THE DISPATCH
ENVIRONMENT
Summer is the time to get out and enjoy nature… do it while you can!
More than 100 rare and threatened animals and plants could be at risk if the government scraps a law protecting special habitats, environmental charities have warned.
Environment Minister George Eustice told MPs in a select committee the government is planning to remove the Habitats Directive, which protects important habitats across the UK.
Eustice said he hoped to amend the EU law in the forthcoming Brexit Freedoms Bill, suggesting the directive generated unnecessary red tape and was fundamentally flawed.
But environmental groups have condemned the minister’s comments, saying scrapping the law would put vital species and ecosystems at risk from development.
Richard Benwell, CEO at the Wildlife and Countryside Link, said it would “at best” delay nature recovery, and “at worst, leave nature more exposed to damaging developments”.
According to Benwell, endangered species include hazel dormice, harbour porpoise, otters and bats.
The Habitats Directive is the highest form of protection that can be awarded to a nature site, ranking higher than sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and other designations in the UK.
Paul de Zylva, senior sustainability analyst at Friends of the Earth, said the directive and other nature laws protected 1,000 vulnerable plant and animal species as well as habitats.
He said: “The UK is
