Welsh Office, Land Authority for Wales and CCW as government agencies, and with local and national voluntary conservation organisations, particularly RSPB and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT). After more than two years’ work, the Gwent Levels Wetland Reserve, a site of 438 hectares, comprising a mixture of wetland habitats, including reed beds, lowland wet grassland, saline lagoons, salt marsh and mudflats, was finally approved by Europe in 1995. There were conditions, 86 Big Challenges however. In particular the qualifying numbers of target bird species, both overwintering and breeding, which the site was to support and that the site should reach SPA status within five years.
Whilst most of the reserve was acquired by agreement, there was considerable opposition to the Compulsory Purchase Order for a significant area, and this entailed a Public Inquiry, a Lands Tribunal Case, and a High Court Challenge. The reserve was eventually constructed in the late 1990s at a cost of over £10 million, and it was formally opened in 2000.
The British Trust for Ornithology, commissioned by Government to monitor the success of the Reserve, concluded in the late 1990s that the bird target qualifying criteria had been met and that the reserve ‘had become a functional component of the Severn Estuary SPA’. The site was designated as an NNR in 2008 under the new name of Newport Wetlands [3].
Fig 6- 8 Tranquil reed beds at Newport Wetlands NNR, beside the Severn Estuary
Again CCW played an active and important role throughout this phase of the case which was critically important in developing the principles and standards relating to significant parts of the incoming European conservation legislation, particularly matters of overriding public interest, compensation and mitigation: what we now know as Article 6(4) of the Habitats Directive - IROPI. CCW was very active in working with Government, CBDC, LAW and the voluntary conservation movement in drawing up a compensation package that was acceptable to the EC. In particular, CCW was represented on the Steering Group set up by CBDC for Government and provided the chairman of the Birds Target Group, working closely with landowners and other interested parties during the construction and development of the Reserve. Finally, CCW took over responsibility for the management of the Reserve, working in close partnership with Newport City Council and RSPB. 87 A Natural Step?
Foot and Mouth Disease, by John Taylor
As February half-term 2001 drew near, those with a taste for such things had reason for optimism: a damp and largely snowless winter was, said the weather watchers, about to change ‘for the better’. Time to sharpen crampons and ice axes; dig out the down jackets. The mountains and countryside of Wales were about to take on their rare but magical winter garb. A snatched conversation high on Cneifion arête confirmed the excitement: ‘I’m back at ‘weekend: should be in condition by then’. It was the 23rd of the month.
That night news broke that was to dominate UK headlines for the next five months, for everyone. But for rural Wales and places like it, it would dominate lives, and minds, for years to come.
Foot and Mouth Outbreak Confirmed at Northumberland Pig Farm
There would be no fun-filled race for the peaks that weekend, nor fun of any kind for many. So it was, instead of heading out into that all-white wonderland of Snowdonia on the fullest, cleanest, clearest, most astoundingly beautiful Saturday many who know and love those hills have ever seen, the wardens and others from local authorities, National Parks, CCW, large landowner bodies - National Trust, Wildlife Trusts, RSPB - spent it in deserted car parks, waiting to head off anyone trying to ‘break the ban’ by going out in the countryside.
Fig 6- 9 A snowy Tryfan seen from Cwm Idwal, which in 2001 stood unvisited and in utter silence for three months. Named after the son of Owain of Gwynedd, who plunged (with a little help from Nefydd Hardd) to his death in Llyn Ogwen below, Cwm Idwal was Wales' first NNR. CCW had removed all grazing from the site. Yet oddly, the Cwm - such a central place in the history of British mountaineering - came to play a pivotal role in the story of Foot and Mouth. 88 Big Challenges
Government was doing what it could to battle the disease. ‘Investigation’ being insufficient for the farmers’ unions, ‘do something’ quickly turned to ‘stop someone’. Emergency powers were invoked. Local Highway Authorities made Closure Orders aplenty to ‘close the countryside’ - a strange notion, but at first we all wanted to help. Of course we did: this disease threatened the very fabric of rural life and the patchwork land uses that gave rise to this treasure of a landscape in the first place.
Even the Great Bong, Sir Chris Bonington of Everest fame, was pressed to help; a top slot on Radio 4 to spread the appeal. ‘Please, please stay off the hills’. No matter that Himalaya seemed come to Ogwen, the Baffin Ranges to Brecon’s Beacons. Stay Away! And they did. The huddled wardens, freezing hands in pockets, had only each other’s company amidst the fleecy majesty. That eerie silence. And the irony.
Mere months earlier, Parliament had passed the so-called ‘right to roam’ law (Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000, if you must), a law specifically charging CCW with mapping and designating as Open Country huge swathes of Wales’ mountains, moors, heaths and commons; a law predicated on the value to society of having greater, fairer access to such places for health, enjoyment and the rest of it. We had barely begun that immense and important task when…. Now here we were, standing guard like ‘keepers ‘gainst intruders’!
Fig 6- 10 Around the turn of the 20th century it was very common to see stubble fires and gorse burning on farms, but in 2001 the palls of smoke from FMD funeral pyres carried an even blacker message. The financial impact in Wales was estimated at £332m of which £49m were farm losses and £35m losses to the food supply chain not covered by compensation. However, the tourism sector lost some £238m! [4] 89 A Natural Step?
Weeks pass. Months. Pyres burn across livestock-rearing Britain. That word Holocaust is heard, hushed but clear. And the lives being lost were not only cattle; people too, and livelihoods, by the score.
Another drive through a deserted Eryri that should be no desert. Another walking pole and karabiner bargain. Massive Stock Reductions on put-away presents enough for years to come in another shop where they say, ‘You’re the first in days’. So drop-in for coffee and commiseration on another mountain man with time on his hands. Plas Y Brenin. No National Mountain Centre’s walls and halls were ever so quiet.
Fig 6- 11 The FMD total 'closure of the countryside' drove many businesses to the brink of collapse, revealing starkly the full extent and value of this aspect of our rural economy at a time when, initially at least, all eyes had been on farming.
What is the rural economy? Better, ask who is the rural economy? Are not those sixty-plus instructors he ‘let go’ that day - as told through tautly-belayed tears no blizzard-torn Carnedd ever drew - part of it? And the guy who sold you the gear? And the people who produced it? And was it CCW business to care for the rural economy? Questions unequivocally answered within days, when we fill to near- bursting, standing room only, his dining hall with that part of our rural economy made flesh. ‘So’, we ask the throng, ‘What can we do?’ The answer comes like a spring avalanche.
April. The May Bank Hols almost upon us. Still the countryside stands empty: emptier by the day while pyres burn. Environmental Health - for now it is they who hold sway here - have crawled over hundreds of pages of risk assessment. No, there will be no livestock in Cwm Idwal NNR because we have removed them ‘for ecological reasons’, we explain at length to sceptical men whose cynefin is in the ecology of a Take-Away’s kitchen. Yes, we solemnly pledge to do all in our power to shepherd such Goretex flock as may gather, and heft them there. No strays. Yes, the aforesaid shall be bathed of foot upon entry and the departing thereof. So it went on, for weeks. The National Park too. But only via the specified linear route to and from the said summit, they were made to promise on their lives. Ours too, mine - career at least. As if it were not for lives and livelihoods that we were doing this.
May. The Bank Hols; but now, for those with a taste for such things and, as we were soon to see, they are not few, word has spread - magically so in those pre-
90 Big Challenges tweet days. Not only is a path up Snowdon open but - and this nugget can scarcely be believed in quarters ranging from the North and the Black Country to the common rooms of Cambridge and apartments astride Canary Wharf - the whole of Cwm Idwal is open. No path-only restrictions. Climbing… Scrambling… Open! And so they came. Pour forth you mighty M6; how they came!
But better yet, no epidemic epicentre caused; no infective catastrophe. So the spell was broken. Within the month Britain’s entire countryside re-opened. ‘Business as Usual’ (the survivors could say).
And afterwards, the lessons? Perhaps too many to be learned, and Official Inquires aplenty to testify to it. We learned what we told ourselves we already knew. Of the scale and importance of enjoying the countryside as the fount of a massive infrastructure; a rural economy more substantial than farming in areas like the National Parks, certainly, but elsewhere too. Yet this is not some ‘bigger than yours’ exercise because, above all, it had exposed a stark and fundamental truth about rural life, possibly all life, in the inter-connectedness of things.
Or is that a concept too far? A pig sneezes in Northumberland, and a hotel closes in Betws? Well yes, it did.
It makes you think, and therein lies some optimism.
Fig 6-12 A deserted Betws-y-Coed Railway Station. Throughout the year this is a town usually bustles with tourist activity fuelled by the attractions of roaring rivers and soaring slopes of Snowdonia. After the FMD Outbreak such places gradually recovered buoyancy, but for some it was too late. There will be no countrywide access closure in any future outbreak. 91 A Natural Step?
Renewable Energy, by John Taylor
The local chip-wrap billed it ‘Consultation Event’ for affected locals. And who wouldn’t be? The wind farm planned off our shore would be the largest in Europe. ‘Learn More & Have A Say’. Wanting info, not aggro, we go incognito.
The pleasant young man in neutral grey did his best to answer queries, though no ‘visual impact’ expert, he admits. He gets more edgy as we edge toward names. Not the ancient Welsh he so blithely masticates but the names of those not here, those who generate plans like this.
Ease off to chat. Tea? And where’s he from? Appropriately, Berkshire (pron: ˈbɑrkʃər’. The English so love their oddly-sounded ‘e’s). Until, disarmed, he drops his bombs.
‘Really nice up here, isn’t it?’
We’ve noticed, but you’ve been before, naturally?
‘Never. First time. Must bring the girlfriend. The scenery’s amazing’.
We hope you do, we say, and thank him for Double Whopper benefits explained: a new, improved local environment and another planet saved. Phew! Phew! Busy folk in Essen (was it?), saving us from ourselves. Too busy to visit before bestowing their plenty.
Teens of years earlier a similar trek, in reverse. Bedfordshire’s bird wonks come a-sussing brand-new CCW. A day of thoughtful meanders through farming: sheep (too many), forests (wrong trees - too straight), water (not enough… when there isn’t too much!). Familiar turf for the be-suited Green at prayer. Until a grittier sandwich interrupts the gentle cudding. Did someone say… energy? Well, we’re… working on it. It’s… not resolved.
Fig 6- 13 Wylfa Nuclear Power Station on the Anglesey Coast at Cemaes Bay 92 Big Challenges
Resolved? How could it? Instead CCW spent its 90s and noughties resolving crucifixion on the horned-dilemma at the heart of energy-climate. Or so it was for serious environmentalists. For others, it all seemed so much easier, a far simpler affair. You were with us, or you were not; pro, or anti; believer, or denier; activist, or sceptic; Green, or NIMBY. Pick your doublet; pick your side.
As when those particularly well-besuited chaps come down from the City to point to your inadequacies as a believer in the new - their new - Green creed. Had not they and their breed spent those 90s MBA-ed as account executives among the vampire mollusca? Had they not learned to ID - by jizz alone - the entire taxonomy of Notus greenback ‘til waiting patiently, telescope-to-eye, they sight their preferred prey? The woolly-headed governator, keenly aware of a distant but closing scent in the air: a Kyoto-beast! Snuffling the undergrowth it desperately hunts a ‘something’ to be the doer of, ready, eager to do that which even economists fear (economists who agree on nothing, save that here lies utmost folly) and unveil its magnificent subsidydimus!
And would you know it if you saw it, you Doctorated hairy-ologists new off the hills, twigs in fleece and peaty-kneed to whom hedge fund is but a modest budget set aside to buy a hawthorn’s bushy integrity? You make your bleating NIMBY gripes and dare question logic: in order to protect those endangered species, those treasured landscapes from the ravages of a (possibly) changing climate (less certain, certainly) we must necessarily- and sustainably -dam(n) them, tide-y them; turbinate them, rotor-vate them, energise the landscape; road and cable and pylon them. (And in the process, make for ourselves some small recompense for our efforts and investment, and the undertaking of such… risk). For the environment’s sake.
To protect, despoil! It could have been the motto then, of a new Rio.
Fig 6- 14 Near useless windmills, or an effective technology? 93 A Natural Step?
So tidal-barrages and wind-farms became the thing. And speaking of tides, woe betide any who questioned. Woe did betide CCW, time again told it was on the wrong side, though it made no objection in most cases but worked for sense, evidence, facility: that bore fruit later as TAN8. But few if any were listening then, especially so when jobs and ‘local benefits’ were added to the mix with the old chestnut: ‘a gazillion homes to be supplied’. (Some stats get used to death, beyond mere bluster [5], yet never mean a thing). Perhaps they meant ‘half- illume the stage of a Pink Floyd gig’? And only then if Providence smiled, and the wind blew - blew the magic Goldilocks breath of Welsh renown(sic) - not too little breeze, nor too much gale.
It’s this wind, Cap’n: it’s waftin’ a rare old warp. She canna take it. Feather n’ clamp all rotors, Mr Scott. At once! Aye aye, Cap’n. Right away. (Sound of engines spinning to a halt as Enterprise’s bridge falls dark) All power now lost, Captain. Thank you Spock. Scottie? Switch to pluton-rich booty-remix power. Er, we shut that doon too, Cap’n. So we did. Sir? Starfleet have yet to fully cryo-franchisize and retro-fukijapinate our main drives. You’re right, Spock. Mr Chekov? What lunar gravity-induced flows are the oceans making, this stardate? (Chekov looks glum. Speaks Scottish in a Russian accent) Izza wee slack neapie thing, sir. Net enough for de Enterprice, Kepiten. Then take us to frack-speed, Mr Sulu. At the double!
Most in CCW, like sister bodies and NGO friends, were there at the start of concern about man-made climate change. They wanted effective action. More than most they knew the issues and what was at stake. Yet what they got were near-useless windmills slapped in treasured views and habitats by people whose primary commitment seemed always to be to ‘a killing’ from misguided government enthusiasm, snatching at proffered single-answer solutions to oh- so-complex environmental issues, perpetuating the dilemmas that got us there in the first place.
And the most condemned were those they called NIMBY.
Living among old coalfields, village-drowning HEP schemes, gas fields, gas power stations, nuclear plants (in-commission and de-); liquid gas terminals, underground-overground pumped storage, micro-generating, multi-mega wattage, on-shore, offshore, hilltop wind farm, sub-sea turbine, solar panelled, sub-soil heat pumped, waste digesting, biodegraders; tidal barraged, estuary- damming, river-piping, seabed impounding schemes, wheezes, pipedreams and (indeed some) realities, our NIMBYism was hardly hardcore. Perhaps we were more CIGISEBBYFOP?
Could-It-Go-In-Someone-Else’s-B****y-Back-Yard-For-Once-Please?
And how far the tide of opinion has shifted on wind (and other technologies, though wind’s more developed, more visible). And not just in opposing their
94 Big Challenges visual, ‘industrialising’ impact but on the fundamentals: their economics. A recent report [5] - in defence of wind power, mind – couldn’t help but point to refurbishment and renewal intervals for bearings, rotors and the rest proving far shorter than originally claimed, so driving up costs. And driving down returns. Both the clean, Green sparky kind. And the crisp, green dosh. (It seems some renewables generate the latter better than the former).
Resolved? No. Wales' fractious renewables story will keep unfolding long after CCW leaves the stage.
Fig 6- 15 North Hoyle offshore wind farm. Picture: Tom Jeffs/Wikipedia
References 1. Armitage, MJS., M M Rehfish and N H K Burton. The Impact of the Sea Empress Oil Spill on the Abundance and Diversity of Waterbirds in Milford Haven, Year 3 final report, 2000. 2. SEEEC, The Environmental Impacts of the Sea Empress Oil Spill, Final Report of the Sea Empress Environmental Evaluation Committee, The Stationery Office, London, 1998. 3. Alister Scott, Michael Christie and Peter Midmore. Impact of the 2001 foot- and-mouth disease outbreak in Britain; Journal of Rural Studies 20 (2004) 1-14. 4. Reg Platt, Oscar Fitch-Roy and Paul Gardner. Beyond the Bluster: Why Wind Power is an Effective Technology. IPPR and GL Garrad Hassan Briefing. August 2012.
