The first report of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) is warning that the “natural environment in England remains under serious threat” with “little good news to report.”
The first report of the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) is warning that the “natural environment in England remains under serious threat” with “little good news to report.”
According to the OEP, the 25 Year Environmental Plan has so far failed to bring about the changes needed, at the pace and scale required, to meet the Government’s stated ambitions for the environment in England.
The natural environment in England remains under serious threat, the report says, and is characterised by adverse trends in many areas, frequent failure to make progress towards targets, and a lack of progress in addressing existential risks, including from climate change.
In the OEP’s view, many of the extremely worrying environmental trends addressed in its first monitoring report remain unchecked.
"The situation is poor across the board"
Of 32 trends assessed in the OEP’s independent assessment of Government’s progress; nine trends were improving, eleven were static, and eight were deteriorating. Of 23 environmental targets assessed, none were found where Government’s progress was demonstrably on track.
“The situation is poor across the board, with adverse trends across marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments….
“Government data show that many targets are at significant risk of not being achieved, including targets relating to improving water quality and halting the decline in the abundance of species.” the report says.
Shortcomings in progress on the water environment raised throughout the report
Time and again shortcomings in the water environment are raised throughout the report, with sewerage issues and agricultural runoff highlighted as among the main threats to freshwater in the UK.
Commenting on the Government’s environmental targets for Clean and Plentiful Water, the report says progress falls short in those it assessed. The report states:
“Two targets have deadlines in the past, but the available data do not permit assessment of whether they were met. Our assessments, based on the most recent data and trends, suggest they were unlikely to have been met by the specified date; in these circumstances we characterise progress as significantly off track.”
OEP Chair: “Progress on delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan has fallen far short"
OEP Chair Dame Glenys Stacey said:
“Progress on delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan has fallen far short of what is needed to meet Government’s ambition to leave the environment in a better state for future generations.
“There have been recent improvements in air quality and people’s engagement with nature, as Covid lockdowns changed the way we live our lives. But many extremely worrying environmental trends remain unchecked, including a chronic decline in species abundance.
“Our assessment shows that the current pace and scale of action will not deliver the changes necessary to significantly improve the environment in England. But there is clear opportunity to change course.
“At the end of this month Government is due to publish a refreshed EIP. We hope that the advice given in our previous monitoring report, published in May last year, will have been influential. This is a key opportunity to make meaningful cross-government plans to protect, restore and improve the environment, with a true focus on delivery. That plan must then be regularly refined and adapted, taking into account evidence on what needs to improve.”
The OEP report published today identifies a number of key themes to help improve future delivery of the EIP. These include:
- better alignment and co-ordination at all levels of Government, local and national, with actions that extend beyond Defra;
- better targeted and timely data collection and collation, with the goals of the EIP in mind;
- improved assessment of progress, with a purpose-driven monitoring, evaluation, and learning framework.
Click here to download the report Progress in improving the natural environment in England, 2021/2022 in full
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