John Pinel: Protected Areas in Jersey - where and what for?

Good afternoon, um.

A lot of what I was going to talk about actually was only be covered by sand there, um, so I'll concentrate more on the terrestrial side of things than the uh marine protected habitats that I was going to cover. Um, so I'd like to talk this afternoon about the importance of protecting habitats, and protecting large areas of land.

Um, as Sam mentioned, um, as species go through their entire life cycles, they need different types of habitats in order to fill those parts of the life cycle. So when we protect large area of land or larger area of lands, we're also protecting those species that live within there in their entire life cycles. Protected areas are essential tool for nature conservation.

Um, in order to know what sites are most important to protect, we also need to know what lives within them, and this is where organisations like the Societe Jersey are so important. Such data provided through the recording of species present in our islands has been central to the evidence base for selecting areas, the most important areas for protection.

Um, much of this data has been collected, collated and published by members of the Societe through books and media, uh, the annual bulletin, and of course it's still held today in the repository of the Jersey Biodiversity Centre in this building. So the rich natural history recorded by the Societes naturalists has enabled the development of our current protected area network in Jersey, and we'll continue to provide the evidence-based protection needed for our island to make our island resilient in the face of a change in climate and the external pressures and the internal pressures on our countryside.

So in this presentation, I'd like to give you my view on um what we need to do to create a coherent and functional network of protected areas across Jersey.

Um, these would act to significantly enhance our island's incredible ecosystems and amazing wildlife populations. The members of the Societe Jose remain central to this necessary work. So according to the National Geographic, the world's first protected area was created in Mongolia in 1783 by the Qing dynasty.

In the USA, Yellowstone was designated a National Park in 1872. And in 1879, Australia protected the area known as the Royal National Park in New South Wales. Since the 19th century, protected areas have continued to increase in number and size all over the world, and they've been described as the cornerstone of nature conservation.

In Jersey, we first designated the protected area in 1995, and we now have a suite of protected areas across the island and across our seas. In 2019, Earth.org reported that the greatest success story in the 21st century is the exponential growth of protected areas, and they state that world nations had legally designated over 202,000 protected lands, covering 19.8 million square kilometres or 15% of the Earth's surface.

But in 2022, the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London stated in their Living Planet report that global wildlife populations had plummeted by almost 70% since 1970.

So in essence, well protected areas have increased worldwide. They've been key to the catastrophic managed decline of wildlife. But without them, our earth would probably be in a much worse state. Around the world there are many types of protected areas.

Each country has its own legislation, economy, traditions, and abilities and opportunities to create large protected areas. The bigger the protected area, the more robust and likely it is to fulfil its function. As I say, Jersey now has a raft of uh protected area designations.

Um, we have, uh, a whole list from the no take zone at Portle.

Uh, the no take zone is probably the highest category of protected area that we have. They do exactly what it says on the tin. There's no harvesting of wildlife whatsoever within a no take zone. And in my view, these have been brilliantly undertaken in the collaborative manner. The Societe Jose Memeology section were closely involved in the research and development, and together with other marine conservation organisations, they provided a snorkel trail where people are invited to the area, guided to what to look for on the basis of you might look, but you mustn't touch. The area is tiny in comparison to the eyes of the to the size of our seas. It is a huge step forward, and I hope that we'll see many more of those designated. This is the marine protected area by the blue Allo there. Um, on this map as well in dark green are the island's sites of Special Interest.

These are designated for the special ecological, zoological, botanical, scientific or geological value, or maybe a combination of all of those. And the evidence base to justify these designations comes largely, as we heard from the members of the Societe Gizo. So there are currently 30 designated SSIs in Jersey, uh sorry, um biological SSI's in Jersey and 22 geological SSIs.

And there's potential for a lot more. So in theory, they're just as protected as a no take zone. But of course they're much more popular to be used by people, um, and there's a lot more leeway in administering the legislation. So whilst all wildlife is protected within an SSI, nobody really minds if somebody collects a few blackberries or a few mushrooms. Our sites of special interest are managed mainly by the Environment Department and the National Trust for Jersey, but other areas are managed by private landowners.

And this active management for wildlife, whilst enabling public access to most of the land, has been demonstrated to be better for wildlife populations than areas without an active management regime. Though an improved protected area strategy and better resourcing would enhance the network hugely.

It should be noted that apart from the ability to bid for government grants, along with any other landowner, the SSI is managed by private landowners and by the National Trust for Jersey are managed without any public money whatsoever, even though the work directly enhances people's well-being and fulfils numerous government commitments to nature conservation. On this map as well, um, what, sorry, not on this map are areas of special protection and Mhm So area special protection are designated under our new wildlife law.