95 A Natural Step?
Chapter 7 - Protected Areas Having looked at the environmental consequences of four major developments and events, including their impact on protected sites, this chapter describes CCW’s role in relation to protected sites. In the first half of this chapter, a member of CCW staff explains the background to SSSIs, SACs, SPAs and AONBs.
Sue Parker and Pat O’Reilly then describe the stunning series of National Nature Reserves (NNRs) and one Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) which give CCW first- hand experience of the practicalities of site management and contact with owners and users. Whether learning the skills and science required for site management, sparking the imaginations of visitors or listening to their concerns, wardens and volunteers have a highly demanding job. They also have an influential one, whether through communication, teamwork, by increasing the visibility of NNRs through better signage, or, most challenging of all, working out new paths to more sustainable living.
Fig 7- 1 Merthyr Mawr – the first SSSI in Wales. SSSIs play an essential role in the conservation of the most important species, habitats and geological features in Wales. SSSIs contain over 34% of the priority BAP habitats in Wales. 96 Protected Areas
What makes Wales Special, by a member of staff of CCW The post-war Government laid down the foundations for both habitat and species conservation in the UK, with the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. It established the concept for the protection of sites identified because of their scientific importance – Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Fig 7- 2 SSSIs form the cream of Wales’ nature conservation sites, places of importance for biodiversity and geodiversity. Cae Win, Dolau Hafod a Winllan SSSI, Ceredigion (above) is an example of a species-rich, neutral grassland.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (with various subsequent amendments) created the current framework, although it was passed principally to implement the EC Birds Directive.
In March 1991 there were 816 SSSIs covering 193,042 hectares - by December 2012 there were 1060 SSSIs covering 261,456 hectares. Many of the sites designated by CCW were linked to the creation of European protected sites (SACs), to the completion of the geological series, and to protect those sites under threat.
This legislation was further strengthened in 2000 by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, giving further emphasis to the conservation and enhancement of SSSIs. It was heralded as the single most important piece of wildlife legislation, but the jury is still out in terms of how effective it will prove. Whilst the main basis of our approach to conservation covered by the Act is by voluntary agreement, the voluntary mechanism is underpinned by legal enforcement. There was also greater emphasis placed on all public bodies to deliver their obligations towards nature conservation.
97 A Natural Step?
Fig 7- 3 Clockwise from top left: Marsh Fritillary, Petalwort, Myxas a glutinous snail from Llyn Tegid, Southern Damselfly. SSSIs protect the habitats which support rare plants and animals such as these.
The emphasis throughout the life of CCW has been towards facilitating positive management. There have been challenging targets for improving the condition of sites, bringing them into favourable management. This has been achieved through negotiation and constructive partnership with landowners and those responsible for the management of SSSIs. The power of persuasion has always had to make up for the inevitable funding shortfall. We have moved from paying to prevent damage (compensatory payments for profits forgone, with the adverse publicity of paying public money to prevent damaging activities to a nationally declared asset) to paying for positive management. Payments tend to be based on standard agricultural rates, failing to recognise that the land is special and that the knowledge and experience needed for management often goes beyond modern day agricultural practices. This is also the case with the agri-environment schemes, where we have yet to see the most valued habitats given highest priority.
Fig 7- 4 SSSIs protect the majority of semi- natural habitats in Wales. The coverage of the different habitats varies and some are under- represented. The small proportion of some habitats that have survived outside of the SSSI series is seen as demonstrating their importance and effectiveness for nature conservation.
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Fig 7- 5 Clockwise from top left: A spectacular coastal arch in cambrian quartzite , Bwa Gwyn (the White Arch), which forms part of Glannau Rhoscolyn SSSI, Anglesey; magnificent carboniferous limestone escarpment and scree of Eglwyseg which form part of the Ruabon/Llantysilio Mountains and Minera SSSI, Llangollen; a caledonian fold in Ordovician rocks showing the different cleavage in mudstone and sandstone, Rhosneigr SSSI, Anglesey; Cymrite, a rare barium aluminium silicate, was named after Cymru and is found typically at Benallt Mine and Nant y Gadwen SSSI on the Llyn.
Fig 7- 6 The Milford Haven Waterway, which forms part of the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC, European Marine Site. This is an example of a large site where there is a delicate balance to be achieved, meeting the needs of society and supporting the industry that is dependent on the port and the waterway, at the same time protecting the very special quality of the environment.
99 A Natural Step?
There are many threats to our wildlife but three stand out in terms of the SSSI series.
Neglect is a serious issue, as lack of active management may lead to decline of biodiversity.
An indirect input of increasing concern is nitrogen deposition. Nitrogen oxides come from a whole range of sources, some significant, such as power stations, others small but in greater numbers, like cars. These depositions lead to impacts on sensitive species such as lower plants, lichens and trees, and on habitats such as grasslands, and they cause the increasing grassiness of heathlands.
The final threat comes from us undervaluing the system as a whole. Questions are being asked about the merits of a site based system and its ability to respond to environmental change. These questions have been asked before and the answers have not changed. Protecting a network of sites throughout Wales is still the best way forward. The sites act as a refuge and reservoir for wildlife, allowing populations to colonise the wider countryside in times of changing conditions.
Fig 7- 7 Mist over heather moor, Berwyn. SSSIs protect sites and their habitats, species and geological features from development and adverse pressures.
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The SSSIs are examples of complex ecosystems dominated by natural processes. The series will respond to climate change by allowing a new balance of species and habitats. Those places that are the best sites for wildlife now, will still be the best sites for wildlife in the future, even though they may not stay exactly the same - nothing does.
In 1979, the EC Member States agreed the Directive on the Conservation of
Wild Birds (79/409/EEC). This was a major step forward with wide ranging
implications including the need to classify Special Protection Areas (SPAs).
Sites were established to protect species that were rare or vulnerable to
habitat change (listed in Annex 1 of the Directive), and sites were also
established to protect all regularly occurring migratory species.
There are 20 SPAs in Wales (17 entirely within Wales and a further 3 cross-
border sites (the Severn Estuary, the Dee Estuary and Liverpool Bay).
Fig 7- 8 Gannets on Grassholm SPA, some 16km off the coast of Pembrokeshire. Owned by RSPB, during the breeding season the island supports over 39,000 pairs of nesting Gannets. 101 A Natural Step?
The Habitats Directive (Council Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and Wild Fauna and Flora (92/43/EEC)) was adopted by Member States of the EC in 1992. Like most EC legislation it was intended to create a common standard across Europe providing a series of measures to improve nature conservation and deliver biodiversity. It called for the identification of a series of sites for habitats and species of Community interest. These were the Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).
As well as the protection of these designated SACs, the Directive also had measures dealing with the conservation of features within the landscape which are of importance for wildlife (this is the part that tends to be forgotten), the protection of listed species from damage, disturbance or over-exploitation, and the surveillance/monitoring of species and habitats. It is a technically complex piece of legislation, which, it is fair to say, the authorities charged with its delivery are still getting to grips with.
The legislation was translated into UK legislation through The Conservation (Natural Habitats &c) Regulations 1994. The majority of sites recommended to Europe were already SSSIs, but those that were not had to be part of a major notification programme. In Wales, the designation of SACs and the programme of underpinning SSSI notification came under some pressure when the timetable was linked to Wales’ successful receipt of convergence funding.
There are 92 SACs in Wales. Of the 189 habitats of community interest 78 were present in the UK with 54 in Wales. Of the 788 species, 43 were recorded in the UK with 28 in Wales.
The SACs and SPAs now form part of the pan-European ‘Natura 2000’ site series.
There was concern at the time that the Natura 2000 sites would lead to the creation of a two tier system – diverting resources and attention away from the remainder of the SSSIs and the wider countryside. Whilst this is to some extent true, far more conservation time has been absorbed in the ensuing debate around the interpretation of the Regulations and the Directive, and the perceived impact that it has had on development.
Fig 7- 9 Cors Fochno SAC
102 Protected Areas
Conserving natural beauty CCW came into existence inheriting and completing the boundary review of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. CCW's role in relation to the range of landscape designations in Wales is defined in statute, and whilst there have been many calls for new landscape designations, there have been no new sites until very recently.
Over a ten year period, the CCW Pathfinder Project developed a process for researching and evaluating some of Wales’ finest landscapes. Tested in partnership with local authorities, Pathfinder culminated in November 2011 with the designation by legal order of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This first landscape designation in Wales for over 25 years was completed following extensive public consultation and forms a statutory basis for the future protection and integrated management to conserve the natural beauty of 388 square kilometres of landscape in North Wales.
Fig 7- 10 Dinas Brân, Vale of Llangollen, Clwydian Range & Dee Valley Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Fig 7- 11 Exceptional natural beauty looking towards Eglwyseg Mountains, Clwydian Range & Dee Valley Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Acknowledgements The author of this section acknowledges, with thanks, contributions from other members of CCW staff who have helped with this part of the chapter. 103 A Natural Step?
National Nature Reserves, by Sue Parker and Pat O’Reilly
Selected as a suite of the very finest of Wales’ wildlife and geological sites, NNRs play a more prominent role in the lives of people in Wales than ever they could in other parts of the UK. Not only has Wales more nature reserves per head of population than any other major European country, but also in their diversity and their quality lies a special richness, an environmental wealth that could all too easily be taken for granted by those who benefit most from its ‘special Fig 7- 12 The entrance to Cors Caron NNR scientific interest’. That is not a term with real meaning to most people, for whom interest is something that, in times of need, can be drawn upon without eroding capital value. The same thing? Naturally!
In the brief reign of our mammalian species, Wales has always been ecologically wealthy, but some parts of Wales are particularly rich in biodiversity and geodiversity gems. The NNRs are often referred to as our environmental crown jewels. While such riches cannot be enjoyed by anyone if they (the jewels or the people) are locked away, inaccessible, there are obvious (and some not- so-obvious) risks associated with placing covetable goods on public display. Consciously but cautiously, we take these risks and accept the associated obligation to manage them wisely. With few exceptions, and then for safety reasons more often than anything else, our NNRs are open to the public, and part of CCW’s job has been to maximise the many and varied benefits that can come from public access. There is no doubt that Wales receives an economic return many times greater than its investment in managing its NNRs [6], but that is far from the only justification for making sure that this work is done well and by innovative people who really understand the true value of these precious assets.
But where did these NNRs come from, and what were they set up for? If they were a good idea more than half a century ago, are they still fit for purpose - the same purpose, or are they (or should they be) playing a different role in the Wales of today?
The origin of spaces Originally established to protect sensitive ecological features and to provide spaces for conservation research in ‘the wild’, NNRs now serve a much broader purpose. Selected to include a range of the very best of Wales’s Sites of Special Scientific Interest (in most instances further protected by European conservation designations), the NNRs harbour some of our rarest species and most pristine habitats. While they are greatly valued by specialists, perhaps just as significantly nowadays many of these unspoilt ancient green spaces provide unique educational and recreational opportunities for millions of people who come to experience the finest of our natural heritage. 104 Protected Areas
Fig 7- 13 Rich in rare lichens, mosses and liverworts, Meirionydd Oak Woodlands NNRs - the ‘Welsh Rainforests’ - are important sites for scientific research. One or two of them are treacherously steep and rarely visited by members of the public, but Coed Llyn Mair (above) is a popular site with local people and visitors. A circular trail passes through the woodland beside a small stream that cascades down the hillside. There are animal and plant sculptures waiting to be discovered (example inset) – a special challenge greatly enjoyed by children.
105 A Natural Step?
Skomer Marine Nature Reserve (MNR) Designated in 1990, Skomer Marine Nature Reserve - the only MNR in Wales and one of only three in the UK - comprises the waters off Pembrokeshire’s Marloes Peninsula and around Skomer Island. There CCW monitors and protects this inshore marine environment and its amazing diversity of marine life. It is also an ideal place for studying variations in the marine environment that could help us understand the effects of climate change on our seas.
Fig 7- 14 Sea anemone. Many marine creatures are affected not only by pollution but also by other more subtle changes in their habitats, including shifts in seasons and the migratory habits of prey or predator species. Skomer MNR provides unique opportunities to monitor such effects.
You don’t have to be a scuba diver to experience Skomer MNR’s underwater world; an on-shore exhibition at Martin’s Haven enables visitors to see and learn about techniques used to survey and monitor marine wildlife and habitats.
Visitors There are people for whom nature reserves will never be more than somewhere for emptying the dog. However, in our heads many more of us carry through life a picture of a place (perhaps a nature reserve) and an incident (a chance meeting with a warden, a volunteer, a seasoned visitor) when the seeds of our latent interest in nature were triggered into germination and growth. Why are there so many butterflies here but none in the maize forests that fill the fields of our rural flood plains? Why are there stripy black-and-orange caterpillars on these daisies but not that clover? Understanding the complex interdependencies between habitats and species (including our own), ecosystems and their products and services comes slowly, gradually, incompletely - intriguingly so. That first vital spark of interest, caring about nature - a prerequisite to caring for the natural world - is not triggered by ecosystems goods and services. The barrier is not terminology but tangibility. Species really do matter.
Many of the most frequently visited NNRs are near to centres of population, but so much depends also on how accessible and easy they are to find. Crymlyn Bog, on the outskirts of Swansea, is a wonderfully peaceful place; with its superb boardwalks this NNR could accommodate a lot more visitors while still providing safe havens, food and nesting sites for its many birds and mammals, amphibians and reptiles. It is very hard to find the way in to this lovely reserve.
In the five years between 2004 and 2009 annual visits to our NNRs increased by 400,000 to a total of some 2.7 million. At most sites visitor numbers are recorded using remotely-monitored electronic counters, whose data tell us that this upward trend in visits is still continuing despite rotten weather during the winter of 2011-2013. (Personal feelings; not a misprint!) 106 Protected Areas
Increased use of NNRs could place in jeopardy the special conservation features of some of these sites, but it need not. We support the view that: ‘Access should be an agency for improving biodiversity rather than a pressure on it.’ [7] With appropriate management there are benefits not only for the visitors to our NNRs but also to the reserves themselves. If nothing else, some of those who foot the bills (and vote for those who set national budgets) get to see what their investment has achieved. People who understand and care are also very good early-warning systems against threats of irreparable damage by abuse, vandalism or perhaps sometimes even avertable natural disasters.
The direct financial rewards that stem from managing our NNRs are quite apparent, even if difficult to quantify with precision. We and many others like us choose holiday venues for the scenic beauty, habitat quality and wildlife diversity that we expect to find there. The opportunity to learn more about Life on our planet, both in our own country and elsewhere, is a crucial quality of life factor for many people for whom castles and the club scene are no substitute for a healthy heathland hike or a clamber up Cadair.
Fig 7- 15 Ablaze with gorse and heather, the coastal heathland at South Stack hits all the sensory buttons during a hike on a summer’s day.
To ensure that the quality of the sites is not compromised by inadequate access, wardens continue to improve, maintain and replace boardwalks, stiles and footbridges. In our experience, little of this infrastructure wears out through pressure of use; the replacement rate is determined by fungi, not folk. Now that more use is made of recycled plastics rather than timber, the life expectancy of the new generation of facilities should be greater than that of their predecessors. Can that be said with any confidence of the next generation of users? 107 A Natural Step?
Management Roles and NNRs There is no need to praise the dogged stoicism of our NNR management teams - wardens and volunteers who plod away at arduous, repetitive tasks day after day, year after year. Such plodders don’t exist: a long time ago the world and the job moved on. Today the challenge of NNR management is one of the most demanding, as it has been throughout the life of CCW. The land-management and ecosystems research role requires, as science always does, minds open to new ideas, regarding as ‘not possible yet’ objectives that plodders might reject out of hand as ‘impossible’. It’s not easy to hold on to a vision of something unseen.
And then there’s the role of communicator, educator, negotiator. Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Mahatma Ghandi - skilled orators are often labelled ‘great communicators’. Talking is child’s play; listening is the higher skill, and NNR management is much more about listening, thinking and getting to appreciate the viewpoints of others - skills so crucial to building relationships that endure through project timescales dictated not by Man but by Nature. Engaging with stakeholders is a phrase that all too neatly conceals the crucial importance of building, maintaining and developing long-term relationships with those who own land adjacent to NNRs, land that can be used either in ways that protect and enhance or that damage and degrade the features of the NNR.
