From curlews in the British uplands to negotiations in Colombia: why COP16 matters here in the UK

One of the most resplendent sounds of spring is the bubbling song of curlew; signalling that glorious transition from wintery dreariness to a burst of brighter days to come. This wader, recognisable by its long curved bill, flies back from the coastal river estuaries whose bountiful frost-free muds – full of shellfish and worms – have sustained them through the winter to their summer breeding grounds. And suddenly, the bleak upland valleys of the Pennines and Scotland burst into life; special landscapes designated as National Parks. The Countryside Act 1949 - a historic piece of legislation for nature conservation - set up our national parks, our protected area system and the regulators to look after those areas.

But can we say we have been good ancestors? Will we bequeath the songs of our uplands to our children? At the moment the prognosis is unlikely – with curlew numbers dwindling. These are long-lived birds – 30 to 40 years – but after years of curlew failing to breed, the last remaining potential parents are reaching their end. For many decades we have been encouraging farmers to increase productivity – in the uplands by converting the millennia-old hay meadows, which curlew use to breed, to single species rye grass silage fields. Instead of waiting for the grass to ripen and the seed to fall for next year’s bounty, our silage fields are cut early. The curlew chicks have no chance – death by silage cutter blade or, bereft of cover, picked off by crows and foxes.

It’s a picture repeated extensively across the UK – our polluted and channelised rivers; our burnt moors; our trashed hedges; our poisoned gardens and the almost wildlife-free fields of modern arable agriculture. We are one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth. In truth, we must hang our heads in shame for being such poor ancestors – we have stolen the natural heritage of our once wildlife-abundant islands from future generations. Worse, it is economically misguided. The cost rises in greenhouse gas emissions from land use that destabilises our climate, in air pollution, in freshwater pollution, in increased flooding, in the increased likelihood of pandemics, in an ability to cope with drought, with plant and animal diseases and on and on… The Green Finance Institute calculates that within a few decades, nature-based financial losses could amount to over 12% of GDP. This is a staggering loss to our economy and is repeated across the world.

But this is not intended to be a message only of gloom, rather that COP16 is a moment to hope. All across the globe, valiant work is underway to repair the Earth’s ecosystems, including by some of the farmers in those upland areas I mention above. Not enough yet - but it could be easily scaled up. To give one example, just before the start of COP16, I attended the Yorkshire Peat Partnership’s 15th anniversary in Ilkley. A programme I proudly helped to set up back in 2008, whilst working as Chief Executive for Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. I had, I thought, lofty ambitions. We had received a legacy from Mary Joyce Mountain (and thank you Mary) of £100,000. My plan was to use half to scope out the issue of peatland degradation and then use the remaining half to lever in more funding to raise £500,000 to use on efforts to restore this vital habitat. Turns out those ambitions were not quite as lofty as I had thought; rather the Partnership morphed into one of the biggest habitat restoration programmes seen in the UK. Over the last 15 years, the Partnership has invested over £15m into the restoration of 35,000 hectares of peatland, stopping many millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide eroding from the peatlands into the atmosphere and bringing a steady stream of jobs to rural North Yorkshire.

So, let’s imagine work like that happening in every country, in every region, in every city, around every village and along every river. It’s not really that hard to do because it makes sense. Not just the sense of being a good ancestor – bequeathing a better, more liveable Earth to our children but economic and social sense. At the last COP in Canada, the contracting parties – which are essentially representatives for the governments of pretty much every country on the planet – got together and did something remarkable. They agreed a plan to do just that. A global plan to take back to each country, setting out goals and targets for every government to work towards with local communities and civil society, such as The Wildlife Trusts, to restore wildlife. Field by field, hedge by hedge, upland moor by re-naturalised river, estuary muds and our marine realm – here in the UK we can restore the wildlife of our fabulous Atlantic isles.

Of course, we need our newly elected UK Government to work closely with the devolved, Crown Dependency and UK Overseas Territories administrations to make it work. And so to COP16... a chance for the UK to show true leadership and signal they will take the action required: the stakes have never been higher.