Environment 'needs more effort'
June 9, 2005
England and Wales have been given a "green health check" in a 13-page document from the Environment Agency.
Called A Better Place?, the "state of the nations" report updates an assessment last made five years ago.
It details areas where environmental markers are getting better, such as the improvement in air quality and the reduction in waste from households.
But it also highlights negative trends, such as the amount of traffic pollution now experienced in many urban centres.
Overall, the Environment Agency says real progress is being made, but adds that the "report card" is undeniably mixed and on some markers a lot of work still needs to be done.
Issues relating to climate change, wildlife and flood risk are flagged as areas where the greatest ground has to be made up, and where future policy action should be concentrated.
"We have split the report into subjects, showed what is getting better and what is getting worse and then outlined what we in the Environment Agency plan to do about them and what society as a whole needs to do," said Barbara Young, the agency's chief executive.
Resource hungry
The agency says the report draws on 80 of the most dependable and revealing environmental data sets for England and Wales, giving the most comprehensive picture of environmental trends in 2005.
Overall, only the quality of water is unequivocally classed as "better".
England's and Wales' rivers and bathing waters are said now to be the cleanest on record.
Eighty percent of bathing waters meet the toughest EU standards, compared with 45% in 2000.
And pesticide levels in rivers fell by 23% in 2003, compared with the mean for 1998-2002.
Other markers, though, have at best qualified ratings.
Air quality, for example, is rated "overall, much better" but many towns and cities suffer from traffic pollution, the agency says, and industrial emissions of nitrogen oxide have increased by 5% since 2000 as a result of an increase in coal-fired electricity generation.
Wildlife is rated "slightly better but still poor".
The agency says many habitats are improving and several species, including coarse fish, otters and woodland birds continue to colonise new areas, but significant numbers of plants, reptiles, amphibians, freshwater fish and invertebrates remain under threat.
Consumption of resources and waste creation get a qualified "slightly better".
Despite strong economic growth, the amount of raw materials being used has been maintained close to 2000 levels.
And households in England and Wales might just have managed to turn the rising tide of domestic rubbish.
The total tonnage of household waste fell for the first time in 2003/04.
At the same time, recycling reached its highest level to date, with on average 17% of the domestic bin being put to new use.
It still takes 75kg of raw materials to make a mobile phone, however, and people are using more and more water despite the signs that climate change will put further pressure on this already scarce resource.
No preparation
On climate change and flood risk, the picture is described as "worse".
The impacts of climate change are becoming more real, the agency says, but while the Kyoto target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% by 2012 will be met, the more challenging target to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20% by 2010 will not, the agency says.
In large part this is because of the growth in road traffic, which increased by 7% between 2000 and 2004.
By 2002, vehicles accounted for a quarter of CO2 emissions in the UK.
And on flooding, the agency says the number of people at risk is going to increase, not least because of the predicted effects of a warmer, wetter climate.
Of the 55 times the Thames Barrier has been raised against tidal surges since it was built in 1983, 28 were in the last five years, the agency points out.
And it is concerned by a survey which shows that only 16% of people living in flood risk areas know how to respond to a flood.
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