Volunteers, those ambassadors for nature whose hard work is recognised as vital to the very survival of many reserves, bring also unique local knowledge that informs the science and the plans for NNR management. So, too, do other stakeholders who make time to respond to consultations and meet with wardens to explain their concerns and aspirations. By listening to people, CCW has benefitted from a wider range of ideas and options for managing special sites.
Fig 7- 16 Naturally enthusiastic: young volunteers building a walkway near Wrexham. Such ambassadors for the natural world don’t just help with practical work; often, their local knowledge and contacts with other stakeholders are equally valuable.
NNR project management Having so much dependent on the outcomes of scientific research and on experimental projects that contain some very visible risks but many more lying in wait, unseen at the outset, is scary. It was more scary when the only project- management tools available were those designed for building roads and bridges, airplanes and ships - projects where the final physical reality was defined in detail at the outset, and where with attention to detail and thoroughness in documentation the right Lego bricks in the right places would add up to success. Environmental projects were never like that. No PRINCE methodology, no PERT network or Gantt chart can turn unknowns into 108 Protected Areas quantifiable facts. The answer is not to reject the innovation challenge and to seek a soft target, a risk-free route to somewhere slightly better than where we are now. CCW and now NRW must not only manage the risks but also find and create opportunities [8]. It means learning as we go, not straight ahead but on a course that will require constant correction as fog gradually gives way to mist, to haze, until the real goal is viewed, reviewed, revised.
Discovering more about what we should be aiming for and finding better ways of achieving goals is where the research work carried out by NNR staff is so crucial to the future not only of protected sites but also of the wider environment. One of the worst things that could happen, our nightmare, is for NRW’s project- management culture to be pushed back into the box - into a task-based, spend- profile-monitored, stick-to-the-plan mire. NNR management is about achieving outcomes, many of them long term and requiring outcome-based indicators, true-performance monitoring, and milestones that must be refined as we learn from what we do. Innovation terrifies the timid.
When (not if, for surely there is no option) we see the new agrarian revolution that is necessary for sustainably living within our one-planet rations, perhaps some ground will be super-intensively used for food production (as closed- system aquaculture can be without jeopardising our seas) but perhaps much more land will then be recolonised by soil fungi, a prerequisite of plant diversity and, in turn, soil invertebrates, butterflies, bats, birds and the whole blaze of biodiversity that can only return if it has somewhere to return from. Nature reserves, like currency reserves, are crucial if we are to get through the bad times in a fit state to enjoy what may come afterwards.
Fig 7- 17 The importance of species. Sometimes a single encounter with a plant or animal can trigger the ‘Where?’, ‘What?’, ‘Why?’ trail that leads to a greater interest in, and ultimately some understanding of the natural world and the ecosystems that support both wildlife and mankind. Left: The Fly Orchid, a very rare sight in Wales, is still hanging on in the Anglesey Fens NNRs.
There is no guarantee that by managing the biggest and best of our special sites as well as we can we will avoid biodiversity losses. Much has been lost already, and no doubt more endangered and threatened species will slip over the edge before things start to improve. Joined up thinking and joined up linking may help, but what else we will have to do is far from clear: we still have a lot to learn, and much of that learning can take place in NNR classrooms where, uncensored, Nature is the teacher. 109 A Natural Step?
Challenges and Opportunities for NRW and Welsh Government So often ideas are born and die within individuals, departments or organisations that, perhaps for fear of ridicule, are reticent to discuss more widely their half- formed initial ideas. A brainchild is just that, a child. What newborn child ever made sense? Ideas need nurturing if they are to develop, and what can be better for a developing child than exposure to the wide world and its many horizons. Most modern breakthroughs are the result of teamwork, even when the initial concept was one individual’s brainchild.
In our experience if an idea makes immediate sense it is almost certainly a recycled old idea, mere copying rather than innovation. There’s nothing wrong with copying those who have already achieved what you aspire to, but to progress towards sustainable development - somewhere not yet on any map - we should not be looking for a motorway, a lane, or even a track. We will have to forge new paths through unknown territory. With use, those meandering paths soon become winding lanes. Lanes can be straightened and widened so that others, many others, can follow… but only because pioneers courageously cut those first rough paths, many of them dead ends, until the horizon they sought became visible. NNR management has been, is, and surely must be about vision and visibility. And teamwork.
Fig 7- 18 Left: Locate the secret entrance to Cors Erddreiniog, and a track leads you down to an amazing alkaline fen, rich in wildflowers and teeming with wildlife.
If our NNRs are to be known and appreciated by more people, we do need improved signage. Beautifully illustrated interpretation panels, internet-based interactive learning systems, multi-sensory guidance – all these and more would be largely wasted if they awaited only those who could guess the location of, or stumble across by accident, the hidden entrance to Cors Erddreiniog NNR, for example. Few reserves have ‘brown signs’ on main roads, and because these special places tend to be off the beaten track they are hard to find and unlikely to be discovered by accident. We need to improve signage to those NNRs that have greatest potential for increased visitor numbers consistent with safeguarding their wildlife and ecological features. Come on Visit Wales, Local Authorities, NRW, get on with something that CCW has not yet been able to achieve: make main-road signage of NNRs a reality throughout Wales. It would be a quick win for the new organisation and evidence that our environmental
110 Protected Areas crown jewels are being managed for the people of Wales by a joined-up government.
Fig 7- 19 With Bee Orchids and many other beautiful wildflowers, butterflies, birds and fungi, the dune system at Kenfig NNR provides wonderful displays of Mother Nature’s finery [9]. An average spend of just £5 per NNR visitor would contribute to the local economies around NNRs ten times what Wales invests in managing and maintaining these special sites. Good value!
References 1. Protected Areas are key ‘Hotspots’ to help wildlife adapt to Climate Change 2. http://www.ccw.gov.uk/about-ccw/newsroom/press-releases/protected- areas-are-key.aspx ‘Wildlife Economy Wales’: An Economic Evaluation Scoping Study, Mabis, Final Report May 2007. 3. Bilsborough, S. and Hill, S. 2002. Valuing our Environment: The Economic Impact of the Environment of Wales. Countryside Council for Wales: Bangor 4. Bryan, J., Jones, C., Munday, M. and Roberts, A. (2004) Welsh Input- Output Tables for 2000. Welsh Economy Research Unit: Cardiff 5. The economic impact of Welsh National Nature Reserves, Christie, Mike., In Byron and Sinclair (Eds) Community Development on the North Atlantic Margin. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Co. 2001 6. Wales Visitor Survey Report 2009, Beaufort Research 7. Robertson, J. Natur Cymru No. 45, Winter 2012-13 8. O’Reilly, P. Harnessing the Unicorn. Gower Publishing Co. 1998 9. www.waleswildlife.com
111 A Natural Step?
Chapter 8 - People, Recreation, Access & Education
Helping Civil Society build social capital through countryside enjoyment
I As we have seen, protected areas depend on a wider community, and NNRs in particular can benefit from visitors, as well as contributing to their conservation. In this chapter, Martin Fitton remembers the ferment of policy- making which accompanied the need to satisfy public demand for countryside recreation. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2001 marked a change of direction, with CCW doing much of encourage this change, and to maximise the social benefits of countryside recreation. These include developing a greater pubic understanding of environmental issues, whether through the curriculum, life-long learning, or engagement between land managers and local communities. ~~~ Background We face multiple challenges in sustaining our world, and they will require empathy and understanding of natural processes, the building of resilience and commitment to radical shifts in behaviour, social and economic, in the face of rapid environmental change.
Achieving this is a wide and on-going agenda, but our response to the natural world and our direct experience and enjoyment of it through leisure could provide a small but significant part of the foundation for this change.
The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), in its role for sustaining natural beauty and wildlife and promoting its enjoyment to all, has started to build and bequeaths to it successor organisation, Natural Resources Wales, the basis for the radical changes required.
112 People, Recreation, Access & Education A short history of countryside recreation policy Visiting and enjoying the countryside is probably our most ubiquitous leisure time activity, with all social groups participating at high levels and with large majorities expressing the desire to visit more. Indeed the rapid increase in countryside trip- making in the 1950s and 1960s - one of the benefits of affluence, more free time and access to personal transport - led to a ‘moral panic’ about people ‘flocking by car to the countryside in search of solitude, destroying the very things they seek.’
Fig 8- 1 Ready access to public transport – the Snowdon Railway – has enabled this flock of people to avoid solitude on Snowdon’s summit.
In response to this growth, a series of policy options was explored [1] and implemented for constraining demand by diverting visits to country parks on the periphery of urban settlements which ‘…would reduce the risk that visitors in their cars would spread all over the place to the annoyances of farmers, landowners and residents in the country.’
One Welsh policy maker was quite explicit about the potential benefits of this policy. Referring to ‘English invaders’, he suggested the need for: ‘…a number of Country Parks on the Welsh Border (dare I say analogous to the medieval forts) possibly with a second and even third line of defence providing facilities for those who are satisfied with a car park, a cup of tea and a loo.’ [2].
In the same period Michael Dower was waiting, Canute like, for the ‘Fourth Wave: Leisure’ to overwhelm him and the countryside [3, 4].
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Fig 8- 2 All the essential facilities (and perhaps more than enough signage) guide potential visitors into one of the car parks for hiking up Cadair Idris
This response was understandable given the rapid growth of leisure time in post- war Britain. However, the findings of the first National Survey of Countryside Recreation, undertaken by the Countryside Commission in 1978/79, strongly suggested that countryside visiting (by 80% of the population in the previous year) was reaching a natural peak given the demands of work, other leisure opportunities and the constraints of age and disability. Given this already high level of participation it is not surprising that subsequent recreation surveys show relatively small increases in visits. CCW’s 2008 Welsh Outdoor Recreation Survey showed that 93% of people had visited in the previous year and that there had been some growth in the overall number of trips taken during the year; CCW’s subsequent survey in 2011 showed no significant change in overall participation. This level of growth has been managed largely without detriment to the countryside, in part because growth has been paralleled by a growing professionalism in the provision and management of countryside recreation sites and access routes. The creation of the Countryside Recreation Network aided this process through sharing of good practice between the many bodies involved.
The general public were, of course, largely oblivious to the policy ferment in the rarefied arena of countryside management, and they carried on regardless. This was perhaps a good thing, given the use of terms such as ‘overwhelm’, ‘destroy’, ‘explode’, ‘pressure’, ‘intercept’, ‘filter’, ‘containment’, which made the activity sound like a set-piece battle rather than people seeking to enjoy themselves.
It can be argued that this constraining approach slowed down more appropriate policy development that would have identified and built on the societal benefits of this ubiquitous leisure activity, for it was clear in the first surveys of countryside recreation how important this activity was for all sectors of the community - activity
114 People, Recreation, Access & Education from which we all got considerable enjoyment and which gave at least temporary freedom from the stress and constraints of urban living. In the Countryside Commission’s qualitative research, undertaken as background for the national survey, the use of terms such as ‘freedom’, ‘enjoy the quiet’, ‘relax and get rid of the stresses’, ‘peaceful’, ‘safe’ made use of the word therapeutic appropriate to describe the activity. As a single mother with children said, ‘I think it’s just escaping from the built up area, in the high rise where we live, we are surrounded by blocks of brick. People with no cars or means to get to the country are hemmed, locked into the mean streets.’
And in the same period Marion Shoard talked to school children and found that they, like their parents, were highly articulate in expressing delight in the freedom that their countryside play gave them [5].
Fortunately policies towards countryside recreation have now changed radically, from attempted constraint to promoting countryside access. This shift was highlighted in the Government’s 2000 Rural White Paper, Our countryside: the future [6], which committed Government to addressing access to the countryside:
‘By 2005, we will carry out a full diversity review of how we can encourage more people with disabilities, more people from ethnic minorities, more people from the inner cities, and more young people to visit the countryside and participate in country activities.’
In Wales, CCW has done much to encourage and sustain this change. The importance of countryside recreation is now better recognised and a range of policies has fostered access and enjoyment, aided understanding of our environment and highlighted the health benefits of exposure to the natural world.
Fig 8- 3 Thrift and many other wonderful wildflowers of springtime greet walkers of the Wales Coast Path. This section, part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, is at Ceibwr Bay, 5km south of the Teifi Estuary.
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The Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000, which finally enshrined access to open country after more than a century of campaigning, and opening of the complete Wales Coastal Path under its powers in May 2012, well typify this sea change in public policy. The former, to be effective, required detailed negotiation with landowners and provision of site information to the public; its success also depended on CCW carrying out this necessary work and mapping with great efficiency and considerable community involvement through their Local Access Forums. The completion of the Wales Coastal Path made Wales the only country in the world where every yard of the country’s boundary is accessible. The speed with which CCW, working with partners, opened the route has justifiably earned them many accolades. (As a comparison, one third of the English Coastal Footpath is still to be completed.)
At least one individual, Arry Beresford-Webb, has completed the whole route ‘at a run’ to assess it for CCW. In her day job she is a sports therapist and a health adviser to CCW, a role that emphasises the growing interest in the therapeutic benefits of countryside recreation. This topic has been well researched, notably by Pretty and his colleagues at Essex University [7]. Their research suggests, not surprisingly, that countryside leisure not only improves physical health but also provides mental health benefits by reducing stress and, through this, increasing well being and augmenting social capital - the shared norms and values that promote social cooperation.
These findings led quickly to action. A number of organisations with rural remits, such as the Countryside Agency and Forestry Commission, signed a Health Concordat (2005) committing themselves to work with the Department of Health to capitalise on the health potential of the outdoors and to jointly promote a Walking the way to Health programme. In Wales CCW promoted a similar Walking to Health programme with the British Heart Foundation, which supported 22 local Walking the Way to Health schemes across Wales and which subsequently has been central to all their promotional work. The NHS advises Where to Walk this Summer on its website [8], with a video on the benefit of walking groups and the cheerful suggestion (especially for what sometimes seems a National Illness Service) of Professor Sir Muir Gray, director of the National Campaign for Walking, who says:
‘Walking anywhere is good for your health, but in the countryside the benefits are even greater. Walking is simple, free, and medically by far the best prescription for the 21st century.’
It is now largely accepted that countryside recreation is beneficial. A sizeable part of the countryside is open for access and its use is strongly promoted by a plethora of organisations. Numbers of visitors are high, and in surveys respondents say they would like to do more. Active countryside management is coping with this demand. Participation in countryside recreation is seen in policy terms as having a wide range of potential social, economic and health benefits, and as an effective way of fostering social inclusion.
These benefits are well itemised in a literature-and-project review [9] prepared for the Countryside Agency in 2003 to support the government’s pledge in 2000 to open up the countryside to all.
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Fig 8- 4 Stackpole with Spring Squill, Scilla verna, a serious contender when Pembrokeshire was deciding on its county emblem. Thrift, Armeria maritima, was eventually chosen. Both of these wildflowers are abundant on the Wales Coast Path and certainly not restricted to Pembrokeshire. 117 A Natural Step?
The following list, which draws on an extensive literature, re-emphasises in considerable detail the individual and societal benefits of exposure to the countryside: x Enhanced physical health and general well-being through active recreation and relaxation x Development of social and personal skills x Development of practical skills and an enhanced sense of achievement and purpose x Improved quality of life x Enhanced community development and cohesion x Wider opportunities for education and economic development x Greater appreciation and understanding of the natural environment
This review was of course undertaken to determine how to encourage non- participating groups to enjoy the countryside. As such, the review provides useful guidance. However, it can be argued that countryside recreation provides significant societal benefits, with the potential to provide even more, specifically because the vast majority of the population, in all groups, are already participating at a high level. This might be illustrated from participation levels reported in CCW’s 2011 Wales Outdoor Recreation Survey [10].
Fig 8- 5 Infrastructure improvements such as cycle paths, kissing gates and secure footbridges help provide safe access for outdoors recreation and education while also ensuring that farm stock are not endangered or allowed to stray.
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Fig 8- 6 Wales has so much beautiful landscape, offering opportunities to increase people’s understanding of and sense of belonging in the countryside.
