North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called for a new approach to agri- environment schemes to save the Curlew from extinction.
Mr Isherwood, who is a Wales Species Champion for the Curlew, is concerned that despite years of agri-environment schemes for the Curlew, it is facing species extinction.
Raising the matter in the Assembly Chamber yesterday with the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths AM, he said:
“In a recent meeting with a group of organisations - the Countryside Alliance, the British Trust for Ornithology, Natural Resources Wales - I heard that agri-environment schemes for the Curlew have been operating for 40 years, but they haven't worked. We've seen an 80 per cent reduction in the population in Wales over the last 22 years, and we're facing country-level disappearance completely by 2030 if we don't make urgent interventions.
“As you might be aware, in January there was a conference attended by 120 experts from conservation, farming, game and rural policy sectors in Builth Wells on the ‘Status and future of Curlew in Wales’, and one of their key conclusions related to agri-environment programmes. They call for an evidence-based review of Curlew prescriptions within existing agri-environment schemes, asking have they worked and are they suitable, and for pro-Curlew policies embedded within agri-environment schemes, such as outcome-led prescriptive management.
“I'm grateful that I've got a meeting with Hannah Blythyn (the Environment Minister) shortly to discuss the broader issues around the Curlew, but, specifically about agri-environment issues, what engagement have you had, or will you have, with the sector to help guide the development of agri-environment schemes in the future that reverse this decline as a matter of urgency?”
The Cabinet Secretary replied: “As you said, there is a meeting arranged with the Minister for Environment, but what I think is very important is that we make sure that we monitor and evaluate all of our schemes in a way that shows us the outcomes. And, clearly, if there are concerns around this particular one, we'd be very happy to look at that.”
Mr Isherwood added: “Its too late for monitoring now. The Curlew has not responded to years of agri- environment schemes and is now facing species extinction, so we must be doing it wrong. Without urgent and co-ordinated action now, we will lose this iconic bird.”