CLIMATE CHANGE is forcing a radical rethink on EU conservation policy, a conference in Belgium attended by 500 experts from 40 countries, including Ireland, has been told.
“There will be tough choices and thorny questions ahead,” Dr James Harris, of Cranfield University, London, told the Society for Ecological Restoration International’s 6th European Conference in Ghent. “Some of the debate will be very fierce and revolve around property rights. We will need new powers to deal with the coming crisis.”
Conservation in the EU is currently based on the protection of individual species in particular habitats.
The large network of protected sites known as Natura 2000, established under the habitats directive, is widely regarded as an international template for science-guided environmental policy.
However, as Dr Harris noted, rapidly-shifting climate patterns make rising numbers of designated sites unsuitable for the species for which they were originally chosen.
The ptarmigan is a member of the grouse family whose red-brown plumage turns white in winter as camouflage against foxes. However, as the snow recedes from Scottish mountaintops in winter today, the bird now often stands out as an easy target for its predators as it roosts in bare heather.
“What should we do on these sites?” Dr Harris asked. “Spread massive white sheets on them? I don’t think so.”
He said it should be accepted that species are going to move from designated Natura 2000 sites to new areas which may not be protected as climatic conditions alter.
Trying to predict where a species may take up home in 20 years’ time, and preparing and adapting sites in those areas, leads scientists into uncharted waters, he added.
The focus of conservation should shift from protecting individual species and their habitats to a much bolder vision, he said. Without jettisoning the “excellent legislation” of the habitats directive, he argued that there was a need for an ecosystems directive.
This would take into account the broad environmental conditions in entire regions. It would focus on protecting “ecosystem services” – clean water, flood protection, fresh air, fertile soil – rather than just individual species.
But, as the conference heard from a Spanish ecologist, José María Castillo, ecosystems themselves are shifting due to climate change. “Natura 2000 salt marshes will no longer be marshes,” he said, “and we need to restore salt marshes where no Natura 2000 sites exist today. This could involve reversing long-established agricultural reclamation of marshes. Are our politicians ready for this?”
Ladislav Miko, the director of EU-DG Environment, told delegates that he was inviting the scientific community to assist more directly in shaping new policies. He envisaged a shift from passive protection to active restoration of habitats and ecosystems. “Promoting ecological restoration should be the next phase of Cap reform,” he said.
While Europe may be entering a recession, several speakers nonetheless put forward detailed economic arguments that restoring ecosystems and the vital services they provide may often make sound financial sense.
For example, New York city has found it far cheaper to purify its water through restoring the Catskills watershed than through building new purification plants.
“Investing in nature conservation and ecological restoration pays!” the concluding statement from the conference declared. The economic benefits from Natura 2000 alone are three times greater than its cost, it claimed. “We strongly recommend greater investment , as well as in better communication of the enormous ecological and socio-economic benefits of doing so.”