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Any visits Any visits taken in taken in last 4 last 4 weeks weeks Total 93 Car access Gender Yes 93 Male 93 No 88 Female 92 Deprivation Age Bottom 20% (most 88 deprived areas) 16-24 97 Top 10% (least 93 deprived areas) 25-34 96 Communities first Areas 35-54 94 Yes 55-74 92 No 75+ 81 Household income Long-term £15, 599 or less 90 illness/disability Yes 86 £15,600 or more 96 No 95 Qualifications Any 94 None/still in education 85
Table 8-1 (From CCW’s 2011 Wales Outdoor Recreation Survey) Visits taken in last four weeks by demographic group (2011, %) Base: All respondents taking visits in the last 12 months (2011 – 6,034) Overall 93% of people surveyed had made at least one visit to the countryside in the previous four weeks, and even groups that might be expected to participate less because of deprivation - low income, residence in deprived areas, lack of car ownership etc - were only marginally less likely to make visits (90%, 88% and 88% respectively). This similarity in participation levels across social groups has been found in many surveys and suggests that countryside access has, over a long period, been an important need for most people – a need that can be exercised because access to at least near countryside is a ‘free good’.
We are therefore looking at a strongly-desired leisure pursuit that is a common cultural strand for the vast majority of our population. There are minorities who participate less - most notably black and ethnic minority groups and disabled people. (See the Diversity Report. Ibid) There is also evidence from qualitative research that another minority finds the countryside an anathema. The wife of a semi-skilled worker interviewed as part of the Countryside Commission’s research seems to speak for this group:
‘I don’t appreciate the countryside. My memories of Wales are horrible. Nothing but green and valleys, no towns, no people. I have a terrible memory of Wales.’ (Fitton. Ibid. p71)
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Whilst not constraining visits overall, one other factor, does appear to affect the quality and type of experience and may attenuate the large societal benefits claimed for countryside recreation. Qualitative Research suggests that many feel inhibited and insecure in the countryside. They lack confidence, do not feel welcomed, are doubtful about where they can go, fear getting lost, feel vulnerable, and fear for their personal security [11].
Fig 8- 7 Dog and man admiring the view. One third of visitors to the countryside take a dog.
To reduce these tensions visitors tend to visit places that are familiar to them and to avoid new access opportunities. In the Commission’s research the large majority of trips (75%) were taken to sites already well known to the visitor and which had been visited on many occasions. In 1979 half of those interviewed agreed that it was difficult to ‘know where you can stop and walk in the countryside’, and, in the words of a vicar’s wife, ‘I’m forever looking for public footpaths. Even on a footpath if I can’t see a stile at the end of the field I’ll go back.’ (Fitton ibid p.76).
The CCW 2008 and 2011 Surveys reported that the large majority of trips are very short and probably to familiar countryside. In the words of one respondent, ‘If you don’t know an area you don’t know where you can go or what you can do. You have to know an area before you feel it is countryside.’ (Fitton. Ibid p.78)
Probably because of these inhibitions there is evidence that the new access opportunities are not being used. Marion Shoard, who has done much to set the open access agenda, argues that the new CRoW access opportunities are not being used and Walkers are not taking advantage of their new freedom to explore the countryside:
‘People just aren’t wandering around in the countryside, they’re not using their rights as much as they could, if anything they’re wandering less freely than they were.’ [11] .
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Fig 8- 8 Hiking in Snowdonia. Despite the new freedom created by the CRoW Act, few people wander far from the beaten track.
Much can be and is being done to increase people's understanding of and sense of belonging in the countryside. More information through many channels, outreach projects, better site information, better access route maintenance and signing reduce these inhibitions and feelings of insecurity, which otherwise act as emotional and psychological barriers to full participation. The CCW’s invitation on its website provides a good example:
‘Research, explore, discover. The Welsh countryside at your fingertips - use our interactive map and see what's out there!’
Education and Civil Society Communication and extensive and accessible information are a valuable means to encourage use, enjoyment and understanding of the countryside. New provision, well managed sites and continuing promotion of open access will get a positive response from a public that already values the countryside. However, it is probable that we can best and only fully capitalise on the many benefits of countryside recreation if ways are found to link it into community activity through public engagement and via education through the lifelong learning process.
Projects already underway in Wales suggest that increased community involvement in the development and management of local countryside can encourage participation and foster social inclusion. Greater engagement with the public by site providers and managers is likely to increase participation within local communities. The potential for linking this together through focussing on education and community is great.
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There are a number of education initiatives in Wales to promote sustainable development which can both draw on positive public attitudes to the countryside and natural environment and also foster greater understanding of and commitment to the natural world in return. All have parental connections and so are linked into the wider community. There are connections between all of them, and CCW has links to them as does the Forestry Commission and the Environment Agency – the three bodies which will merge to form NRW. However, it could be argued that greater coordination could be achieved between theses various education and community initiatives, and this could be the best way for NRW to strengthen its public engagement strategies.
These initiatives are linked to innovative curriculum developments which have the potential for educating our population to be more creative and more resilient in the face of change. In the short term, justified concerns about the administration of Welsh education and attainment levels may mask the benefits of these innovative approaches to learning. However, sustainable understanding linked to a creative curriculum will be a potent force for change.
The innovative curriculum developments referred to above include: x The Eco Schools Project This project is co-ordinated by Keep Wales Tidy and encourages pupils to engage with environmental and sustainable development issues. This initiative, which is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, (WAG) the Countryside Council for Wales and Waste Awareness Wales, also promotes the environmental management of schools. Over 95% of Welsh schools, both primary and secondary, are registered members of the Eco Schools Project. x Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship ESDGC is an international curriculum component spearheaded by UNESCO. Wales is one of the few countries in the world to have government level commitment to ESDGC. It is strongly promoted to schools by the Welsh Assembly Government who have issued a number of policy and formal advisory notes. It is supported by training and guidance programmes run by the education colleges and local authority education departments. x Forest Schools Wales This curriculum initiative uses woodland as an outdoor classroom which offers a stimulating environment full of sensory diversity and variability. The woodland is not used primarily for nature study (though this benefits) but rather as a robust, resource-rich, sheltered outdoor classroom constantly changing, providing an exciting place to learn. There is often parental involvement in the learning programmes and close links to the local community. This work is supported by the Forestry Commission, which is represented on the management committee. The Forestry Commission and the New Economics Foundation, in a detailed analysis of the approach, concluded: ‘Participants have been shown to benefit in many ways including self confidence & self-esteem, team work, motivation, skills and knowledge, and pride in, and understanding of, their surrounding environment’ [12].
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Fig 8- 9 Forests are not the only places where outdoor education captures young imaginations. Here at RSPB Dolygaer, in the Brecon Beacons National Park, the focus is on learning about small stream bugs and other invertebrates. x The Foundation Phase In Wales the Learning Country (2000), the new Welsh Assembly Government committed itself to a fundamental review of the whole curriculum. This started with the Foundation Stage of education for 3 to 7 year olds. A highly innovative developmental curriculum was designed and subjected to rigorous piloting over four years. As it was brought into full use the Welsh Assembly Government described it as follows:
‘The Foundation Phase places great emphasis on children learning by doing. Young children will be given more opportunities to gain first hand experiences through play and active involvement rather than by completing exercises in books. Children will be given more opportunities to explore the world around them and understand how things work by taking part in practical activities that are relevant to their developmental stage. They are challenged with open- ended questions and given opportunities to explore and share their ideas for solving problems. It encourages children to be creative, imaginative and to have fun and makes learning more enjoyable and more effective.’ [13]
This approach has great potential for educating children to be better able to cope with change; it does so in an innovative way, thus creating the skills need for future members of resilient communities. It also fits well with both ESDGC (and WAG has provided curriculum guidance on use of ESDGC in the Foundation phase) and the problem solving and innovative ethos created by the Forest Schools experience.
124 People, Recreation, Access & Education x Community Focussed Education CFE could provide the glue that might help make best benefit of these sustainable education programmes and the public’s delight in our natural environment. Community Focussed Schools create a learning climate in which children and their families can learn together to improve their life chances. They provide a strong base for a lifelong learning programme, which is becoming the basis for the continuing education that our rapidly changing societies economies and environment require. Community Focussed Education can make a significant contribution to social cohesion, to the development of social capital and to economic regeneration. In Wales CFE is promoted by ContinYou Cymru, part funded by WAG which is committed to CFE being adopted throughout Wales [14].
The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Area Based Curriculum The RSA has piloted curriculum development in Peterborough and Manchester, making use of local context and resources to frame learning with the objectives of increasing children’s understanding of and attachment to the place where they live, and embedding schools more deeply within their communities and localities. The projects suggest [REF] that: x Schools are important democratic spaces in local areas where conversations about educational purpose should be encouraged x The school curriculum could be a resource for a community to effect social change x Schools need to promote cultures of learning in their local areas - to support student learning in school, and lifelong, broadly-based learning for the whole community x Schools will be more resilient institutions if they share a common purpose with the communities they serve
Fig 8- 10 Receiving live Web updates via mobile phone networks, Tablets and Smart Phones help remove the fear barrier to hiking off the ‘beaten track’.
125 A Natural Step? What Next? As CCW passes the baton to Natural Resources Wales it can justifiably claim to have increased public enjoyment and understanding of the Welsh countryside and, with partners, to have made more of it accessible. In doing this CCW has sought to engage the public in its programme and built a strong local structure of advice through the LAFs. This commitment to public engagement has been a significant factor in CCW’s success, for it is clear that the community partnerships, which underpin all its activities, have helped to increase the public’s use and enjoyment of the countryside and so also increase the benefits it generates in terms of fostering social inclusion and building social capital.
Both the Forestry Commission and Environment Agency have similar public engagement strategies, and the newly formed NRW, in inheriting these cultures, has a real opportunity to maximise the social benefits of countryside recreation, quality of life, health, skill development, greater appreciation and understanding of the natural environment, social inclusion and community development. The close partnership that the new body will have with the Local Authorities and the new Local Health Boards should aid this. This will need to be handled with some care, because parts of this agenda - especially those relating to health - could be seen as a nanny state agenda if made too prescriptive.
The larger agenda to use public enjoyment and understanding to generate energy for a more resilient Wales, in which the sustainable development obligation becomes a template for change rather than a pious aspiration, will be more difficult to achieve. However there is considerable energy in the various education initiatives in Wales. That energy might be amplified if the new NRW can play a part in bringing sustainable education together with public enjoyment of the natural world and community engagement in a virtuous circle. Certainly with a Sustainable Development Bill under consideration it would be a worthy objective for NRW.
Fig 8- 11 The ever-changing coastline of Abermenai 126 People, Recreation, Access & Education References 1. Countryside in 1970. Second Conference Proceedings, The Council for Nature, 1966 p.704. 2. Holbourn R R. County Planning Officer. Powys County Council. Memorandum to the Expenditure Committee Sixth Report HMSO 1976 p.332 3. Fitton, M. Countryside Recreation-The Problems of Opportunity. Local Government Studies 1979 4. Shoard, M. Theft of the Countryside. 1980, Chapter 18 5. Shoard, M. Children in the Countryside. The Planner, May 1979 6. Our countryside: the future. Government Rural White Paper, 2000 (p.138) 7. Pretty, Griffin, Peacock, Hine, Sellens and South. A Countryside for Health and Well-Being: The Physical and Mental Health Benefits of Green Exercise. 2005 8. www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Healthyholidays/Pages/Countrywalks.aspx 9. Diversity Review: Options for Implementation. OPENspace, Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot Watt University: 2003 10. Welsh Outdoor Recreation Survey 2011, CCW – http://www.ccgc.gov.uk/enjoying-the-country/welsh-outdoor-recreation- surve.aspx 11. Marion Shoard: Trail Magazine, November 2010 12. O’Brien, E and Murray, R. Forestry School: A marvellous opportunity for children to learn. 2006 Forest Research - www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/SERG_Forest_School_research_summary.pdf/$fil e/SERG_Forest_School_research_summary.pdf 13. Foundation Phase. wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/earlyyearshome/foundation_phase 14. Community Focused Schools, National Assembly for Wales 2003. 15. Thomas, L. Thinking about Area based Curriculum. RSA 2012) SASSS
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Chapter 9 – The Science The development and legacy of CCW's evidence base
All the work of CCW described in previous chapters depends on sound evidence in order that good decisions can be made or advice given about protection and sustainable management of the natural environment. Here David Parker looks at the scientific legacy of CCW, beginning with a definition of what ‘the science’ means. He describes how CCW has generated the evidence base to enable it to fulfil its responsibilities. He defines what ‘the science’ means; it includes surveillance and monitoring, surveys and social science in relation to recreation, environmental interpretation and education. He then details examples of how CCW discovers and records information about the natural environment. This approach has covered geological survey, terrestrial ‘Phase 1’ survey, SSSI surveys, intertidal and sea bed habitat surveys, surveys of species such as the lesser horseshoe bat and so on. A national survey has gathered information on outdoor recreation; and data has been gathered, with the use of satellite imagery where appropriate, to inform environmental issues such as pollution and rising temperatures.
This chapter is dedicated to Dr David Stevens and Dr Mandy McMath, sadly missed former colleagues who made a huge contribution to CCW’s evidence base and to Welsh nature. ~~~ What is CCW’s Science Science and evidence provide the information for CCW to deliver its statutory services, which vary from providing the most cogent advice to a government department to working with a landowner to manage a sensitive habitat or species. This evidence base covers land, freshwater and marine environments, including geology and earth science, landscape, habitats, species, countryside access and recreation, and social science to understand better how people relate to their environment. 128 The Science
The science which operates in CCW is rather special. It is not the kind of popular science represented by the Large Hadron Collider or computer technology. It is evidence-based science which describes the nature conservation resource and Welsh ecosystems and how these can be protected, managed and used by people. This science is delivered through CCW’s specialist scientific staff, whose responsibility is to assimilate current knowledge, to commission technical support projects to plug gaps, and to work in partnership with the academic and third sector community in Wales to build the evidence base to deliver CCW’s responsibilities. Social science is important to guide CCW’s work linking people with their outdoor environment and to deliver environmental interpretation and education responsibilities.
Important, too, is environmental monitoring and surveillance. An understanding of Wales’ environment is highly dependent on long-term monitoring programmes, so that we can look back in time with confidence to study change and provide evidence to predict future change. ‘Collect once and use often’ is an important principle for CCW, given limited resources and the large task to tackle.
What follows is a selective, retrospective account of CCW’s science and evidence base which, at the same time, aims to be forward looking in its scope.
Discovering What is Where CCW has been responsible for inspiring, funding and delivering large programmes of work to discover and record the natural environment of Wales. These have built on what was known before, but these surveys have taken advantage of new technologies to be able to present data in a spatial way, underpinned by more detailed evidence. This Geographical Information System (GIS) approach has transformed the way information about the natural environment is presented. It is also underpinned by new approaches to the collation and presentation of species information, such as the National Biodiversity Network (NBN).
Earth science For a relatively small country such as Wales, the variety of rocks, minerals, landforms and natural processes, collectively known as geodiversity, is outstanding. CCW has a statutory responsibility to Wales’ geological heritage and has delivered this principally through the designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) to cover geological and physiographic features. The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) has critically underpinned all of CCW’s statutory geoconservation work and is a World first. Initiated by the Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) in 1977, the GCR has provided a Great Britain- wide site series, encompassing the most important sites for all aspects of geology and geomorphology. The GCR site selection process was carried out by experts and institutions across the UK. The scientific rationale and justification for the GCR site series is given in the 45-strong GCR volume series commencing with Quaternary of Wales [1].
In addition to the GCR, CCW has undertaken a substantial programme of geological site documentation. For 341 GCR sites, detailed Site Management Reports have been produced. These are effectively the blueprints for protecting, managing and, where appropriate, developing Wales’ GCR sites and geological SSSI. CCW’s evidence has been published in academic journals and in the 129 A Natural Step? geological and landscape conservation magazine, Earth Heritage [2]. CCW also provided key parts of the evidence base for the two UNESCO-approved geoparks in Wales - at Fforest Fawr in the Brecon Beacons and GeoMôn in Anglesey.
Terrestrial habitats CCW has been at the forefront of surveying and defining the habitats and species of Wales. CCW took on the mantle of running the Phase I Habitat Survey of Wales from NCC at its very beginnings in 1991. The upland areas of Wales had been mapped using a broad habitat classification during the period 1979 to 1987, partly to help build the evidence base for the protection of larger areas of upland Wales in response to upland conifer plantation and agricultural improvement schemes. Attention then passed to the lowlands, where major habitat losses, especially to semi-natural grasslands, were taking place against the inability of NCC to be able to quantify both their extent and condition. Selecting sites for protection as SSSI was not possible without the ability to put the resource into context. It quickly became apparent that mapping just grasslands was not efficient, and all habitats were subsequently mapped at 1:10,000 scale across the whole of Wales using the Phase I habitat classification.
Fig 9- 1 Phase 1 habitat surveyors working north of Rhayader in mid Wales: the surveying of grassland requires close attention to detail. Note the mosaic nature of the habitat in this area.
The task was completed during 1997 when, for the first time in the UK, habitat data for the whole country of Wales was made available, initially as colour coded maps and then in 2005 as a digitised dataset combining the uplands and lowlands of Wales. A major product of the survey was the ability to target more detailed survey projects using the NVC at grassland and latterly wetland habitats throughout Wales. Much of this work has been published and a full account of the project was published in a book: Habitats of Wales [3].
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Intertidal habitats CCW completed a world first with its 10 year survey of the intertidal biodiversity of the Welsh coastline. The intertidal biotope mapping survey of the whole of Wales provides information on the distribution and extent of habitats and communities on the shore. This unique record of intertidal wildlife is invaluable to underpin decision making related to strategic planning, casework and the development of local initiatives. It is already proving to be a popular educational resource for explaining to local people and visitors the value of the seashore and the need to manage it in a sustainable way.
The methodology has been published as the Handbook for Marine Intertidal Biotope Mapping Survey [4] which is now the standard used by intertidal surveyors across the UK. The final project report provides comprehensive baseline data for monitoring change or for the identification of locations sensitive to certain anthropogenic impacts. The data also provide information to support intertidal Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), thereby providing a series of intertidal designated sites across Wales. The complete intertidal survey dataset is held in a GIS database which is freely available through the CCW web site.
Marine habitats CCW has carried out pioneering work in the mapping of habitats on the sea bed which has aimed, for the marine environment, to compliment the Phase 1 map of terrestrial habitats. However, to date, fully ground-truthed seabed mapping surveys have only been carried out in a limited number of areas, due in part to the expense of collecting this type of data. In order to address this information gap in the short term, the HABMAP project was set up to develop a GIS-based predictive modelling tool that would enable the distribution of benthic biotopes to be mapped in areas of the southern Irish Sea where survey data are absent. Maps were produced and a confidence assessment method was developed to highlight areas where predicted distributions were likely to be more or less accurate.
Fig 9- 2 The sea offshore from Pen Ll ŷn, in north-west Wales, showing a modelled marine biotope (marine habitat) map for the sea bed of the northern part of the Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau Special Area of Conservation.
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The maps and data produced by the HABMAP project will continue to be a valuable resource for scientists both within and outside CCW, and have fed into many work areas including marine climate change (assessing the vulnerability of marine habitats), casework (offshore renewables and aggregate extraction), Marine Spatial Planning, Fisheries Sensitivity Assessment work and a variety of research projects. The outputs of the project and maps have been published on the CCW website.
Welsh species With the devolution of nature conservation work to CCW in 1991 came the opportunity to develop an expanded Welsh team of species ecologists. This increase was in response to the growing need to service the provision of evidence and advice to a wide audience ranging from internal regional colleagues to local, Welsh and UK Government staff. Whilst contact has been maintained between the country agency ecologists to maintain a consistency of approach and pooling of financial and skill resources, CCW has also developed strong links to our non-statutory partners, partly due to the joint work undertaken to meet the needs of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan for priority species.
Species recording by volunteers working though amateur societies over the last 100 years is a vital part of CCW’s evidence base, with the internet giving unparalleled accessibility to data, including through the NBN and the four Local Records Centres (LRCs) in Wales. CCW has been responsible, working with partners, for the creation of these organisations. Progress has been rapid too in the marine environment, with the development of internet-access data warehouses and the MEDIN network.
Freshwaters The early years of CCW set a course to build up and establish a distinctive and comprehensive programme of freshwater work over two decades. Freshwater habitats and species were brought into the conservation mainstream following the Earth summit in Rio De Janeiro (1992) and the subsequent production of UK Biodiversity Action Plans, and the Habitats Directive (1992). In Wales today, fresh water is a key biodiversity, landscape and recreational resource. More than 75% of Welsh designated conservation sites contain water-dependent features. CCW is responsible for the protection of a series of six large-scale biological rivers SSSIs extending from the headwaters to the sea, often including tributaries, and over 140 lakes. Approx 320 wetland SSSIs depend upon groundwaters, and 35 sites depend upon critical water-level management. Water and aquatic habitats form a key, naturally occurring habitat network. CCW has successfully developed a focus on ecological condition and biodiversity conservation. For example, CCW pioneered the application of paleolimnology to diagnose lake acidification or enrichment, and this approach has been adopted by sister agencies. CCW’s lake dataset, consisting of approximately 100 separate surveys, is a unique regional resource which has helped to characterise regionally distinctive habitats, such as the shallow and nutrient-rich Anglesey Lakes. The ecological description of Pant-y-llyn Turlough (Carmarthenshire) provided the evidence to propose Pant-y-llyn as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the Habitats Directive. CCW has also carried out a comprehensive review of the state of knowledge related to Welsh rivers, which was published as The Rivers of Wales [5].
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The Welsh landscape CCW’s statutory responsibility for advising and caring for the Welsh landscape required the development of a new evidence-based tool, LANDMAP. This is an all-Wales resource where landscape characteristics, qualities and influences are encapsulated, recorded and evaluated. Whether they are ordinary, spectacular, local or nationally recognised landscapes, LANDMAP has always taken the ‘all landscapes matter’ approach of the European Landscape Convention.
In 1991, with the Welsh Local Authorities, CCW brought the concept of a five- layered approach to landscape assessment to fruition, providing a landscape evidence base that considered the visual alongside the geological and cultural landscape. Whilst CCW has taken the lead in developing LANDMAP since its inception, it has been the continuing partnership approach that has been a foundation of strength. CCW’s formation of the LANDMAP Quality Assurance Process resulted in LANDMAP becoming the key landscape baseline endorsed by Planning Policy Wales. In 2004, a dedicated website and interactive on-line map for LANDMAP information increased accessibility to the resource and enhanced its ability to be incorporated in sustainable landscape decision making, with registered users now in the thousands.
CCW celebrated complete LANDMAP coverage across Wales in 2009, moving LANDMAP from a local resource into a seamless national evidence base consisting of over 11,000 surveys in 2012. Furthermore, LANDMAP links to the Regional Landscape Character Areas for Wales and the Wales Seascape Assessment, the three evidence bases offering users different scales of landscape information for effective landscape working. LANDMAP is now completely GIS orientated and uses satellite imagery, aerial photographs and other remote sensing resources to detect and monitor landscape change.
National Ecosystem Assessment CCW played a major role in the production of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment [6]. This was the first analysis of the UK’s natural environment in terms of the benefits it provides to society and continuing economic prosperity. CCW’s technical specialists provided input to the whole programme and, in particular, to the Welsh chapter [7]. CCW’s contribution ranged from descriptions of Welsh ecosystems to providing the first analysis of the ecosystem services which they provide. This thinking was part of CCW’s broader advice to the Welsh Government on the ecosystem approach to managing the Welsh Environment - advice that helped to lead to the creation of Natural Resources Wales and to forthcoming Welsh legislation to enact the sustainable management of the natural environment, both on land and at sea.
Protecting and managing habitats, species and ecosystems CCW’s evidence base has underpinned all of its environmental protection and advisory functions, including planning casework. The following sections illustrate how this has been used in CCW’s operational work by HQ and regional colleagues.
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Science and the designation of SSSIs CCW’s principle statutory mechanism for the protection and management of key habitats and species has been the designation of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Before a site can be notified as an SSSI, CCW must describe the site’s features of special interest, known as designated features. These features can be a special habitat, such as a blanket bog or ancient semi-natural woodland, a rare species, or a geological feature such as an important sequence of fossiliferous rocks. SSSIs and their component features are selected following the Joint Nature Conservation Committee’s Guidelines for the Selection of Biological SSSIs [8]. CCW uses its evidence base and scientific staff to identify the sites and features which meet the thresholds for designation. The scientific content of the papers supporting designation has to be of the highest standard. These standards have stood scrutiny at public inquiry, judicial review and at CCW’s Council, where SSSI confirmations are heard in open session, with those affected able to give evidence. There are just over 1000 SSSIs in Wales, covering 12.1 % of the country.
Science providing the evidence base for European Protected Sites and Ramsar In the terrestrial environment, Habitats and Birds Directives’ sites (SACs and SPAs) and Ramsar, sites of international importance, are underpinned by SSSI designation. During the initial selection process mapped habitat data, primarily Phase I Survey data but where available Phase II Survey data, were used to identify Annex 1 habitat features. Selection of European species features relied on long-term monitoring datasets, species distribution maps and, where available, other spatial data such as studies of foraging patterns and habitat use. These data sources were used to assess sites against a series of criteria agreed at a UK level. Marine SACs and SPAs have also been determined using CCW’s evidence base.
Monitoring is critical to the delivery of the international sites network, and in the early 2000s CCW specialist staff worked in partnership with JNCC and the other country agencies to develop Common Standards Monitoring protocols for species and habitats. The condition of habitat and species features is assessed on a six-year cycle, and the results of habitat monitoring form part of the UK’s statutory European reporting commitment as well as guiding management decisions at a site level.
Science providing the evidence base for species management. Wales benefits from a rich resource of survey and monitoring data, much of it collected by volunteers, and this underpins most of our efforts to conserve species. Through JNCC, CCW is a partner on many of these UK schemes, such as the Breeding Bird Survey and Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, and the resulting data provide essential foundations for much of CCW’s work in species conservation. CCW has commissioned further scientific research (often in partnership with others) to address specific challenges. Examples include partnership with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) to gain a better understanding of the foraging ecology of oystercatchers in order to provide a robust evidence base on the sustainable harvesting of shellfisheries. With Butterfly Conservation and several Local Authorities, the configuration of breeding habitat for the marsh fritillary have been mapped across most of its Welsh range in order to tackle connectivity issues within metapopulations.
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Monitoring of the impacts of the Sea Empress oil spill in 1996 provided invaluable information on the long-term responses of some of our seabird species to such catastrophic events; it also provided the evidence to support classification of the UK’s first marine SPA in Carmarthen Bay. We have also gathered information on the location and quality of particularly important habitat resources for assemblages of species, enabling the identification of priorities for conservation action. Examples include the Welsh Parkland Survey, digitisation of Exposed Riverine Sediments along most of the major rivers in Wales and, on the coast, soft cliff and sand dune habitats.
Climate change CCW was established only three years after the formation of the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) in 1988, at a time when climate change was considered as a potential future risk of limited immediate relevance to environmental management. However, it wasn’t long before the scientific evidence for it becoming an increasingly important risk prompted CCW to become engaged in research with other organisations across Britain and Ireland to evaluate the scale of the threat to wildlife during the 21st Century. The MONARCH project examined a wide range of species, habitats and geological features, culminating in a wide consensus amongst UK conservation bodies of a significant threat. In collaboration with the other Country Agencies, CCW was involved in producing guidelines on biodiversity adaptation as well as presenting projected impacts on biodiversity to strengthen the case for reducing emissions.
Following the publication of the 3rd IPCC Assessment report and the first MONARCH report in 2001, there was significantly more focus within CCW on raising awareness of climate change and its impacts in CCW through staff training and seminars. The creation of Greening reps. across the organisation and establishment of an Environmental Management System to reduce the organisation’s own environmental footprint led to CCW being awarded the highest (Level 5) standard of the Green Dragon scheme and ISO140001 accreditation in 2005. CCW has achieved a 40% reduction in carbon emissions since 2008, acting as an exemplar to others.
Over the past decade CCW has undertaken further research to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on freshwater, marine and terrestrial biodiversity; upon key environmental policies; and on both the rural and tourism economy. Monitoring to assess the impacts of climate change alongside other drivers of change both on sites such the ECN, the Acid Waters Monitoring Network and in the marine environment has become increasingly valuable in illustrating that climate change is happening now. There is already evidence from Wales to support some of the projected distribution changes with, for example, greater horseshoe bats already being recorded in North Wales well beyond their historical range.
Because we recognised the particular role of peat and peat formation in regulating stocks of atmospheric carbon, the role of habitat conservation in delivering a wider suite of ecosystem services was already quite well advanced before wider application of the concept in Wales. CCW has contributed to a range of studies (many of them ongoing) and reviews to quantify how peatland restoration might influence carbon emissions and storage in UK peatlands. 135 A Natural Step? Enhancing habitats and species Using its evidence base, CCW has been responsible for many projects which seek to improve the condition of Welsh habitats and the populations of many of its species, including some of those which have become extinct.
Sand dunes Shifting sand, low fertility, salt spray, drought and floods on dunes create opportunities for a special suite of plants and animals able to contend with this stressful environment. Wales has about 50 dune systems, from Merthyr Mawr to Talacre Warren, with some 6200ha of dune habitat remaining [2]. Some 26 of these areas are now within protected sites, but that accolade does not mean that they are in perfect condition. Indeed, comparison of the present distribution of dune habitat and the underlying sand template reveals that nearly half of this rare feature has been lost; much that remains is in poor condition or threatened.
Dunes illustrate biological and geomorphological functions interacting, and the application of a ‘geo-systems’ approach to dune assessment has led to a paradigm shift in management. Working with coastal sedimentologists and geomorphologists, particularly through a Shoreline Management Plan process, CCW has encouraged an ecological approach to dune management such as pioneering the restoration of livestock grazing to abandoned dunes. The threat of coastal squeeze from rising sea levels has prompted an examination of its implications for dune habitats and an assessment of likely losses as the coast retreats. Meanwhile, the dramatic stabilisation of dunes, e.g. from 70% to 6% open habitats between the 1950s and 1990s at Newborough Warren, threatened the rare flora and fauna of early-stage dune succession such as mobile dunes and embryonic dune slacks [9]. The challenge for Welsh dune conservation is the need to restore mobile processes and early succession zones [10] and more dynamic dune systems able to respond to future changes on the coast.
Grasslands From the beginning of CCW in 1991, the Phase 1 habitat survey ran in tandem with another major project, the Phase 2 Lowland Grassland Survey. Species-rich lowland grasslands had been singled out as a particular priority because so many had been lost to agricultural improvement since the middle part of the twentieth century (as much as 97% by some estimates). The Phase 1 survey lead to the discovery of highly species-rich sites, and these could now be surveyed in detail to find out their true value and, for the best of them, provide site protection. The project was finally completed in 2004, having covered 1070 sites (ranging in size from just 0.1 ha to over 1800 ha), together representing just under 1% of the total land area of Wales.
The lowland grassland dataset, now digitised on a GIS system, comprises one of the largest of its type in Europe. Outputs from the project includes site packs for each of the sites, and comprehensive reports, setting local grassland conservation priorities, for each of twelve survey areas in Wales. The results were published in a book: Grasslands of Wales [11]. The Lowland Grassland Survey data have been used extensively within and outside CCW, for example in setting grassland conservation priorities; in site management, monitoring and casework; and in guiding agri-environment scheme priorities, especially Tir Gofal. The project results helped greatly with the setting of Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) targets and in the selection of grassland SACs in Wales. 136 The Science
Peatlands Wetlands in Wales occur across a wide range of water quality and hydrological conditions, and understanding the way in which water is supplied to wetlands is critical for habitat creation and restoration. Research commissioned in the late 1990s by CCW and its partners, culminated in the production of the wetland framework typology [12]. This framework provided for the first time a detailed conceptual understanding of the principal water-supply mechanisms governing the character and distribution of our semi-natural wetlands. It has revolutionised our understanding of wetland hydroecology and is now applied routinely in habitat restoration schemes and as a powerful tool to aid impact assessment.
