Caroline Spelman: We must all work to preserve nature's gifts

LIKE other areas of the country, Yorkshire has a recession to recover from, a debt to cut and an economy to rebuild. So why do we need a White Paper on the natural environment?

Because the natural environment brings this region solid economic, as well as aesthetic benefits. The River Aire rises at Malham Tarn, and empties into the River Ouse at Airmyn.

Along its 70-mile journey, the Aire passes through the former

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industrial areas of Keighley, Bingley, Saltaire and Shipley. Here the river valley widens and acts as a natural flood plain barrier which reduces the risk of flooding within the area protecting local houses and businesses alike.

The river doesn't just offer flood protection to the region. It also brings it money because of the fly fishing opportunities it provides.

This is particularly in evidence above Skipton where the river's limestone waters play host to a population of Brown Trout and Grayling that are possibly the fittest and heaviest, length for length, in any Yorkshire Dales river.

Of course, this isn't the only region that derives huge benefits from nature. The trouble is, many of these benefits are under threat.

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Scientists have been assessing nature's value, and also its decline. Since the 19th century, our peat bogs have shrunk by 94 per cent. And nearly 500 species of animals and plants have become extinct. And in the last 70 years we've lost 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows.

The loss of our flower meadows is the loss of one of summer's most glorious spectacles. It's also the loss of a breeding habitat for skylarks, and a source of food for honey bees.

If we lose our honey bees ,we lose our honey. But as well as making honey, bees pollinate our crops. So their extinction would deprive us of 35 percent of the food we eat. And about 1bn of our GDP.

So the verdict is clear: we've got to stop working against nature, and start working with it. It's not just about aesthetics. It's about economics as well – and, ultimately, about our survival.

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We can and must be the generation that ends the degradation of the natural environment. We all have a part to play.

For the individual, it's hanging a birdfeeder outside your window, or deciding not to put a patio over your garden.

For communities, it's getting together to preserve and enhance a local piece of land or water.

For planners, it's ensuring that new building and infrastructure do not degrade the environment. For businesses and institutions, it's taking your impact on nature into account in all that you do.

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And Government? The Prime Minister pledged that this Government would be the greenest ever. A promise; but also an imperative.

So we're hard at work. We are planning measures to safeguard and expand our green spaces; to get more trees planted in this country, and make the importing of illegally harvested timber from abroad a criminal offence. We are working to protect our wildlife, on our land and in our seas; and we are working internationally, to protect wildlife and conserve nature across the world.

And now we've launched a national discussion, in order to gather ideas, knowledge and expertise for our White Paper.

This will culminate next spring when we will publish a bold and ambitious statement outlining the Government's priorities for the natural environment, setting out a framework for practical action by government, communities, businesses and civil society organisations to deliver on that ambition.

The environment and the economy cannot be separated. Nature is our ultimate producer and supplier.

We must respect the giver as well as the gift.

Caroline Spelman MP is the Environment Secretary.

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