A Focus On Nature, Issues in conservation
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Post EU ref roundup – what’s next? – Charlie Hewitt
With everything that has been going on in politics recently and with so many sources of information, sometimes it is difficult to get a comprehensive and concise understanding of what is actually going on. This blog post will hopefully clarify recent events and how we, nature and conservation will be affected by the upcoming changes and most importantly, what we can do to help protect our natural resources, habitats and biodiversity.
On June 24, 2016, the results of the EU referendum came in, and by a very small margin it was decided that the UK would leave the EU. With this, David Cameron stood down as Prime Minister and Theresa May took his place. In the up-coming months, Theresa May will take part in negotiations with the EU council to talk about trade agreements and how best to leave the EU. The majority of the pre-referendum debates focused on how the result would impact the economy and immigration. However, there was little focus on, or information about how the referendum result would impact the future of our environment and wildlife.
There is no question about it, the UK’s membership of the EU has helped improve national environmental quality dramatically. Prior to joining the EU, the UK had gained the reputation of being the “Dirty Man of Europe”. Their approach to environmental policy was one which treated the problem once it had occurred, rather than preventing the problem from happening in the first place. Other problems with pre-EU UK were that the legal system regarding environmental law was not very well developed; it didn’t have enough jurisdiction and those calling for change didn’t have enough power as they were mostly volunteer groups.
Upon joining the EU, the UK was forced to keep up to other countries’ environmental standards and environmental policies began being implemented at an international level. Examples include the Bathing Waters Directives, the Air Quality Directive, Natura 2000 and the Birds and Habitats Directives. Whilst a member of the EU, the UK has seen an improvement in its air and water quality, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the slowing down of habitat destruction, an increased investment in conservation, and the removal of toxic products from agriculture. All of these improvements have occurred as a result of an international system of policy making which enforces large scale compliance. Because of this, a lot of UK environmental legislation is shaped by the EU
So what does the future hold and what can we do?
The answer to this lies in the outcomes of the following months of negotiations, where we decide whether or not we want to become a member of the EEA or not. The EEA (European Economic Area) is an area in which there is free movement of goods, services, people and capital within the European Union. Countries such as Norway and Iceland are members of the EEA.
Membership of the EEA would allow the UK to continue to have free trade of goods, services, people and capital, allowing it access to the single market. Joining the EEA would also mean having to abide by a rule called acquis communautaire. This rule basically means that so long as a country has access to the single market, it has to abide by certain EU regulations. Examples of such regulations relating to the environment include the Nitrates Directive, Air Framework Directive and Industrial Emissions Directive.
Despite this seemingly positive news, there are some regulations such as the Birds and Habitats Directives and Bathing Waters Directives which are not part of the acquis communautaire. This means that the UK government can change the rules of these directives as much as they want, even scrap them. This could lead to a possible reduction in environmental standards. As a member of the EEA, the UK would also be forefitting its freedom to influence environmental policy and would act as a smaller entity with less influencing power in international circles.
The second option that is open to the UK is leaving the EU and EEA all-together. In this situation, the UK would not have to abide by acquis communitaire or abide by EU standards. This would mean that both within the UK and on an international level, there would need to be extensive negotiations to ensure the protection of the environment. The resulting environmental impacts of the decision to completely leave the EU and EEA would vary depending upon the extent to which the government uses previous policy or whether it decides to create new policy.
In light of recent UK policy which has blocked EU laws which aid the environment in favour of short term economic goals, it is highly likely that there will be a weakening of environmental policy within the UK. Not only will leaving the EU lead to direct impacts on the environment, the changes will also impact institutions and research projects. Many institutions and research projects will lose their EU funding. In order to keep this research going, the government will either have to provide the funding itself, or will have to reduce funding for projects.
No matter which way we go, whether we go the EEA route, or totally exit, the outlook does not look very bright for the environment. However, if we are going to look at it from an optimistic point of view, it does mean that we will, to varying degrees, be able to have some input into the future of our environment. This means that individuals, groups, organisations and charities all have the chance to influence the legislation and that we can, to a certain extent, make sure that environmental policy doesn’t get weakened.
Sources:
http://www.ieep.eu/assets/2000/IEEP_Brexit_2016.pdf
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/EU-Ref
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/EU-Ref/reports
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/sites/default/files/3744-eureferendumsummarylores.pdf
http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/EU-Ref-Position
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/info/pubs/directives_en.htm
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmenvaud/537/537.pdf
https://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/eu_referendum_environment.pdf
http://www.cieem.net/eu-referendum
http://www.cieem.net/data/files/2016_Post_vote_BREXIT_Environment_and_climate_briefing__updated__6032841.pdf
http://ieep.eu/assets/2016/IEEP_2016_Brexit_-_Implications_for_UK_Environmental_Policy_and_Regulations.pdf
http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7213#fullreport
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/24/why-british-environmentalists-should-vote-for-brexit
Petition to consider adopting EU environmental law: