Archived press release

Uk Government not doing enough to protect wildlife. FOE welcomes house of lords report

18 January 2000

Friends of the Earth has welcomed a House of Lords report, published today, which criticises the UK Government for its failure to translate European Directives on wildlife into UK law. Earlier this month the European Commission decided to take the UK Government to the European Court of Justice for exactly the same reason.

Commenting on today's report, Craig Bennett, Wildlife Campaigner for Friends of the Earth said:
“Today's report from the House of Lords confirms Friends of the Earth's view that Britain's precious wildlife has been repeatedly short-changed by the UK Government and deprived of the level of protection it deserves under EU law.

The Government has a perfect opportunity to remedy the situation when it publishes its Countryside, Amenity and Conservation Bill next month, but there is a lot of catching up to do. We need to see a legal underpinning of Biodiversity Action Plans, much stronger measures in the marine environment, and a big shift in agricultural spending away from production, and towards conservation.

And there are clear messages in this report for the devolved Parliament in Scotland, and the Assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland too. It is essential that they also take decisive action to give their nation's wildlife the protection it both needs and deserves.”

NOTE TO EDITORS:
[1] The report Biodiversity in the European Union was published by the Sub-Committee D(Environment, Agriculture, Public Health and Consumer Protection) of the House of Lords European Union Committee. The final report is the outcome of a seven month inquiry into the subject, during which the Committee held 14 public hearings (two of them with Ministers) and considered evidence from a wide range of bodies active in the field of nature conservation, including WWF, RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts and Friends of the Earth.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust