I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require food manufacturers to label products to indicate the environmental sustainability of their origins; and for connected purposes.
We face a biodiversity crisis both here in the United Kingdom and across the world. Around the world, the World Wide Fund for Nature’s most recent “Living Planet” report shows a massive decline in wildlife populations—down by about 68% since 1970. Here in our country, many much-loved species, such as the hedgehog, are facing a catastrophic decline in their numbers. There are numerous reasons for this huge loss of plant and animal species. They range from the continuous erosion of habitats to ill-judged practices in food growing and manufacturing. None of this is news, but as we enter 2021—a year when the future of our environment will be at the top of the global agenda both in China, at the special conference looking at biodiversity issues, and later in the year here, with the COP26 summit—surely the time has come for global action to halt this catastrophic decline.
We cannot change the world by ourselves, but we can set an example to everyone in seeking to do so, and when it comes to biodiversity, we must start now and act urgently. I very much welcome the steps being taken by the Government in the Environment and Agriculture Bills to enshrine in law greater protections for our own environment here. Measures such as incentivising farmers to increase the perimeters of fields to create more habitats for animals and wild flowers are really good examples of what can be done to make a difference. However, the most powerful influences of all are not to be found in Government or in this place; it is among consumers both here and around the world that a difference can be made. Someone once said:
“You can’t buck the market,”
and she was right. If the markets both here and internationally say, “Enough is enough,” then the world will have to change. That is the point of this proposed Bill.
Anyone who wants to understand the need for the Bill should just take a look at an island like Borneo. It is home to the critically endangered orangutan, one of our nearest relatives in the primate world. Where once those magnificent creatures roamed wide areas of rainforest, now huge sweeps of what was once their habitat are covered by plantations growing palm oil for international food markets such as ours. The orangutans are confined to less and less space, and their numbers continue to dwindle. We cannot instruct the Government of Borneo to stop allowing the development of palm oil plantations, but we can stop buying that palm oil ourselves and encourage others to do the same.
The same is true closer to home. My hon. Friend the Member for Broxbourne (Sir Charles Walker) has just launched an all-party group rightly to try to strengthen protections for chalk streams in this country. They are a really important part of our natural ecosystems and home to many native species. Too often over the years, ill-thought-out farming practices have allowed that biodiversity to be threatened and damaged. As consumers, we should not have to accept locally produced food without the confidence that it has been grown or reared with a firm eye on protecting local biodiversity.