My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, for introducing this important debate and all noble Lords who have contributed to the hugely important spectrum of issues raised this evening.
I thought the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, made a significant point that repairing our marine biodiversity is as important as rebuilding our land-based biodiversity. But it is true that, as it stands, the Bill ignores the marine environment completely. I agree that that needs to be addressed.
Sadly, our seas and oceans are increasingly polluted. Plastics and microplastics, chemical fertiliser, run-offs from agriculture and, as we debated earlier, sewage discharges, are all damaging the quality of our seas. We are killing off our coral, creating ocean dead zones, and allowing excess algae blooms to suck the oxygen out of our water. The effects of this are damaging to both marine and human life, but, as the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, argued, if we act now, reverse those
trends and encourage new growths of seaweeds and seagrasses, the oceans could be harnessed as a positive source of carbon sequestration in our climate change strategy. There is everything to fight for.
In his Second Reading response, the Minister mentioned the blue belt around our overseas territories. Of course this is welcome, as is the growth of marine protected areas around the UK coastline, but there is so much more we should be doing. The current marine protected areas still allow damaging seabed extraction and fishing. I hope the Minister can confirm that the recommendation of his colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Benyon, that there should be a string of highly protected marine areas will be implemented in full.
Sadly, so far, the Government have seemed reluctant to legislate to ensure that any future marine protections are legally enforceable. That is why we would welcome the inclusion of robust marine biodiversity targets in the Bill. Our experience with the Fisheries Bill last year was that the Government were not prepared to put sustainable fishing at the heart of the Bill. As a result, the charity Oceana has reported that, post Brexit, only one-third of the UK’s key fish populations is in a healthy state, with bottom trawlers and supertrawlers causing particularly damaging effects on the marine environment. So, if not now, when will we see action on these issues?
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The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, rightly made the point that resource efficiency is not enough: we need to value existing resources more carefully and reduce their use. As she said, we are already consuming three times the resources that our planet can sustain, and some vital primary resources are already becoming scarce as a result. We simply have to get used to using less stuff and genuinely embrace the principles of the circular economy so that the same materials are used again and again. It requires government action and ambition to make this happen throughout the supply chains.
The noble Baroness also emphasised the importance of soil quality. A number of noble Lords have spoken about this, and I absolutely agree that soil health is critical to sustaining our ecosystem. We cannot keep raiding its essential properties through persistent and intensive farming. It needs to be valued and nurtured to sustain its micro-organisms for the longer term. It has been said that we have only 13 harvests left—it might be only 12 by now—if we operate at the current rate of decline, so we need a wake-up call to take urgent action on this. I agree with the noble Earl, Lord Devon, that not listing it as a priority risks it becoming a second-order issue, so action is absolutely necessary.
The noble Lord, Lord Randall, made an important point about light pollution. Not only is this crucial for our insects and wildlife, but it is important that we can see the stars and better understand our place in the universe. I was really pleased to see so many noble Lords speaking on this issue, and I share their passion for it. I am very proud of the fact that the South Downs National Park, of which I am an authority member, is one of only 16 international dark sky reserves in the world. Every year we have a dark skies
festival, which I heartily recommend to noble Lords as a fantastic opportunity to stargaze and to walk across the downs at night with our guides. I hope that the Minister will agree to take this issue away and come forward with ways in which it can be incorporated into the Bill.
The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, rightly flagged up the need for more action on tree planting and disease-resistant trees. We have all witnessed the devastation that can be caused to our native woodlands by invasive diseases such as Dutch elm disease and ash dieback. The Government have done a great deal to halt the spread, but more can be done to ensure that the next generation of woodlands can survive and thrive. We will debate the need for a tree strategy in more detail when we come to the later amendments tabled in the name of my noble friend Lady Young, who also spoke so eloquently this evening, to which we have added our names. In the meantime, I very much support the arguments put forward by a number of noble Lords that we need further action on this issue.
Finally, I will touch on the critical issue of reducing our meat consumption, raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Jones. I realise that this a sensitive issue, but it has to be addressed. Talk of the nanny state and people telling us what we can and cannot eat is wide of the mark because if you read the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness she is saying that a government target should be set which corresponds to the Committee on Climate Change’s target, which has already been set, which is for a 20% reduction in meat consumption. So, we already have the target, and the question now is about how we are going to reach it. I agree absolutely with what noble Lords have said. There have been suggestions that we could start by stopping factory farming, and I agree with that. We have to concentrate on preserving our pasture-fed stock, which is an iconic part of the English landscape. I absolutely understand that argument. We should also be doing more to make sure that we eat food efficiently and do not have food waste. All of that could contribute to meeting that target, but that target needs to exist, and we need to find ways of achieving it.
We have had a good debate that has allowed us to touch on many important features of what would make a good and sustainable environment. I hope that the Minister has listened carefully to the concerns and is able to reassure your Lordships that they will be taken on board during the course of the Bill. I look forward to his response.