At the close of 2023, Defra asked the British Ecological Society to bring together nearly 40 experts, to collate expert opinion on freshwater policy and set out a list of priorities for the biodiversity evidence programme to focus on. Published today, the report identifies priority actions for restoring freshwater biodiversity which include reducing pollution from agriculture, wastewater, and other sources; enhancing freshwater habitat connectivity; a more comprehensive approach monitoring; and an update to aquatic biodiversity indicators.
As Alan Lovell, Chair of the Environment Agency, pointed out at the NFU Conference, the uncomfortable evidence is that the agricultural sector is responsible for 40% of England’s river pollution, even more than water companies at 36%.
With 70% of England’s land farmed, a priority is to reduce the flow of agricultural pollution into our waterways. To do this, farmers should be better incentivised to take up regenerative agriculture practices, such as those which reduce the use of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides as well as farming back from rivers, fencing off watercourses to keep livestock out, and planting riparian woodlands.
Rob Booth, Senior Policy Officer at the British Ecological Society said: “As our report recognises, land management actions to improve water quality are already financially rewarded in England through various schemes and offers, so the question is how to improve uptake. The report states that such actions should be ‘rewarded appropriately’ and given growing societal concern about cleaning up England’s rivers, such actions would surely resonate with the public.”
As well as incentives, farmers also need clear and independent advice, that is routed in ecological evidence, on delivering environmental sustainability.