Today we presented our Manifesto for
Leicester's Wildlife to Leicester City Mayor, Peter Soulsby. Our biodiversity
campaigner, Malcolm Hunter, explains:
“All around
us the natural world is in decline, but there is a lot we can do to help to
halt and reverse this, even in an urban area such as Leicester, given the large
amount of land now occupied by urban areas and the fact that urban areas can
sometimes actually provide a haven for wildlife that is struggling to survive
in surrounding intensively farmed countryside.
The City
Council are already doing some good work in this area, but we believe that even
more can be done and we hope that the City Council will find our suggestions
useful and give serious consideration to taking them on board”.
City Mayor
Peter Soulsby said:
“I very much
welcome this initiative from Leicester Friends of the Earth and look forward to
working with them to look at how we can best use their suggestions to further
develop the City Council’s work in this area”.
A Manifesto for Leicester’s Wildlife
Across the world, nature is declining
at an unprecedented rate. This will have serious implications for the long-term
sustainability of human society[1].
When people think about nature, they
tend to think about the countryside, but urban areas are also important as they
now occupy a significant proportion of land. In fact, cities can provide
a haven for many species that are struggling to survive in intensively farmed
rural areas.[2]
Leicester City Council has a 10-year biodiversity action plan[3], which contains
many laudable aspirations and policies. However, although progress
has been made, such as in the creation of wilder areas in many parks, we
believe that much more could be done. We are keen to work with the
Council and other stakeholders to look at how current good work can be built
upon.
This document is not intended to be a
comprehensive catalogue of everything that needs doing. However, it
aims to contribute some ideas and encourage further discussion.
We would like to make the following
suggestions:
Look at the city as one habitat. Leicester’s existing biodiversity action
plan is very focused on protecting sites of particularly high wildlife value
and on identifying and improving other sites with high potential. The
rest of the City is also important because the total area of potential habitat
involved is greater, even if its quality is lower, and one continuous area of
habitat can support more wildlife than several separate areas. The more
that we can connect up areas of prime habitat, the better. This could be
achieved by a drastic reduction in both the frequency and degree of pruning of
street trees and a further reduction in the frequency of cutting of roadside
verges.
Plant more trees. The Council’s current policy is to replace
any tree felled with a newly planted sapling, but this does not replace like
with like, in terms of providing wildlife habitat or mitigating climate change[4]. Mature trees contribute far more
to both than newly planted saplings. The Council should acknowledge this
and adopt a policy of replacing any tree it fells with, say, 20 saplings.
This would come much closer to replacing what has been lost and would allow for
more informed decisions to fell mature trees.
Become a pesticide and herbicide-free
town. Recent years have seen a
massive decline in insect populations, with knock-on effects for other
species. Alongside habitat loss, a major driver of this decline has been
the use of pesticides. We would like to see Leicester sign up to become a
pesticide-free town[5]. The Council should not only
avoid the use of pesticides, but also adopt a policy of making sure that any
seeds or plants purchased from external suppliers do not contain pesticide
residues.
Plan to make space for wildlife. The Council should review its planning policies to check that it
makes maximum use of the powers available to prevent environmentally damaging
developments and to ensure that developments protect and enhance
biodiversity. This can be done with green spaces, sustainable urban
drainage, nesting boxes, hedgehog holes in new walls and fences, restrictions
on paving over of gardens and requirements to incorporate green roofs and
walls. In addition, the Council should review whether it has sufficiently
robust procedures in place for monitoring whether planning requirements are
actually complied with.
Incorporate green roofs and walls
into Council properties. The Council should
consider incorporating green roofs and walls into the new council housing that
it is hoping to build and its existing buildings. Green roofs can also be
added to bus shelters.[6]
Reduce light pollution to protect
wildlife. The Council’s current policy
makes no mention of reducing the impact of light pollution on nocturnal
wildlife; something needs to be added to the strategy on this issue.
Consider potential biodiversity and
climate change impacts of all Council decisions. While one part of the Council may be striving to act in an
environmentally sustainable way, this may be undermined by the actions of other
parts of the Council with different priorities. We would like to see the
Council declare a “biodiversity emergency”, in addition to its recent
declaration of a “climate emergency”. It should adopt a policy of
assessing both the biodiversity and climate change impact of all Council
decisions and these assessments should play a major role in guiding
decision-making.
Green up the Council’s purchasing and
investment policies. Beyond the boundaries of
Leicester, the Council’s purchasing and investment decisions can have a major
impact on biodiversity. For example, the City Council has recently
established Fosse Energy, a not-for-profit energy company that aims to source
all the electricity it provides from renewable sources. This is a very
welcome initiative but they count electricity produced by burning biomass as
renewable. In fact, electricity generation from burning biomass is
leading to large-scale felling of forests, with severe negative implications
for nature and the climate. The Council should avoid using biofuels for
similar reasons.
Engage all citizens of Leicester in
helping to promote biodiversity and wildlife.
In an era of financial constraints, one avenue for reaching people is schools,
not just in terms of educating and involving a new generation, but also as a
way of reaching families. Relevant teaching materials and lesson plans
could be provided for teachers and the Council could consult with the Young
People’s Council. Local media outlets, such as the Leicester Mercury and
Radio Leicester, could help get messages out. As allotments can play a
potentially important role in supporting urban wildlife; the Council could
provide allotment holders with advice on how to best manage their plot to
enhance biodiversity.
Organise a biodiversity conference. Finally, to help catalyse a wider
conversation, the Council could consider organizing a conference to look at
further developing local policy. As well as involving environmental
organizations such as Leicester Friends of the Earth, Leicestershire and
Rutland Wildlife Trust, the RSPB, etc., this could involve schools (with
teacher and student reps); youth organizations; trades unions; the Chamber of
Commerce; the universities; community and faith organizations. To help
organize this and to research what is happening elsewhere, the Council might
look at appointing one or more graduate trainees.
[1] Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): https://www.ipbes.net/news/Media-Release-Global-Assessment
[2] This important role
for urban areas is recognized in the IPBES report. A People’s Manifesto for Wildlife
have also produced a list of policies that they would
like to see adopted by towns and cities in the UK to allow nature to flourish.
[4] A recent report has the role of trees in
mitigating climate change: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6448/76
[6] This has been done in Utrecht: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/bus-stop-plants-green-roof-bees-holland-utrecht-a8997581.html
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