Government proposals part of ‘millennia-long trend of encroaching on nature’

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Sir Partha Dasgupta said he wasn’t surprised by government proposals to repeal European environment laws, liberalise planning processes in new “investment zones,” and plans to review a scheme designed to pay farmers for enhancing nature. “We have been trashing for a thousand years in some sense.” Conservationists have said a series of policies announced by the government in recent days amount to an “attack on nature.” First came the publication of legislation last Thursday that aims to axe remaining European laws, including hundreds that protect the environment. Then came the mini-Budget on Friday which set out plans “releasing land” to create new “investment zones” in England where planning rules will be “liberalised” and “streamlined.” And finally came reports that the government was planning to review, or even scrap, a scheme that would pay farmers to deliver clean water and air, thriving plants and wildlife and beauty and heritage. She pointed to a government report published in 2010 that found that “no survey has found large negative effects of environmental regulation on overall productivity, either in the short or in the long run.” Last year Sir Partha authored the Dasgupta Review, commissioned by the Treasury, which looked into the economics of biodiversity – how the world can find value in nature instead of profiting from its destruction.