MPA Launches Biodiversity Strategy at Parliamentary Reception
Environment Minister, Richard Benyon MP, recognized MPA members’ significant contribution to UK biodiversity in a House of Commons reception organized by the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and the RSPB. The event, which will brought together MPs, industry leaders and conservationists, launched MPA’s biodiversity strategy.
The mineral products industry has a proven legacy of high quality restoration and still has further significant potential to protect and enhance biodiversity, including common as well as rare and threatened species and habitats. Continuing good site management, restoration and after-use of minerals sites is expected to contribute significantly to the achievement of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and MPA members have a unique role to play.
Nigel Jackson, Chief Executive MPA, said, “I believe this industry is uniquely placed, equipped, organized and motivated to help the UK achieve its BAP targets on habitat creation. We can do something industries which get far more Government attention, such as retail, automotives, pharmaceuticals and energy, cannot do. But we need good economic conditions to invest, reasonable and proportionate legislation and a planning system that is fit for purpose.”
The mineral products industry is already collaborating with the RSPB and Natural England on Nature After Minerals (NAM), a successful initiative designed to help identify and deliver biodiversity opportunities on former minerals sites. However, for the UK mineral products industry to continue to make a vital contribution to improving biodiversity and for initiatives such as NAM to keep running, Government support at all levels is essential.
Nigel Jackson stressed, “National and local policy makers need to continue to recognize the role that the industry can contribute to biodiversity objectives, for example through the planning system and by securing adequate funding. The NAM initiative relies in large part on the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (ALSF) which the Government has recently decided to scrap. Loss of this fund is a major setback for the interests of biodiversity and other key Government objectives.”
When pressed by Nigel Jackson on the need to retain the ALSF, Richard Benyon MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries, said:
“What has been said today about the value of the legacy of this industry is really appreciated and really understood by me. (..) I know that people are concerned about this [the ALSF]. I can’t give you the assurance that you want. You know the difficult decisions that we have had to take and I would dearly like it not to have been so. But there may be an opportunity in the future, who knows. If we get the economy back on to track, then we can get these sorts of schemes that we know are so successful back and doing the good that they undoubtedly do.”
Further quotes from the event:
- Poul Christensen, Chairman Natural England
“You do leave a legacy in what you do. The Nature After Mineral programme (…) is doing a hell of a good job for the natural environment – keep on doing it. I salute the minerals industry in the way you do nature conservation: working with local people and conservationists to transform extraction sites into new habitats for wildlife, new business opportunities and new places for people to enjoy. (...) The contribution MPA members make to the natural environment hasn’t always received, in my view, the recognition it deserves, it isn’t celebrated as it deserves to be and, to help right that wrong, Natural England is delighted to be supporting a new Biodiversity Award to celebrate the achievement of your industry."
- Dr. Mark Avery, Director of Conservation, RSPB
“It’s still a surprise to some members of the public when they hear that places where minerals have been dug out, big holes in the ground, can be fantastic places for nature afterwards - but there are lots and lots of really good examples and the number of examples is growing all the time. I think that is a sign of success for the Nature After Minerals project. (....) There really are some wonderful sites for wildlife as a result of our joint working.”
“It is particularly important that this is a joint event and, indeed, that the Nature After Minerals initiative is a joint project - not just with the voluntary sector and the RSPB and its many local partners, but with the MPA and the business side of things. It is great to hear representatives of the RSPB extolling the virtues of business and the potential for business people to actually contribute to the natural environment. That’s a very positive thing to hear about.”
Download the MPA Biodiversity Strategy here and visit the our sustainable development microsite at: www.mineralproducts.org/sustainability
For Further Information
Contact Jerry McLaughlin or Elizabeth.Clements on 02079638000, email jerry.mclaughlin@mineralproducts.org, elizabeth.clements@mineralproducts.org |
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