Peatland ecosystems are unique amongst terrestrial habitats in laying down as peat a record of the development of the habitat in the form of macro- and micro- fossil remains. The application of palaeoecological techniques to answer conservation questions was a key development in the 1990s. A prime example concerns the discovery that purple moor-grass Molinia domination of great tracts of upland peatland in mid Wales (the so-called Molinia deserts of Elenydd) was of very recent and almost certainly anthropogenic origin [13].
CCW has played an important part in the development of tools to both characterise and mitigate land-management impacts on peatlands and also plan the effective restoration of sites. Many individual items of commissioned research have contributed to this information base over CCW’s 20-year history and this, coupled with the expertise of specialist staff, has enabled the development of a number of key products, including guidance to support impact assessments on wind farm sites [14] and a management handbook for British fens [15].
Sand Lizard and Natterjack Toad reintroductions Prior to CCW’s foundation, sand lizards and natterjack toads had been the subjects of localised ‘re-introduction’ projects over many years, particularly in their southern England heathland sites where habitat change and loss had contributed to wholesale declines. This led the development of a recovery plan, which became a UK Biodiversity Action Plan for sand lizards, with the aim of restoring the species to its former range. This included the dunes of north west Wales, where populations had become extinct during the 1960s due to pressure from habitat loss and disturbance. A site at Morfa Harlech was chosen for the first release in Wales in 1995, and since then the species has been re- established successfully at six sites around the coast. This has been mirrored by a natterjack toad action plan, again based on sound research on determining the precise habitats needs before undertaking translocations of valuable animals. This has been done successfully in north-east Wales.
Fig 9- 3 Sand lizards have been reintroduced successfully to six sites around the coast of Wales. This specimen was seen and photographed at Ynys Las, in Ceredigion.
137 A Natural Step? Countryside access and recreation The recreation and access evidence base has focused on CCW’s objectives to encourage more people to enjoy the outdoors. The work initially concentrated on improving how people access the countryside, but it has broadened to include assessments of the benefits of enjoying the outdoors, for health and well-being, as well as for local economies and local communities.
CCW’s early work focused on informing policy and practice in relation to the adequacy of access provision and associated opportunities. Rights of way in particular were the priority for this work through the 1990s and culminated in the production of the Wales Rights of Way Condition Survey in 2002. Research into definitive maps in 2001 for the successfully delivered Access to Open Country programme informed the priorities for the development of Rights of Way Improvement Plans in Wales and subsequent government funding.
CCW has carried out research into the contribution of recreational activities, such as walking, cycling and horse riding, to the Welsh economy. Studies on the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001 provided a vivid demonstration of the importance of recreational visits to the rural economy. A study on the economic benefits of National Trails in 2006 showed their importance to local businesses in the area.
Fig 9- 4 Gathering evidence. A survey of walkers using Glyndwr’s Way National Trail.
The recognition of the economic benefits that recreational routes can bring reinforced the case for the successful development and opening of the Wales Coast Path in May 2012. Development of the recently launched Come Outside project was underpinned by the body of evidence developed in relation to health and well-being, social deprivation and how physical activity in the outdoors can bring benefits to individuals and communities. 138 The Science
Social science Social science within CCW has a broad remit and includes providing the evidence base on the use of the outdoors, public attitudes to the environment, health and well-being, and behaviour change. This is undertaken through primary research and through systematic reviews of existing research, along with influencing the wider research community through involvement in relevant networks.
The value of evidence produced by CCW lies in its utilisation and impact, and CCW’s evidence has been presented at numerous national and international conferences and used to monitor a number of government strategies across a wide range of topics, from the environment to transport and health.
Over recent years CCW has had a particular focus on understanding and monitoring participation in outdoor recreation, through on-going national survey. This has produced robust evidence on the contribution that the environment makes to human health and well-being. There has been a review of the evidence base on people's attitudes towards 'nature', and CCW has developed and influenced the wider research agenda on the social valuation of cultural ecosystems.
Monitoring and surveillance At intervals throughout its existence, CCW has played a part in wider syntheses of evidence aimed at providing snapshots of the state of the Welsh and UK environments. This has taken various forms, including formal State of the Environment Reports produced jointly with the Environment Agency and Forestry Commission and, more recently, contributions to the indicators to track progress of the Wales Environment Strategy. In partnership with a range of other organisations, CCW played an active part in projects such as Countryside Survey and the Environmental Change Network, which have produced periodic pictures of how elements of the environment are changing. In 2009, Countryside Survey produced its first separate Wales report with support from CCW. CCW’s evidence has also been a part of recent high- profile UK syntheses such as the Charting Progress reports that describe the State of UK Seas.
Remote sensing from air photographs to satellites In the last ten years, remote sensing has grown from an expensive novelty to something in everyday use for studying the landscapes and habitats of Wales. CCW has played a significant role in this process using the ability of CCW staff to combine air photographs and traditional maps with new satellite imagery. The most significant outcome of this work has been CCW’s production of the very first detailed satellite-based habitat map of the whole of Wales, covering 20,000 square kilometres and potentially mapping every substantial patch of habitat which can be distinguished from space, such as small groups of trees, bracken, heathlands and improved grassland. This map has been fused with CCW’s Phase 1 habitat map, and the ultimate objective is a map which can be updated whenever new satellite images are available. Once new satellites are in place, the whole of Wales will be overflown and an image captured every five days, thus enabling the study of ecological and environmental change over the whole country at the same time. 139 A Natural Step?
Environmental Change Network In 1994, CCW in partnership with the Welsh Office became involved with the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN), a multi-partner long-term environmental monitoring programme which collects, analyzes and interprets long-term data from a network of sites. The particular strength of the network is the standardised nature of the measurements undertaken, which minimises between-site methodological differences. CCW chose a location on the slopes of Snowdon, which had been the site of research by the Nature Conservancy Council and Institute of Terrestrial Ecology under the aegis of the International Biological Programme (IBP). Co-funded between CCW and the WO, recording on Snowdon was initiated in 1995.
A large number of standard ECN variables are monitored on Snowdon covering meteorology, soil, water and air chemistry, vegetation, land-use and a range of vertebrates and invertebrates. Additionally, non-standard measurements are taken of snow cover, flowering plant phenology, fungi and arctic-alpine plants which are monitored only on Snowdon. A freshwater ECN site was set up within the Snowdon site in 2007, centred on the Llyn Teyrn catchment, with a further set of ECN variables measured. The site is used regularly by students for research projects, and a CCW-sponsored Ph.D. was completed in 2011 looking at changes over a 40-year period in soils and vegetation using IBP data.
Significant trends since the start of recording on Snowdon include an increase in soil and water pH under reduced deposition of sulphate and sulphur dioxide, falls in the concentrations of Dissolved Organic Carbon, a reduction in spring and annual ozone concentrations, a fall in ground beetle numbers, and a reduction in sheep numbers [16,17]. As Wales's only terrestrial ECN site, the Snowdon site is ideal for investigating ecosystem processes and to assess the extent to which they are changing over time.
Acid waters monitoring network and its use in climate change surveillance In 1988 the UK government established the Acid Waters Monitoring Network (AWMN) to monitor responses to reduction of acidifying emissions of sulphur and nitrogen and to compare responses along a gradient of deposition. The AWMN comprises 22 river and lake sites from around the UK, including two lakes (Llyn Llagi and Llyn Cwm Mynach in Snowdonia) and two streams (Afon Hafren and Afon Gwy on Pumlumon) in Wales.
The AWMN has been important in demonstrating the success of policy developments to reduce acid emissions. Since the late 1990s, there have been small but detectable improvements in water chemistry, notably at Llyn Llagi where several acid sensitive plants have reappeared, and on Afon Gwy where juvenile salmon are now found. In spring 2013, AWMN was rebranded as the Upland Waters Monitoring Network, reflecting a new role designed to track changes in surface water quality and freshwater biodiversity across all upland regions of the UK. This will improve our understanding of the effect of climate change on upland freshwater ecosystems.
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Marine monitoring With its creation in 1991, CCW took responsibility for the monitoring of marine life at Skomer Marine Nature Reserve that had been initiated in the early 1980s and started an annual marine monitoring programme. The team at Skomer pioneered the development of new underwater monitoring techniques and the involvement of volunteers in their work. The underwater and intertidal monitoring projects at Skomer are now some of the longest running in the UK and provide a unique insight into short- and long-term changes in Welsh marine ecosystems as well as human use of the area.
Fig 9- 5 Biotope Richness - a measure of biodiversity in the Welsh intertidal zone through the number of biotopes present at each survey point. Note the particular richness of the Pembrokeshire and Anglesey shorelines.
As a consequence of the designation of marine SACs, CCW established an ‘all Wales’ marine monitoring team. Drawing on lessons learned within Skomer MNR, this small in-house team initially focussed on further developing and adapting marine monitoring techniques. Work areas quickly diversified, including a wide range of underwater and intertidal habitats, saline lagoons and marine mammals such as grey seals and bottlenose dolphins. There were new challenges too, such as monitoring underwater sea caves and the common scoter duck, and these resulted in the development of new skills, such as cave diving and aerial surveys. Findings from the marine monitoring programme have also contributed to other areas of CCW work, such as biodiversity action planning and marine planning casework. New information has been gathered and discoveries made, including an uncharted horse mussel reef off the Lleyn Peninsula.
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Species monitoring CCW has undertaken and supported a great deal of species monitoring, especially those species which have statutory protection. An example is Wales’ internationally important population of lesser horseshoe bats. A planning application submitted in 1993 highlighted the need for standardised information in order to defend important sites and to monitor the species population. A programme of standardised roost counts was initiated in 1993, and the methodology was adopted by the National Bat Monitoring Programme in 1996. Since then, the colony count scheme has been rolled out to the rest of the UK and provides the basis for an annual assessment of population trends for a further five bat species, and it has also been used since 2008 by JNCC as part of the UK Biodiversity Indicators. The good news is that the population of lesser horseshoe bats has been shown to have increased by 4.4% per annum between 1997 and 2011.
The future Over its 22-year history, CCW has developed a complex, extensive and accessible evidence base to support its functions. This legacy to the natural environment and people of Wales now passes to Natural Resources Wales, where it must be nurtured and grown to meet the needs of an organisation challenged to deliver the management of the Welsh environment through the ecosystem approach.
Acknowledgements The author acknowledges, with thanks, contributions from Dr David Allen, Paul Brazier, Alan Brown, Jont Bulbeck, Jill Bullen, Stewart Campbell, Dr Catherine Duigan, Adrian Fowles, Dr Tristan Hatton-Ellis, Dr Liz Howe, Dr Peter Jones, Jean Matthews, John Ratcliffe, Raymond Roberts, Dr Karen Robinson, Carole Rothwell, Jan Sherry, Dr Malcolm Smith, Stuart Smith, Alex Turner, Dr Clive Walmsley, Dr Sian Whitehead and Sue Williams.
Fig 9- 6 Location of the Snowdon ECN site, with Llyn Llydaw in the foreground and the peak of Snowdon on the distant skyline, showing typical upland habitats in the Eryri Special Area of Conservation. 142 The Science References 1. Campbell, S. and Bowen, D.Q. (1989). Quaternary of Wales. Geological Conservation Review Series, No. 2, Nature Conservancy Council, Peterborough, 237pp. 2. Campbell, S. and Roberts, R. (2013). What has Countryside Council for Wales done for Geoconservation? Earth Heritage, 39, 18-24. 3. Blackstock, T.H., Howe, E.A., Stevens, J.P., Burrows. C.R. and Jones, P.S. (2010). Habitats of Wales: A Comprehensive Field Survey, 1979- 1997. University of Wales Press, Cardiff. 4. Wyn, G., Brazier, P., Birch, K., Bunker, A., Cooke, A., Jones, M., Lough, N., McMath, A. and Roberts, S. (2006). Handbook for marine intertidal Phase 1 biotope mapping survey. Countryside Council for Wales, Bangor. 5. Dudley Williams, D. and Duigan, C.A. (2009). The Rivers of Wales. A Natural Resource of International and Historical Significance. Margnof, 334pp. 6. UNEP-WCMC. (2011). The UK National Ecosystem Assessment Technical Report. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge. 7. Russell, S. (2011). Status and changes in the UK’s ecosystems and their services to society : Wales. In: The UK National Ecosystem Assessment Technical Report. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge. 8. JNCC. (1989). Guidelines for the Selection of Biological SSSIs. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough. 9. Howe, M., Litt, E. and Pye, K. (2012). Rejuvenating Welsh Dunes. British Wildlife, 24: 85-94. 10. Pye, K. and Blott, S.J. (2012). A geomorphological survey of Welsh systems to determine the best methods of dune rejuvenation. CCW Contract Science 1002. Countryside Council for Wales. 11. Stevens, D.P., Smith, S.L.N, Blackstock, T.H., Bosanquet, S.D.S and Stevens, J.P. (2010). Grasslands of Wales: A survey of species-rich grasslands, 1987-2004. University of Wales Press, Cardiff. 12. Wheeler, B.D, Shaw S.C., and Tanner K. (2009). A Wetland Framework for Impact Assessment at Statutory Sites in England and Wales. Environment Agency Science Report SC030232/SR1. 748 pp. 13. Chambers, F.M., Mauquoy, D., Cloutman, E.W., Daniell, J.R.G. and Jones, P.S. (2007). Recent vegetation history of Drygarn Fawr (Elenydd SSSI), Cambrian Mountains, Wales: implications for conservation management of degraded blanket mires. Biodiversity and Conservation, 16: 2821-2846. 14. Countryside Council for Wales (2010). Assessing the impact of windfarm developments on peatlands in Wales. CCW Guidance Note. CCW, Bangor. 15. McBride, A., Diack, I., Hamill, B., Jones, P., Schutten, J., Skinner, A. and Street M., (2011). The Fen Management Handbook. Scottish Natural Heritage, Perth. 16. Brooks, D.R., Bater, J.E., Clark, S.J., Monteith, D.T., Andrews, C., Corbett, S.J., Beaumont, D.A. and Chapman, J.W. (2012). Large carabid beetle declines in a United Kingdom monitoring network increases evidence for a widespread loss of biodiversity. Journal of Applied Ecology, 49, 1009- 1019. 17. Turner, A.J., Bowmaker, V. and Lloyd, D.S. (2012) Environmental Change Network Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon ECN Site. Progress report to the Welsh Government for financial year 2011/2012. CCW Staff Science Report Number 12/02/1. 143 A Natural Step?
Chapter 10 – Passing the Baton CCW’s legacy and aspirations for Natural Resources Wales
This book began with the place of an environmental body like CCW within society, followed by accounts of its history, work at land and sea, some big challenges, protected areas, countryside enjoyment and science. Here Morgan Parry draws the story to a close by returning to the theme of the changing relationship between society and environment and the emergence of sustainable development as the key to managing that relationship better. He argues that the time is right for the creation of a new organisation, Natural Resources Wales. NRW will serve the whole of Wales, ensuring the efficient and wise use of natural resources, with an underpinning sustainable development ethic, and remit covering the non-material value of nature. Success may depend on maintaining strong environmental protection measures, continued close relationships with NGOs and listening to communities. It is now over to NRW to fulfil its positive environmental agenda. ~~~ Civilised values Our relationship with nature has been debated since the emergence of civilisation, from the Greek philosophers, through the development of the great religions, the enlightenment and the industrial revolution, to the present day. Do we still have an ecological interdependency with the rest of the biosphere, or have we transcended nature and incorporated it into our technosphere? Does nature have intrinsic value that must be preserved, or is it a resource for us to exploit? Despite our urbanised and computerised lifestyles, our aspirations to transcend our biological limitations, we still exist in real rather than virtual landscapes, and we have an inherent recognition of beauty and appreciation of the sublime that we can choose to nurture.
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Over our 20-year lifetime the Countryside Council for Wales has played a key role at this interface between the human society of Wales and its natural environment. We have adapted our approach - both to the work that we do and to the way that we manage our assets - as society has changed around us. We have achieved many successful outcomes, devised many innovative solutions and, with our partners, carried much of our natural capital over the threshold of a new century. Wildlife and landscape assets have responded well to CCW’s management and the legal protections afforded them, and the natural resources we inherited on our founding in 1990 will be handed over in reasonable shape to the new body, Natural Resources Wales (NRW).
