Biodiversity: The UK says it won’t publish wildlife and habitat data in 2022

Subsequent yr will see an necessary assembly to agree international biodiversity targets, however the UK says it will not be publishing key knowledge on wildlife and habitats

By Adam Vaughan

Conservationists have criticised the UK authorities for its choice to briefly cease publishing new knowledge on the state of the nation’s wildlife and habitats in 2022, the identical yr as a landmark UN biodiversity summit.

Figures printed in the present day by the Division for Meals, Rural Affairs & Surroundings (Defra) present a deteriorating image for habitats, in addition to for precedence species, comparable to otters and crimson squirrels; woodland birds and butterflies which are reliant on particular habitats, such because the Lulworth skipper (Thymelicus acteon).

The UK, like many different nations, has did not arrest declines in biodiversity in recent times regardless of signing as much as international targets to guard nature. In April 2022, nations are anticipated to resume their dedication to behave by agreeing new biodiversity targets for 2030 on the COP15 summit in Kunming, China.

Nonetheless, Defra stated that it’ll “pause” publishing new knowledge on the state of UK biodiversity in 2022 to allow a “thorough assessment” of the indications, such because the pressures from invasive species or the well being of chicken populations and different animals. Publication is not going to resume till 2023.

Mark Avery, a conservationist and former conservation director of the UK’s Royal Society for the Safety of Birds, says: “It looks as if Defra’s response to a biodiversity disaster is to cease publishing the information that present it’s taking place. That’s not excellent, is it?”

“It’s miserable,” says Chris Packham, the naturalist and broadcaster. “There’s one method to keep away from a disaster and that’s to fake there isn’t one. By not making that knowledge obtainable, it’s not giving individuals entry to the stick with beat them with.” He provides the timing is particularly galling, given the COP26 local weather summit beginning this Sunday, and the biodiversity summit in China subsequent yr.

Key indicators on birds, butterflies, precedence species and habitats present that the image is getting worse. For instance, a measure of farmland chicken populations derived from 2019 knowledge is down 45 per cent from its 1970 worth, with smaller decreases seen for different birds. Different measures, such because the time that volunteers spend on conservation actions, have risen, with a 61 per cent improve between 2000 and 2019.

New Scientist has contacted Defra for a response.

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