These are great areas of protection because they're time bound. They only apply for certain periods of the year where wildlife is at its most vulnerable. So we have two areas protected under ASPs now on the island's offshore reefs, and they're just in place while the birds, wild birds are breeding on the site. Once the birds have left, the protection is removed and people have access again. Um, marine protected areas are highly important in a maritime place like Jersey, and they're shown here in, in pink on this map.

These are designated under sea fisheries law cover an area of around 150 square kilometres of our of our seas. This designation ensures that the worst damage to the sea floor from mobile fishing gear, such as scallop dredging can't occur, whilst permitting less destructive methods of fishing.

The Jersey National Park is a really important protected area.

It's a just a policy instrument. Um, it's first created in 2011 under the Jersey Island Plan. But the Jersey National Park is just not just a protected area. It's a huge opportunity to active actively manage our island for wildlife and for public enjoyment. It could bring together many of the threads of nature conservation, which already happen so well and deliver a landscape scale approach to nature enhancement. We also have another um designation under our our last island plan, uh the Bridging Island Plan from last year.

And this is a protected coastal area designation, which is the dark blue area on this map. The protected coastal area came about as a compromise.

It was intended to extend the boundaries of the national park into this area, but due to public opposition, the new designation of coastal protected area was brought in instead of adding it to the national park.

But a key difference between a national national park and the protected coastal area is the fact that a national park can be actively managed for wildlife and habitat restoration can enhance wildlife populations. None of this would happen in a in a protected coastal area, and it might be protected from the worst impacts of development, but wildlife will continue to decline without any ability to actively manage the populations. If we were able to incorporate the coastal protection area into the Jersey National Park, it would provide much better opportunities to manage our landscape and seascape in harmony with terrestrial, intertidal and marine wildlife protected and populations enhanced.

Another designation we have in Jersey is environmentally sensitive areas, and this is the green hatched area on this map.

It's another policy instrument that has very little, it has no protection at all in the legislation. ESAs do not enjoy any form of statutory designation, um, but serve to identify the island's key terrestrial habitat areas and the corridors that link them. So whilst we know where these highly sensitive areas are, we don't currently protect them, and we could lose them to development. These are places which should be designated, there are areas within the um these recognised areas which could be designated, and some of them are worthy of SSI protection.

Most of our woodlands, for example, are in here. Another uh designated area we have are the island's Ramsar sites.

Uh these Ramsar sites you can see on the offshore reefs and around the southeast coast of Jersey. Ramsar sites of an international designation, again, they give no legal protection, but what they do give is a a recognition of the outstanding um uh wildlife in these areas.

Ramsar encourages sustainable use and it highlights the importance, uh, which hopefully would provide some long-term protection. And lastly, the Societe is working with Jersey Heritage, or Jersey Heritage is leading on the island gear designation.

This is another UN designation, and what it would do is provide a blanket of coverage across the island, recognising our outstanding landscape, seascape, geodiversity, biodiversity, and cultural heritage. So whilst we have a whole load of different designations in Jersey protecting land and wildlife, you'll note that only the sites of special interest are actively managed for nature conservation.

The others simply avoid the worst impacts of uh of our growth. And slowly but surely, our, our um our best habitats are becoming more and more isolated and our natural heritage is getting eroded. In the past 30 years, jersey's lost one mammal species, uh, 1 amphibian, uh, one reptile has become critically endangered.

One amphibian has been brought back from the brink of local extinction. Based on 2011 data, on average, 56% of all species of birds are threatened. And butterfly numbers have declined by 17%, with one species become locally extinct. And this is just what we know about, mainly thanks to the Societe sections who collect this information. Now declines in wildlife are not just Jersey, they're a global problem and it's not just here that we're suffering.

Our urban environment is spreading all the time, with little regard to actually enhancing wildlife.

This is our main shopping street in Saint Helier, the pride of Jersey. It's drab and lifeless, not a speck of greenery inside. There's nothing there for people, there's nothing there for wildlife. And this is rolled out every time we build new homes or infrastructure. Some regard is paid to mitigating impacts and planting a few small trees, but we are relatively sure that we have an ongoing situation of biodiversity net loss, rather than biodiversity net gain. The impact of our island's intensive agricultural production has fallen as techniques have improved.

The demands of supermarkets require good standards of agricultural practise, such as the leaf mark, the linking farming and environment. New technology enables fertiliser placement, and the worst pesticides have now been banned. However, we still plough up over a third of our landscape every year, much of it more than once, eliminating everything that lives there. Agricultural practises do far less harm than they used to, but it is still not regenerative. Nothing that we do aims to restore what we've lost, it just aims to reduce the impacts on what we have left. And that's not to mention the impacts of invasive species.

Human disturbance and the disturbance caused by our pets.

Various forms of pollution and of course the apparently unstoppable progress of climate change. And despite this, we have a lack of commitment to environmental protection in Jersey, demonstrated by the resources available for nature conservation.