Why change? It could be argued that the way we manage nature doesn’t need to change that much. We still need science to help us understand nature better. We need to continue protecting the best of what remains in a near-natural state, and to provide opportunities and encouragement for people to understand and enjoy it, while working with others to take wise decisions to conserve it. In a world of relentless movement and change, the work we’ve been doing in CCW offers continuity into the future.
Fig 10- 1 There is much to cherish in the wildlife and landscape assets of Wales, but with the storm clouds of Climate Change hanging over us, we must now rise to the inescapable challenge of living within a one planet resource budget.
But something profound changed just before CCW came into existence, something that we've tried to adapt to but which in reality requires a paradigm shift in our thinking rather than an adjustment. That change concerns resources and our use of them, which is why our move from Countryside Council into Natural Resources could be very meaningful. Around 40 years ago, our global society began to use some key resources at a faster rate than the planet’s 145 A Natural Step? ecosystems could replenish them, and this has resulted in climate change and biodiversity extinctions. Whereas change up to that point had been local and gradual (and resulted in some extinctions and atmospheric pollution), from the 1970s onwards this became a global phenomenon across a range of resource types and with accelerating trends. We cannot adapt to these trends; we must reverse them.
Fig 10- 2 Waste really is a waste, and nature’s stocks of many of the natural resources that have hitherto been treated as boundless are now running low. Litter is not an inevitable consequence of economic poverty but part of its cause.
Scientists have recognised that action is needed, even if the economics profession is slow to do so. The traditional economists’ viewpoint, that natural capital could be converted indefinitely to industrial and financial capital and that markets could be relied upon to moderate supply and demand, had (until the 1970s) some evidence to back it up. Now, because of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that stance is as redundant an idea as creationism. The requirement for governments to intervene is now accepted, although they are under continuing pressure from business interests not to do so.
The Welsh Government was amongst the first to recognise that, if everyone consumed natural resources as we do, we would soon need three planets to support us. That’s by far the most important challenge facing Wales, and it puts the new environment body Natural Resources Wales at centre stage. We must find a way to live within Earth’s natural capacity while still enjoying a high quality of life. At a time when many countries across the world are trying to develop more resilient economies, sustainable development is becoming the central organising principle of our Government here in Wales - a real leadership opportunity.
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What is a resilient economy? It's one that doesn’t irretrievably deplete its asset base, either financial, human, manufactured or natural. It is up to others to secure our manufacturing, financial and human capital assets, but NRW has a lead role in securing the natural capital within our borders and, with partners, to manage our resources for the benefit of everyone.
To date, CCW's influence has been relatively small and we have had few tools at our disposal. Joining forces with Environment Agency Wales and Forestry Commission Wales gives us greater impact and extended reach, and we will be able to play our part with greater effectiveness. But to reverse the negative trends we will also need resolute Government action as well as a significant shift in societal attitudes.
What’s in the name? Gareth Wyn Jones describes how 20 years ago we inherited the first part of our name from the Countryside Commission, a body with its roots in the National Parks but with a remit to nurture the special characteristics of rural areas. We were tasked with continuing this work, enabling the urban population to understand and enjoy the countryside, but also protecting nature from the worst excesses of visitor pressure. With the recognition of the interconnectedness of town and country, a Wales-wide remit emerged for CCW in education and engagement without regard to rurality.
By 1995 the environment had become a major societal concern, and the Environment Agency reflected that in its name and in a remit that more completely transcended the boundary between the urban and the rural. Its legal basis was in European and UK laws still strongly orientated around protection - of the environment from industrial activity, and of people from natural hazards. The role was one of state intervention, where businesses needed regulating because the environment was being treated as if it was outside the economic realm.
Fig 10- 3 Port Talbot, 1994. Minimising ‘waste’ that once caused pollution is not only sound economic sense but also essential if we are to keep our consumption of natural resources within sustainable limits.
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The word ‘countryside’ has since become unfashionable, although the Welsh equivalent ‘cefn gwlad’ still has resonance and implies traditional ways of life. For some people the defence of rural interests is based on a rejection of urban values and of governments that give priority to town and city dwellers. But from some forestry and rural businesses comes the plea to put economic interests first, to stimulate job-creation and exploit natural assets rather than to preserve the environment. Indeed, in this age of austerity the environment itself is once again being left out of discussions about economic growth.
This very utilitarian approach goes to the heart of the philosophical debate about our relationship with nature. Over the last 20 years, though, we have learned that natural systems and assets are the basis of our economic prosperity in town and country. The wisest of business leaders recognise that national parks, AONBs and wildlife conservation are central to our vibrant tourism economy and our high quality of life. Conservation is a good way of keeping jobs and wealth in rural areas, but we can adopt innovative technologies and integrated land use strategies to create new markets and resource-efficient products that benefit everyone in Wales, and that requires a lot more than conservation. Our new name therefore holds within it the expectation that we serve the whole of Wales, both urban and rural.
From countryside conservation to resource management Our current economic model resembles a giant computer game in which the aim is to exploit our resources as fast as possible to gain advantage over our unseen competitors. Increasing our consumption of natural resources as a stimulus for economic development would be a rational strategy if those resources were infinite and free of charge: we manipulate prices to our advantage, and negotiate influence to secure availability. But unlike a computer simulation of reality, we can’t reload the game or re-set the date. We have only one planet, and we pass this way only once.
The challenge of sustainable development is to use our natural resources more efficiently whilst improving the benefits accruing to everyone. Sustainable development is a global response to measurably unsustainable trends - in biodiversity loss, in inequality of access to resources, and in poverty in the developing world. Development is sustainable only if it reverses these trends, and this has to be a co-operative effort: we can’t put our own economic interests first, although we also stand to benefit. There is an ethical dimension to SD: taking responsibility for our own actions and our moral obligation to others. This philosophy has been set out in successive SD Schemes, the most recent being the iconically named ‘One Wales: One Planet’.
A recognition that natural resources are economic as well as environmental assets offers the possibility of a proper dialogue between economists and environmentalists. The EU is strongly promoting resource efficiency, whereby companies that adopt resource-efficient processes will be at a competitive advantage. Clearly pro-business, this approach is rising rapidly up the agenda, with environmental goods and services industries forecast to grow by 5.5% per year by 2015. Valuing our environmental assets and managing them wisely can only encourage responsible businesses to thrive. So, optimising use of our indigenous resources over the long term becomes the central issue, and with it
148 Passing the Baton comes an element of conservation - and in some cases restoration - where historic trends have reduced resource availability. What a challenge for Natural Resources Wales!
Unfortunately for Wales, our influence over our natural resources is limited, since most decisions on how they are exploited or conserved are taken in the City of London and elsewhere in the global marketplace. Sustainable development is rarely if ever a consideration for company shareholders, investment bankers or commodity speculators. But it is a consideration for the Welsh Government, in making it a central organising principle, and the new challenge for NRW will be to help the Government build prosperity by sustainably using our indigenous resources and retaining the economic value of those resources in Wales.
As well as the duty to manage our own resources, NRW could have an oversight and advisory role on global resource trends. Most of our natural resources come from overseas, and how we use those resources to feed our economy is a matter for wider Welsh society, but NRW's scientific expertise is available to inform those decisions. Before too long, we may not be able to rely on others to provide this information.
Not everything is a resource NRW must also maintain a clear remit to manage those qualities and components of our environment that cannot and should not be thought of as resources in the economic sense - beauty, inspirational landscapes, dark skies, quietness. This is the language that ordinary people use to describe how they feel about the world around them, and we must use it also if we are to engage with communities and win support for the work we do. We also have an altruistic moral responsibility towards other species - an established philosophical principle at the heart of our values as a civilised society. Nature doesn't have to enter the human economy - surely a prerequisite for calling something a resource - to be worthy of our protection and conservation.
No privatisation in Wales The Welsh Government, rightly in my view, criticises the UK Government for the ‘privatisation by stealth’ of health, education and local government. But the privatisation of natural resources through de-regulation of industry and bypassing of environmental directives is an equally serious threat. If it is legal and profitable to do so, most corporations will turn a blind eye to the collateral damage their operations cause to the landscapes and ecosystems they operate in.
Look at RWE npower and their new gas-fired power station near Pembroke. The company operates profitable stations in England, the Netherlands and Germany with state-of-the-art cooling systems that make good use of waste heat. But at Pembroke, against CCW's advice, they got permission to build their power station the old-fashioned way dumping its waste products in the local environment. They did it because the Government let them get away with it. It was against the Government’s own policies of protecting sites of international importance, it undermines the government’s own targets to stop loss of biodiversity, and it was against European law. The pollution also imposes a serious economic cost on other businesses in the area. It must never happen again.
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Fig 10- 4 Pembroke Power Station during construction, January 2011. Picture courtesy of James Wright/Wikipedia
There is ample evidence of economic, social and environmental problems arising from weak or ineffective regulation. The costs to society of cleaning up after pollution incidents, fitting expensive ‘end-of-pipe’ remediation to badly designed installations, and dealing with the continuing problems of flooding, degraded water quality and land contamination as a result of development being allowed in the wrong location are well documented. Short-term economic gains made through weak regulation do not outweigh the long-term value to society of healthy and resilient ecosystems. The cost is always borne by somebody else: other businesses, or communities that can’t defend themselves from the pollution or waste.
Working with business Change the rules of the game. Make it illegal and expensive to pollute and waste, and developers will adapt their business models and devise more efficient ways of doing things. Most business leaders now accept this, and they are the kinds of business leaders we need to attract to Wales. Compared to a dozen other behavioural drivers, including cost savings, reputation and competition, regulatory compliance is viewed by 85 per cent of business executives as the most influential. More than 50% of executives believe it is ‘very influential’. Changing the rules means making sure that the true cost of using resources - particularly energy - is properly reflected in business decisions, and that the use of resources reflects the public interest as well as the private.
We need a new language when talking with business about resources, about the challenges of reduced waste, efficient use and finite supply, and about the proper role of regulation. The way the Single Body engages with the private sector will be critically important to its success and to the achievement of its objectives. It would be good if regulated businesses could also become partners in achieving the wider goals of environmental protection, sustainable resource management and biodiversity conservation, as well as following the road of legal compliance. 150 Passing the Baton
Fortunately, many business leaders in Wales are supportive. Some leading companies now have far-sighted policies for achieving sustainable resource use and environmental protection, and have adopted strategies for urgently adapting their businesses to the reality of a resource-constrained world; we should learn from their experiences. Not one single respondent to the Welsh Government’s consultation on Living Wales argued for a weakening of environmental protection measures or suggested that wildlife law should be undermined. EAW and FCW have well-established relationships with key industries, as CCW does with agriculture and tourism, and the links must be strengthened.
Working with others The third sector, so eloquently eulogised in Alan’s chapter, will also hold the new body to account, as they have CCW down the years. Campaigning and land-owning charities have played a leading role in scrutinising Governments and their agencies, proposing solutions, drafting legislation, and challenging decisions in the courts. It is difficult to think of any major step forward in environmental protection and conservation that didn’t result from pressure from non-governmental organisations. This can sometimes be inconvenient for the agency and embarrassing for the Government, but it is essential for the development of good public policy.
Fig 10- 5 The Walled Garden at Stackpole. Via the CCW-led Communities and Nature Programme, a new Visitor Shop and Café with improved access and parking will enable Mencap to increase visitor numbers. This will help fund yet more work experience and horticultural training opportunities for Pembrokeshire adults and young people with learning disabilities.
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CCW built a very constructive relationship with many environmental organisations, entering into compacts and partnerships to achieve shared objectives. Funding enabled local projects to flourish and expertise enabled community action. In return CCW got knowledge and views to inform its work, and biological records to improve its science.
Is this dynamic changing in the age of social media and instant information? Gone are the days when a government agency was considered to be the definitive source of knowledge: communities of interest are now adept at challenging officialdom and marshalling scientific and legal opinion behind their cause. Social media and internet communication offer unlimited opportunities for participation and make it more difficult for Government and its agencies to operate in secrecy, ignore opposition, blur conflicting views or defer difficult decisions. We face some tough choices on environmental policy in the years to come, and the best service NRW can provide to Government is independent advice based on robust evidence that invites the respect and co-operation of communities and stakeholders most of the time, and allows Government to take timely decisions. I think CCW can claim to have reached this point as it hands over its legacy to the new body.
Learning by listening and doing And we should be a learning organisation. The interaction of people and place - bro a chynefin - is embedded in our culture and history, in both urban and rural communities, and NRW must understand and cherish the distinctive characteristics of Wales and its people. We need to work with communities to set a long-term direction of travel and build a shared vision for the future of our natural environment. The quality of life of the people of Wales will be affected by the changes that are underway - climate change, globalisation and resource depletion - and these challenges can't be met in a top-down, technocratic way by the regulation of industry and the application of policy alone.
It has been CCW’s view that individuals and communities have a tremendous interest and stake in the quality of their environment, and that many of the challenges will not be overcome without the active participation of these stakeholders. Engagement is not a marketing exercise to sell a decision or a Government policy to a reluctant public. Investing in it should not be seen as the unavoidable price to pay for minimising public objections. Engagement is essential for achieving environmental outcomes and pro-environment behaviours, and CCW has developed many programmes and projects in partnership with communities and interest groups which do this at the same time as improving people’s quality of life. What a body of expertise for NRW to build on!
The role of science, informing evidence As devolution within the UK proceeds and Wales increasingly, if tentatively, takes more control over its own destiny, the Welsh Government needs direct access to data and evidence at a scale relevant to its own decision making. We can no longer rely on agencies in England to service our information requirements or provide us with expertise. NRW needs to step up its capacity to collect, update, interpret and communicate information about natural resources to decision makers and the public, but more than that it must collaborate across borders with academic institutions, NGOs and international bodies, so that it becomes a learning organisation and not just a library of knowledge.
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Fig 10- 6 Using experimental powers granted to it in legislation, CCW has pioneered remote sensing as a means of increasing the extent and accuracy of our knowledge of the state of the environment in Wales. Fields, woods, stands of heathland etc can be detected on air photos then automatically drawn and classified into habitats using the seasonal appearance of the vegetation seen from space. (This map of the Bethesda area was produced by Dr Johanna Breyer at Environment Systems Ltd.) Carry on, NRW.
More than ever before, we have the tools to update regularly our knowledge of the state of our environment - air and water quality, carbon and nitrogen balance, biodiversity - and to draw the attention of policy makers and the public to negative trends and to positive opportunities. CCW passes on valuable experience in remote sensing and in communication. Another application is modelling: what is the likely impact of any intervention, and how does it compare with other possible interventions? As we move up to an ecosystem level of management, we need to understand the scale of investment required and the possible benefits, as well as the implications of letting go some of our more traditional ways of thinking and working. An innovative approach to resource management might require novel applications of science and technology in the fields of ecological, genetic and biotechnological engineering, involving partnerships with academia and opportunities for business. Can we achieve Factor 10 efficiencies of resource use by pioneering new land-use systems that also enhance wildlife and landscapes?
Understanding landscapes Development doesn't have to be at the expense of the natural world. There is a myth that CCW was the body that liked to say ‘no’, and that we prevented development in the countryside. This was a very convenient falsehood for some people to perpetuate, as the battle lines of the new body were drawn. Of course, we examined development proposals for damaging impacts and advised accordingly, as the public expected and the law required us to do. But we were
153 A Natural Step? also sensitive to the aspirations of business and the views of communities and helped them find solutions. When we consulted well with local communities, we won considerable support for our landscape and wildlife conservation measures.
Fig 10- 7 A high-quality natural environment supports low-impact, high-benefit tourism not merely in the summer months but throughout the year.
We could demonstrate that our most valuable industry, tourism, depended on the quality of our finest landscapes - probably our biggest economic asset as a nation. People treasure their local landscapes and are more likely to engage in civic activity around this aspect of their lives than almost any other issue. Landscape is the stage on which we act out our daily lives, and as a conceptual framework it has increasing European and global resonance for the way the ecosystem approach is achieved. But landscapes do change.
