EDITORIAL : THE GUARDIAN, UK

 

Biodiversity: It's the ecology, stupid

At every level, human civilisation is underwritten by the planet's countless and still mostly unidentified wild things

The water we drink falls as rain, usually on higher ground, often designated as a catchment area. The terrain would ideally be covered in vegetation, because otherwise the runoff would be muddy, the reservoirs would silt up and the valleys would flood. But plants depend on billions of insects to pollinate them. Insects also devour foliage, so forests depend on birds by day and bats by night to keep insect populations under control. To prevent a population crash, there must also be raptors to keep the insectivores in order – and the taps running. At every level, human civilisation is underwritten by the planet's countless and still mostly unidentified wild things – the jargon word is biodiversity – that pollinate our crops, cleanse, conserve and recycle our water, maintain oxygen levels, and deliver all the things on which human comfort, health, and security depend. Economists and conservationists have tried to put a value on the services of nature: if we had to buy what biodiversity provides for nothing, how much cash would we need? The answer runs into trillions, but the question is nonsensical. Without healthy ecosystems, there would be no cotton and linen to make banknotes and no bread or clean water for sale.

Last week the European commission unveiled its 2020 biodiversity strategy, and introduced the notion of a "green infrastructure" from Orkney to the Black Sea. A continent-sized strategy is indeed necessary: swifts, swallows and swallowtail butterflies do not care about national boundaries. It focuses on the economic value of forest, grassland, heath, wetland, lake, river and farmland ecosystems. The auguries are not encouraging. One fourth of all Europe's farmland birds flew away between 1990 and 2007; 40 or more of Europe's 435 butterflies are now fluttering to extinction. Yes, extinctions are a normal part of evolutionary history, but not on such a scale and pace. And who knows which species an ecosystem can do without, and still function for human benefit?

The EU in 2006 vowed to halt species loss by 2010, but in 2008 admitted frankly that targets would not be met. Around 18% of Europe's land area is protected, but governments and environment agencies need to think very hard about not just protecting but restoring habitats in much of the remaining 82%. Inevitably, those critics who do not condemn Brussels for the failure of its biodiversity policies so far will vilify it for fretting about dragonflies, toads and liverworts while economies stagnate and industries collapse. Both responses are wrong. Europe may propose, but the member states must implement. And although the cost of conserving biodiversity will be considerable, the price of not doing so could be truly terrible.

Liberal Democrats: The hard road back

The rose garden love-in a year ago was understandable in some ways but it was a political misjudgment

Looking at the opinion polls since the general election, and in particular at the results of last week's elections, many still ask why British voters are disproportionately punishing the Liberal Democrats and not their much larger coalition partners, the Conservatives. This is the wrong question. Conservative voters are not punishing the Conservative party because, broadly speaking, they like what the coalition government is doing. As a result, the Tory vote held up across Britain last week. The same did not happen for the Liberal Democrats because, quite simply, it is Liberal Democrat voters, or more accurately, a significant proportion of them, and not the electorate as a whole, who are punishing the Lib Dems. One in three people who voted Lib Dem in 2010 did not do so again on Thursday. Most of them switched to Labour, though with how much lasting conviction only time will tell. But the Lib Dems have to try to win them back, and they have to convince the two out of three who stuck with the party last week, some with many misgivings, that they were right to do so. The party needs to reconnect with them. It isn't complicated.

Nick Clegg began the task of reconnection with a strong performance on the Andrew Marr Show yesterday. The tone, the positioning and the main themes had been well trailed by other senior Lib Dems since well before last week's voting. The coalition would go on. The deficit reduction strategy was inescapable. The relationship with the Tories would be more businesslike. The distinctive and moderating Lib Dem voice would be louder. And there would be substantial and significant changes in the government's NHS plans.

These are the bare minimum of the messages that Mr Clegg needs to get across if he is to have serious hope of redressing last week's election setbacks and rebuilding confidence. Not that mood music is unimportant. If more attention had been paid to it earlier, the Lib Dems might be in a less grim position today. The rose garden love-in a year ago was understandable in some ways but it was a political misjudgment. So was the very public enthusiasm with which the then chief secretary David Laws embraced the deficit-cutting programme a few days later – memories of that are so strong that the often mooted return to office by Mr Laws would send a bad signal to the Lib Dems' lost voters. Even the arrangement of the Commons chamber, requiring Lib Dem ministers to be seen mingled with the Tories on the government benches rather than sitting in their own separate section, deserves attention. The Lib Dems need to be much tougher about mood and messages.

In the end, though, it is policies and discernible practical achievements that of course matter most. The damage that the Lib Dems did themselves over tuition fees remains huge. It may define the party for years, as the sterling crisis defined the Tories under John Major and the Iraq war Labour under Tony Blair. There is not a lot they can do about that issue now. But it only increases the need for the Lib Dems to draw and defend clear lines, within the coalition, on matters that are fundamental to liberal British voters. One of those issues is the future of the banks, where the party still has a chance to leave a truly progressive mark. Another is the priority given to the green economy. A third is an uncompromising assertion of the need to clean up the House of Lords democratically. A fourth is to hold the line on the Human Rights Act, one of the Lib Dems' important but unsung achievements so far. There are many others. But there is no disputing where the most important battle of the next few months will come. The destructive reorganisation of the NHS and the impact of the spending freeze are the immediate must-win battleground for Lib Dem credibility. Mr Clegg has to stop the Lansley reforms, and be seen to have stopped them. If he does not, then he and his party may pay an even higher price than they paid last week.

In praise of … Havergal Brian

His Gothic Symphony is the ultimate cult neglected work by a British composer forgotten by all but the fanatical few

After booking opened on Saturday for the BBC Proms 2011, 87,000 tickets were sold in the first 12 hours. Amid such Glastonbury-level demand, it is not surprising that seats for a few of the starriest concerts have now all gone – though uniquely, of course, there will still be 1,400 tickets available each night on the night. It's no shock that Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra were first to sell out the Albert Hall, or that the Verdi Requiem ran them a close second. No surprise, either, among the chamber concerts, that tickets for Bach's Goldberg Variations and the Yo-Yo Ma recital have now gone too. The truly remarkable news, astonishing even, is that the only other Prom to sell out on day one is a performance of an 84-year-old work that has only ever been played complete five times and has not been heard in London for 30 years. Havergal Brian's Gothic Symphony is the ultimate cult neglected work by a British composer forgotten by all but the fanatical few. Everything about it is massive, from the 150-strong main orchestra, the 40 extra brass players and the nine choirs who will cram the Albert Hall to the Gothic's two-hour length. The rare performance on 17 July has clearly struck a suitably gargantuan chord. "Stunning recognition for Brian's magnum opus," was the Havergal Brian Society's verdict to the news. Those of us who missed out on Saturday will surely be crammed into the standing places or glued to our radios for this once-in-a-livetime symphonic extravaganza.