Biodiversity

What a pleasure it is to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Mr Crausby. I am pleased to have the opportunity, in this, the international year of biodiversity, to speak in this debate. I know that all hon. Members say that their constituency is the most beautiful, but mine actually is the most beautiful in England, because it includes upper Teesdale, which is part of the North Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty. One of the most important aspects of upper Teesdale is the Teesdale array—the collective name given to the unique set of plants that grow there. Some of those plants grow only in that part of Great Britain. A small number of them also grow in the Burren in Ireland, and some grow in the Alps, but on the mainland, that particular collection of plants grows only in Teesdale. The most famous is a beautiful blue flower called the spring gentian, but there are also lady's mantles and bogworts. I wholeheartedly agree with what my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner) said about valuing and taking account of the economic value of the natural environment, but I also hold out for the notion that those plants have an intrinsic value. Even if the spring gentian is of no use to anyone, it is valuable because it is there. It is there because it is left over from the last ice age. The collection of plants in question is on those rather cold, wet hills in the middle of the Pennines because the climate has not changed significantly since that time. It is the combination of the unique climate and the traditional farming practices of the hill farmers that has enabled the plants to survive. I want to pay tribute to a botanist, Dr Margaret Bradshaw, who is an expert on the plants of Teesdale. We are fortunate to have her expertise because she originally went to survey the plants there in the 1950s. In this instance, therefore, we have an extremely good record of what has been going on over half a century. In May she took me out to sites where some of the rare plants grow. We went on to Cronkley fell and Widdybank fell, and up to Cow Green reservoir, where they grow. I shall send the Minister some of the charts and tables, because I cannot possibly do justice to them in a speech, but I shall give the highlights of Dr Bradshaw's findings. A plant called Alchemilla vulgaris was extremely prevalent in the 1950s in both Teesdale and Weardale, but more than half of the subspecies have been lost. Two of them—Alchemilla monticola and Alchemilla subcrenata—have disappeared completely from Weardale. Dr Bradshaw has also done surveys comparing the number of Gentiana verna and Primula farinose in the 1970s and the early 2000s—that is, over a 30-year period. Her method was to survey about nine sites on a fell, seeing how many plants there were, and to go back every year. Whereas, for example, in 1970 there were more than 250 plants of Gentiana verna, by 2007 there were fewer than 50. That is the pattern among those plants in Teesdale. The violas have also fallen in number, as has Gentiana amarella. A plant called Draba incana has disappeared. I want the Minister to understand why those plants have disappeared, and what we might do to stem the flow. There are two basic reasons for the loss of a suitable habitat for that collection of plants. One is change in the climate—the global warming problem—and the other is changing farming practices. The low point in over-grazing was in the 1970s. I think there is now, pretty much, a good agreement between the hill farmers, Natural England and the AONB about farming practices. There are still some disagreements and technical questions, but the problem is nothing like as bad as it was 30 years ago, and in some cases one can see the biodiversity improving as a result. There has also been a loss of peat on the fells. I am sure that the Minister is aware of the fact that the peat in the Pennines is a major carbon sink. In a way, it is our forest. A lot of work has been done by the AONB to protect the peat. It has done that by blocking the grips, because previously the peat was being washed away down the streams, into the River Tees and out into the North sea. My major plea to the Minister is to continue with the scheme, despite the pressure that the Treasury will put on him. It is very important that farmers should continue to be supported to farm sustainably. There must be a balance; they must be able to make a living and to continue to farm in the traditional way. We have had many successes in recent years. The number of meadows has increased and their quality has improved. It would be a big mistake and extremely short-sighted to lose those successes at this juncture. The AONB has also done a lot of excellent work. As I have said, it has been working on the grips. There are some technical problems with the way the legal agreements are set up, and the Minister might look into those at some point. However, there have been significant successes, such as the restoration of black grouse to the area; he has probably heard about that. My overall concern is that the Government should not do something very short-sighted in order to bring the deficit down in four years rather than six. If we lost plants that have been in upper Teesdale for 20,000 years, it would be the height of absurdity. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has its big ““Letter to the Future”” campaign at the moment. I expect that the Minister has been inundated with postcards. I want to give that campaign 100% of my support; the RSPB is right. It would be absurd for the Government to take a short-sighted approach. I endorse the slogan that the RSPB has adopted: ““Don't cut the countryside.””