RSPB's call for tax rises to fund conservation

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said that in the new age of austerity availability of public funds for nature conservation is shrinking, just as the need to conserve biodiversity becomes more acute.

It has published a new report quoting experts who have outlined a series of innovative solutions for funding nature, including conservation credits systems, new green taxes and a greater role for business and communities.

However Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the Crop Protection Association, branded the idea of a tax "regressive" and said that stringent enforcement on the pesticide industry were already in force and yielding positive ecological results.

Regarding taxes on pesticides, the report states that such a tax could be levelled on a scale reflecting "the damage potential of the substance".

It said such a move would mean "consumers being incentivised to purchase less harmful products".

A similar tax based on toxicity levels was adopted in Norway in 1999.

It comes ahead of Wednesday's Comprehensive Spending Review which is likely to bring about cuts in environmental funding, with a recent Defra study revealing a 273m annual deficit in conservation spending.

RSPB chief executive Mike Clarke said: "We should not allow the fiscal deficit to result in an even bigger deficit in nature.

"We need to avoid short-term solutions to prevent creating longer term problems, and potentially irreversible damage to the natural environment.

"We all know that society needs to tighten its belts in the current economic climate and it is inevitable that the public funding for vital conservation projects in our countryside is going to be squeezed after October 20.

"We won't give up on nature just to balance the books. We want to help find solutions with UK governments and business to achieve economic stability without sacrificing the species we share our countryside with."

However, Mr Dyer said that a new tax on the farming industry would be detrimental as the country faces up to growing threats to its food security.

"The issue of a pesticide tax has been debated before in the late 1990s under Labour and at the time it was decided that to do so would not be to go down the right route.

"Regulatory controls are already very high following new rules the EC introduced last year.

"We do not think that tax is the right step and would b e regressive at a time when Government is trying to reduce spending.

"Such a tax would have to be enforced, collected and would mean costs being passed up the chain to consumers."

CW 16/10/10