The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) (which assesses progress of the government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)) has accused ministers of giving a “false impression” of the effect of current environmental legislation. EFRA accuses Defra of failing to set out how it plans to deliver its commitment made to ensure the services nature provides are incorporated into policy decision-making.
In a new report of an inqury into the Natural Environment White Paper, it is noted that 30 per cent of the services provided by the UK’s natural environment are thought to be in decline and the committee has today urged Defra to accelerate efforts to better assess the value of natural capital. In the report the MPs call on the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to lead a cross-government campaign to embed such considerations into economic planning and produce a timetable for delivering each of the Natural Environment White Paper’s 92 commitments, giving that they are currently failing on integrating the White Paper’s “laudable aims”.
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