CLA praises ecosystem report

The CLA has praised the National Ecosystem Assessment (NEA) published today (2 June), calling it an ’impressive and well-presented treatment of a difficult subject’.

The Association welcomed the strong lead the UK is taking in developing the approach for providing so-called ecosystem services.

CLA President William Worsley said: ’This report acknowledges that farmers and foresters do a huge range of valuable environmental work in addition to producing food and timber. An ecosystem services approach helps us to see the trade-offs involved in striving for both food security and environmental security.

’The costs of providing ecosystem services have been hugely underestimated, which is why research such as the NEA is so important. It highlights to the British public just what goes into providing the biodiversity and landscape features they take for granted.’

Mr Worsley added that the real challenge would be how to correct the balance of land use.

He said: ’The NEA authors rightly emphasise that we can use the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) better to pay for more of the under-delivered ecosystem services such as flood protection, carbon storage and cultural landscapes.

’However, they must also help us persuade the Government not to slash the CAP budget which would make all this impossible to achieve.’