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I don’t share John Taylor’s bleak pessimism about renewable energy (set out in Chapter 6) nor his cynicism about the government motives for wind farms (‘misguided enthusiasm’) or his doubts about climate science (‘less certain’ John? I don’t think so). Unlike barrages, wind farms don’t disrupt significantly the functioning of ecosystems and so can have some claim to be a more sustainable form of energy production. But I do think that many more people would be willing to see their landscapes changing if we were also making more effort to reduce our wasteful use of energy. In demanding cheap and limitless energy we, as consumers, are but players in an economy of fools. We should not condemn the Welsh Government for setting a clear target, even if renewables are only part of the answer. Fig 10- 8
Public opinion is in favour of wind power, but not on scenic wild land, according to a recent poll from YouGov. Despite the controversies, I think we have got this very difficult balance about right.
Saying yes So NRW needs to be up for the challenge of saying yes to better ways of doing things. Yes to developments that allow us to reduce our carbon emissions by 10% per annum, as our fair contribution to the biggest challenge facing the planet - climate change. We’re nowhere near achieving that target, but NRW could make a difference. Yes to expanding our woodland cover by 100,000 hectares over 15 years on low-grade agricultural land or upland habitats of low biodiversity value, and adding value to timber products. Yes to building resilient new public transport infrastructures around our urban areas and regenerating town centres to be convivial living spaces. Yes to multifunctional and intensive use of offshore areas for wind, wave and tide generation, and for mariculture.
Agriculture will change, and NRW's advice will help direct that process in Wales. But, at the time of writing, CAP reform and debates about European budgets make it impossible to plot a trajectory for agri-environment schemes. Gareth Wyn Jones describes the early years and makes the case for the continuation of a whole-farm scheme. But what if the funding available to farming is severely reduced? Should we allow agriculture to become more commercial and focus exclusively on food production without subsidies? We would lose much of what we’ve won through successive agri-environment schemes in the lowlands, but we might see biodiversity gains in the uplands as stock numbers reduce. Some environmental gains could be achieved by intensifying livestock production and capturing methane emissions for horticultural production, but there would be significant landscape changes. Or should agri-environment schemes become rural sustainability schemes alongside Rural Development grants, supporting rural farming communities through social payments?
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A new purpose It is clear that something more than a defensive agenda is required. We cannot build a new organisation just around the protection of the countryside or the preservation of the environment, even though strong elements of both will still be required. The challenge of climate change requires us not only to protect ourselves from extreme weather events and sea-level rise but also to stop polluting the atmosphere. We haven’t stopped biodiversity loss by designating sites and species; we’ll need to rethink the way we exploit our land and sea. We won’t resolve global resource shortages by protectionist economic measures either; we will have to learn to use those resources more efficiently and co- operate with our neighbours. And we won’t defend country ways of life just by restricting development; we will need to make rural assets and lifestyles economically attractive.
New purposes will be defined for protected areas. We cannot any longer arrest natural succession at some plagio-climax purely on the basis of historic preferences. We must allow climatic change and new species to set a new balance, with a focus on the resilience of the whole ecosystem rather than the scientific interest of part of it. What would be the biodiversity profit and loss account of this approach? Let’s look for ways of expanding woodland cover, either through planting or by allowing semi-natural woodland to spread. Let’s work with forestry colleagues to find new products and markets from our forests and from the trees we grow in them.
Relationships beyond Wales We're not going to do this all on our own. We can learn from others and play our part in international efforts. We need to invest more time and effort in ensuring the interests of Wales are properly represented at the UK level, and contribute directly to international discussions on climate change, biodiversity, forest health, regulation of industry and a host other matters. It may be some time before can afford to have expertise in everything, so we’ll need to share resources with our sister organisations in the UK.
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) has been a valuable platform for discussion of nature conservation matters, pooling resources and co- operating on an equal footing with our peers in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. It would be a good model for working on those issues that EA and FC bring into the new organisation, and for co-ordinating evidence gathering in relation to UK, European and international processes such as agri-environment schemes under the Common Agricultural Policy.
We’ve got a lot to learn from the rest of the UK - from Scotland on its experience of a Land-Use Strategy, and from England on the legacy of the Lawton Report such as Nature Improvement Areas. As we develop our ecosystem approach, we should continue our commitment to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment. We need to step up to global challenges set by the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and the revised EU Biodiversity Strategy and targets.
The UK Government wants to weaken its ties with the European Union, but I think the people of Wales have a very different view of our place in the world.
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The European context is hugely important to the work of the New Body, and its laws and directives will inform NRW’s priorities. Sustainable development demands co-operation and interconnectedness, not competition and isolation. But as long as the UK Government is the EU Member State body and the signatory to international treaties, there remains a need for federal institutions where the views of the four countries of the UK are discussed and agreed. The scientific and advisory bodies of the UK, such as NRW, need similar fora for learning and sharing at the UK and European levels.
All at sea JNCC is the place that much of our marine work comes together with that in the rest of the UK. The political boundaries are of less significance where mobile species, diffuse pollution and energy infrastructures are in question. Offshore, beyond 12 nautical miles, JNCC carries out licensing and biodiversity functions on our behalf, interpreting UK law and EU directives. There is, at a UK level, uncertainty as to who will carry out this work in future, with reviews of the agencies being carried out by Government as this book goes to print.
There’s uncertainty here in Wales, too. Successive Welsh Governments have been uncomfortable with their role in the marine environment, perhaps thinking that it is somebody else’s responsibility. We take comfort from the lack of evidence of changes on a day-to-day basis. But the 40% of Wales that is blue on the map is an important economic and environmental resource, and it needs significantly more funding and attention than it currently gets. The ecosystem approach started out as a concept for the management of marine fisheries, and there is a solid body of evidence for how that concept could be applied in the marine environment. The challenge of reducing the pressure on fish stocks, by a combination of protected areas, sustainable exploitation and consumer engagement, is perhaps the best example there is of the ecosystem approach delivering economic and social benefits.
The marine environment will be a major component of the work of the new body - greater than the sum of the work of the three legacy bodies with the addition of the marine licensing function. We need to learn more about our marine environment and to bring users and regulators together to agree a way forward. We are committed to marine planning and a maritime strategy through EU directives, but we haven’t grasped the significance of this yet, and nobody’s going to do the work for us. To use a maritime analogy, we have built the ship, and it is sitting in the port. We know how to draw a map, but we haven’t done so yet. There is no wind in our sails, no fuel in the tank, and we haven’t recruited enough crew. We have yet to embark on the voyage.
The public are with us At sea as on land, it is a question of forging a new relationship with our environment. Frequent contact with nature changes people’s attitudes and values towards the environment. It is well known in childhood, but it’s also true for grown- ups. We can frighten ourselves with the statistics of biodiversity loss and climatic change, but we are much more likely to be motivated to behave differently if we see and feel the beauty of nature at first hand. We need Natural Resources Wales to continue the gentle but persuasive education and interpretation work that CCW’s staff have been doing in the field and in communities.
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The legacy of CCW’s work can be seen all over the Welsh landscape, from the footpath around the coast, the species brought back from the brink, the well- managed ‘jewels in the crown’ which are our national nature reserves. Our posters adorn the bedroom walls of children around the country, and our advice and expertise is appreciated by partners in every sector. The Coast Path is a triumph of public-private partnership, with huge support for it in Wales and admiration worldwide. So it is disappointing that a few wealthy landowners are still treating their bit of the coast as if it were their exclusive private property, and preventing completion of the path. Let’s hope that politicians will be courageous enough to bring this remnant of feudal arrogance to an end in 2013.
Attitudes towards the environment have changed during the past decades, but support for positive action remains high. A survey for DEFRA in 2011 revealed that 78% of respondents when prompted agreed that they ‘worry about changes to the countryside in the UK and loss of native animals and plants’. And protecting wildlife and the countryside is hugely popular with the public. In a YouGov poll in March 2012, 77% of people thought current safeguards were either too weak or only about right, and just 4% thought they were too strong. John Redwood was wrong. The public expect the Government to be the ultimate guardian of our natural world, even though they support voluntary organisations as well. The future of nature is not a private matter, it’s a public policy objective. And Natural Resources Wales is entrusted to carry out those policies on behalf of the people of Wales.
Over to you, Natural Resources Wales So we pass the baton to Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru, also known as Natural Resources Wales. And in doing so we try not to drop the baton, or to allow others to snatch it from our grasp. We put faith in those who follow us to carry the baton with pride and to respect the journey it has been on. As we pass the baton, we join a new team, with new members, and we transfer our loyalties to them.
Should we have created the single body years ago? Maybe. It was probably inevitable, given the diverging political paths that Wales and England have been choosing for some time. I was an NGO cheerleader for CCW in 1990, seeing the new Welsh body as an opportunity to combine people and nature in a new way. I rejected the idea that the break-up of NCC and the Countryside Commission would weaken environmental protection, notwithstanding the financial motives of Scottish landowners and the political motives of Margaret Thatcher’s Ministers. And although there are political motives at play in Wales today, I see more opportunities than threats in the creation of Natural Resources Wales.
2013 is the year that it finally happened. Let’s be optimistic about the future, keep our passions alive, and recommit to the work ahead of us. ~~~ This is the final page of the last ever publication of the Countryside Council for Wales, and my last opportunity to thank all staff and Council members who have been its human resource for over twenty years. I am indebted to my predecessor John Lloyd Jones for many reasons, in particular his defence of CCW's relationship with the farming community. A special thanks to our Chief Executive Roger Thomas, who has led the organisation with optimism, energy and integrity for half that time and who has been a great advocate for the new Natural Resources Wales. All the best Roger!
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Fig 10- 9 Despite difficult economic times, the tide of public opinion is turning and heralding a new era in which quality of life is no longer seen as synonymous with conspicuous consumption of scarce assets. Countries, companies and communities that adopt a resource-efficient culture will be at an advantage. 159 A Natural Step? Contributor Biographies (listed in chapter order) Roger Thomas, CCW’s Chief Executive from February 2002 to March 2013, was previously director of Environment Agency Wales. His early career was in the water industry. Roger is a keen cyclist and outdoors enthusiast, with a passion for rock music. Andrew Flynn, a Reader in Environmental Policy and Planning in the School of Planning and Geography at Cardiff University, has researched extensively on sustainable development and governance, particularly in Wales. Gareth Wyn Jones left academia to become CCW's first Director of Research and Policy Development and later Deputy Chief Executive. Among many other roles Gareth currently chairs the Land Use and Climate Change sub-group. James Robertson worked for CCW as a Countryside Officer and then Author/Editor from 1991-2006. A Trustee of North Wales Wildflife Trust and editor of Natur Cymru since 2001, he writes extensively on environmental topics. Ivor Rees has had a life-long interest in seabirds and marine biology. A lecturer at Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences for more than 30 years, he frequently collaborated with CCW staff and the National Museum of Wales, and chaired the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee. Dr Malcolm Smith was CCW’s Chief Scientist and deputy CEO from 1998 to 2004. He has been a Board Member of the Environment Agency and currently chairs Consumer Focus Wales. He writes on wildlife, heritage and travel in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph magazine, Country Life and other magazines. Dr John Taylor was Director, Policy at CCW from 1998-2010. He led the Tir Gofal initiative and Wales' open access work. Previously Head of Policy Research at RSPB's Bedfordshire HQ, he was involved in EU farming policies. Alan Underwood, an environmental consultant and a CCW Council Member since 2004, began volunteering with the Wildlife Trusts in the 1970s. His career in the third sector included a 20-year association with Environment Wales. Pete Williams studied the ecology of South Wales rivers as a Research Fellow at Cardiff University. He joined NCC in 1979 as the County Officer for Gwent before becoming CCW’s Area Officer for South Wales, retiring in 2004. Sue Parker, director of First Nature Publishing and a life-long Wildlife Trust supporter and volunteer has authored seven books on countryside topics and developed WalesWildlife.com helping people to enjoy Wales’ nature reserves. Pat O'Reilly, a member of CCW's Council from 2006 until March 2013 ,has served on several government environmental bodies and panels and written 25 books on wildlife and countryside topics. He is a director of First Nature. Martin Fitton, former Chief Officer of the Countryside Commission in Wales was closely involved in the merger with the NCC that created CCW in 1990. He later became Director of the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and then Chief Executive of the Association of National Park Authorities. Dr David Parker, Director Evidence & Advice and Chief Scientist, CCW, with contributions from CCW colleagues. David Parker has worked for CCW for 15 of its 22 years and has a lifelong interest in the natural world. 160 Passing the Baton
Morgan Parry chaired CCW’s Council for three years until March 2013. Former chair of Cynnal Cymru - the Sustainable Development Forum for Wales, Head of WWF Cymru, and Director of North Wales Wildlife Trust, Morgan is now a suit- wearing Board Member of Natural Resources Wales, although he still dreams of his days as a warden in the hills of Snowdonia.
Picture Credits The pictures in this book are the property of the copyright owners, as detailed below:
Front cover 3rd left, back cover 2nd left, pages 3, 5, 62, 69, 71, 7, 83, 88,98 top, 101, 117,145, 159 - Mike Alexander
4th left, back cover 3rd and 4th left, pages 6, 19 top, 20, 27, 31, 39, 47, 67, 68, 69, 72, 73, 6,78,79,87,92,98 bottom, 102,104,105,107,109, 110,111,113,114,115,119,122,125,127,151, 162 - First Nature
Pages Front cover 2nd left,65,68,6970,71,72,73,75,76,77,79,118,124 - Alan Underwood
Page 121- Martin Fitton
Pages 49,50,51,52,54,56 (4 images),58 - Ivor Rees
Pages 53,57,61 - Rohan Holt
Page 59 - Charlie Lindenbaum
Page 60 - Mike Camplin
Page 103 - Denbighshire County Council
Page 18,19 bottom, 22,23,24,25,28 - James Robertson
Page 126 - J B Ratcliffe
Pages 142 - Alex Turner
Page 86 - Cardiff Harbour Authority
Page 99 4th top - National Museum of Wales
All other pictures copyright CCW. Many of the pictures were taken by the following members of staff: Peter Appleton, D Green, Liz Howe, Sid Howells, Raymond Roberts, Michael D Smith. The authors wish to express their gratitude to all of the photo contributors listed above. To anyone whose pictures are not expressly recognised, either in error or because we have failed to identify the photographer, both apologies and thanks are due.
161 A Natural Step? Index access 114, 138 National Parks 9, 18, 22 Agri-environment 12, 23, 37, 155 Natura 2000 51, 102 schemes Nature Conservancy 9, 16, 32 AONB 103, 148 Council biodiversity 140-143 Newport Wetlands 87 CAP 20, 155 NGO 16, 22, 58, 158 Cardiff Bay Barrage 84-87 NNR 27, 104-111 climate change 6, 15, 44, 135, partnerships 64-69, 152-158 CO2 emissions 44 peatlands 137 Countryside 9, 18, 21, 32, 158 protected areas 7, 34, 96-111 Commission Ramsar site 134 CRoW Act 89, 116 recreation 113-119, 138 Cwm Idwal 6, 88, 91 recycling 70-73 devolution Redwood, J 10, 27 ecosystem 7, 13, 49, 55, 133, renewables 74, 92-95, 132, 146 155 education 122-125 Rio Summit 6, 21, 33 experimental powers 6, 35, 108 Roman Steps 39 FMD crisis 29, 88-91 SAC 102, 131 forestry 126, 148, 156 sand dunes 136 Geodiversity 99, 104,129 Sea Empress 81-83 geoparks 130 signage 110, 114 Glastir 24 Skomer MNR 25, 49, 52, 60, 106, Grassholm 101 141 grasslands 23, 100, 136 SPA 101, 135 Greenspace toolkit 14 SSSI 36, 97-100, 130, HabMap 62 134 health 116-118 third sector heathlands 9, 13, 100, 137, Tir Cymen 11, 23, 33, 64-78, Hobhouse 17, 40 151 ICZM 50 Tir Gofal 12, 23, 29, 38 JNCC 55,156 tourism 89, 111, 154 LANDMAP 13, 40, 133 volunteers 65, 108 landscapes 3, 11, 15, 28, 42, Wales Coast Path 116 Milford Haven 81 wind farm 95
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