In 2018, we spent 857,000 pounds managing 10 hectares of four parks around the island for their pretty displays of unsustainable annual flowers and their mown lawns. This was more than twice the budget that was available for managing over 600 hectares of Jersey's richard's richest and most sensitive areas, including those designated as our sites of special interest. This is all quite bleak, but all is not lost, and we still have time to create a robust and functioning network of protected areas around the island to mitigate mitigate against future losses in the face of development and climate change.

The UN Decade on ecosystem restoration runs from 2021 to 2030.

Which is also, to quote the United Nations, the deadline for the sustainable development goals and the timeline scientists have identified as the last chance to prevent catastrophic climate change.

This is in the words of the UN. At last year's UN biodiversity Conference, COP 15, participants agreed to the 30 by 30 initiative.

This whereby world governments have agreed to try to protect 30% of our land and 30% of our seas by 2030. Now what we need in Jersey is a patchwork quilt of habitats, stitched together across the landscape, maximising space and habitat diversity.

And this will provide some mitigation and opportunity for adaptation to us and the wild plants and animals which share our home. Our government's developing a marine spatial plan.

We have a very good bridging island plan, but what we need is a terrestrial spatial plan which prioritises wildlife. Once we've determined where we shouldn't be developing, we can plan much better for the homes and infrastructure that we need for people to enjoy rewarding and fulfilling lives.

Actively engaged in the outstanding land and seascapes that we are so lucky to enjoy in Jersey. We're so close to a solution.

We have a network of SSIs all managed for nature conservation. We just need to join them up. We have huge progress on marine protected areas. They just need to be bigger. We have a raft of conventions, policy, legislation, partners, and commitment. We just need to link all these things together. We need to continue with site-based management, but carry it out on a landscape context. Landscape scale conservation takes nature conservation beyond the site-based approach that we currently deal with and looks at habitats as links on the necklace. I'd like you to close your eyes for a moment and imagine with me, the countryside and seas of Jersey with 30% of both, not just protected but actively enhanced for wildlife.

Flocks of shore birds nest undisturbed. By people and introduced predators, swallows can fill the summer skies and our wetlands can teem with migratory birds as well as those which are resident all year.

Hosts of butterflies can cloud our grasslands amongst the background hum of insects, busy pollinating diverse species of spectacular wild flowers. Bats fill the naturally dark night skies, feeding on the myriad insects which emerge from the clear, clean waters of our streams and ponds. Our soils are managed regenerative regeneratively by farmers who not only export high value products, but it provide profitable wholesome food for local markets. Our seas are teeming with fish and crustaceans, sustainably harvested by our fishers, serving local markets and exported with added value as world leading sustainable producers. And all this accessible to residents and visitors through a network of routes for walking, cycling, and boating. This thriving landscape can provide us with clean water whilst reducing flood risk and storm damage. It can sequester carbon and make the environment more resilient to climate impacts. It can provide opportunities for leisure whilst improving health and wellbeing, thereby increasing productivity, and it provides a resource which people will want to come and experience, supporting our economy. We're so close to having all this, and thanks to many people recording wildlife, we have the data we need. We have the nature reserves. We have much of the necessary legislation, and we have a really good policy direction clearly stated in the Bridging Island Plan.

So what should the future hold? We need to keep designating our best sites as sites of special interest and manage them for nature conservation, but we need to buffer those sites.

We need buffer zones around which perhaps might not be so heavily protected, but to ensure that activities on the boundaries of the SSIs do not reduce their viability. Boundary protection is really important as it protects the site's integrity.

For example, Groovville Marsh is an outstanding wetlands, an important site for migratory species. It's also a site of special interest. Several developments in recent years have been permitted to reach right up to the boundary of the protected site, creating disturbance and introducing pets to the area, particularly cats, which will predate on the birds for which the site is designated. And despite the width of the coast road in that area, a footpath was established within the boundary of the protected site, rather than by narrowing the road, impacting the site and its water quality. We need to connect all of these areas with habitat corridors to link them together, enabling meta populations of wildlife to interact and interbreed.

This is a critical piece of work that needs to be established before we lose more habitat corridors to housing development. So um we can also link all this together with a network of access routes across our rich landscape, enabling people to access all this wonderful diversity, learning and appreciating learning about it and appreciating it as we go.

And these paths and tracks can also act as additional corridors for wildlife dispersal. And of course we need to manage our urban areas better as well, to invite wildlife into our public spaces so we can watch in wonder and amazement as we sit our lattes. And we need to do all this because if we invest in wildlife, we invest in ourselves. I'll leave you with a policy statement from our 2022 Bridging Island Plan, which sums up the situation extremely well.

We just need the knowledge and commitment to implement these policies. So I hope that in another 150 years, Societe members will be sitting here congratulating this generation on its choices, with the Societese remaining central to the protection of our island's heritage. Thank you very much.