Blogs

The one thing Covid 19 has taught us well, is that prevention is better than cure. In unvaccinated, high density human populations the virus spreads like wildfire. The same can be said of high density vegetation of heather and grass in the uplands.

The use of pesticides is hotly debated, but arguments around it are often absolute and lack nuance. The government derogation for farmers to use the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam on sugar beet this year (dependent on evidence of potentially yield threatening levels of pests) created lots of headlines, plenty of outrage and, at the time of writing, 50,597 signatures to reverse the decision.

Last month we responded to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy‘s call for evidence on Greenhouse Gas Removals. With climate change high on the public agenda, it is important that we tackle it while ensuring livelihoods, food production and wildlife are part of the conversation.

The Guardian recently reported on a study by Dr Adam Pellegrini of Cambridge University that has highlighted that wildfires are impacting on the ability of forests to capture carbon due to changes in tree density and size. Given that trees are increasingly seen as a natural climate solution, the more we can understand the consequences of afforestation the better.

We say that a delay on the publication of the strategy is understandable if it helps avoid a sweeping ban on burning, which would prevent us using managed, ‘cool’ burning for the proven delivery of public benefits.

The original blog we wrote has, not surprisingly, generated some comment, particularly with respect to the suggestion of a derogation on its use on kale in wild bird cover.

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) cannot support the banning of all managed winter burning on all deep peat, and we are disappointed that sweeping regulation rather than site specific collaboration is seen as the way forward.

On the face of it, we should welcome the research published in Science that improved crop performance can be achieved in hard soils through gene modification. Whilst soil compaction does restrict crop yields, the solution is more complex than to just adapt plant genetics. Soil health is in decline generally and compacted soils cause a number of environmental problems too.

The response of some conservation NGOs to the news that Defra has given emergency authorisation of a neonicotinoid seed treatment for sugar beet in 2021 has been scare-mongering and emotive. In our view Defra’s decision is proportionate – and here is why.