Chair: Paul Walton, RSPB
Vice Chair: Margaret Palmer, Buglife
Policy and Campaigns Manager: Zoe Davies, Link
The Link Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) Working Group continues to advocate for INNS legislation to be properly implemented, resourced and enforced, now and after the UK leaves the EU.
In August, the INNS Group met with Defra officials to discuss the Statutory Instrument (SI) that will convert the EU Invasive Alien Species Regulation into domestic law. As Defra is unable to run a full public consultation on this, and many other, SIs, the extent to which the group is able to influence the scope of the SI is very limited. The Group has significant concerns that the Regulation will be much weaker in UK statute than it was in the EU due to lack of comparable infrastructure and access to resources. The Group intends to work closely with Parliamentary colleagues to exert maximum influence once the SI is laid in Parliament.
In a recent submission to the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee’s inquiry on Brexit and biosecurity, the Group emphasised the importance of the EU IAS Regulation to UK biosecurity and the need to bring Government spending on INNS prevention and control in line with spending on other biosecurity measures. The Group reiterated the need for an adequately resourced regime of effective and proportionate penalties in its response to the Government’s consultation on enforcement of the EU IAS Regulation.
INNS Group Chair, Paul Walton, and Link’s Policy and Campaigns Manager, Zoe Davies, recently met with Defra Minister, Lord Gardiner to explore how Link can support Defra and the Great Britain Non-Native Species Secretariat (GBNNSS) to encourage partnership working and harness the power of volunteers to tackle invasive non-native species on the ground.
The Group continues to have a productive relationship with GBNNSS, providing advice and expertise to the Secretariat for effective implementation of the GB Non-Native Species Strategy and EU IAS Regulation. The Group is collaborating with the Secretariat on a project to improve biosecurity signage at nature reserves.
For further information, contact Zoe Davies, Link’s Policy and Campaigns Manager.
Last updated: 31 August 2018
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