Government’s assessment of the state of the marine environment has ‘essential shortcomings’ that risk undermining the effectiveness of efforts to drive improvement, says the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP).
Government has consulted on updates to its UK Marine Strategy (UKMS) Part One Assessment. This provides an assessment of the state of UK marine waters, sets out the objectives for achieving Good Environmental Status (‘GES’) and the targets and indicators used to measure progress towards GES.
In the OEP’s response to this consultation, Helen Venn, the OEP’s Chief Regulatory Officer, said: “Achieving GES of marine waters is not just a legal obligation but is a critical outcome for the UK. Progress towards GES has not, however, been commensurate with the scale of the challenge. Trends indicate a continued deterioration in the UK’s marine environment, with GES having been met for only two out of 15 indicators in this latest assessment compared to four out of 15 in 2019.
“An effective update to the UK’s Part One assessment is vital. A comprehensive understanding of the state of the marine environment, underpinned by a robust evidence base and assessment methodology, is a prerequisite for effective management.
“In our view, however, the draft Part One contains essential shortcomings that should not be present in an assessment of such critical importance. We appreciate the government is hampered by the sparsity of reliable evidence, and these issues are not insurmountable. We consider they can and should be rectified, so the final assessment can drive the management of UK seas to deliver commitments for environmental protection”
The OEP’s consultation response highlights three main issues:
- There is a general lack of methodological consistency and transparency. For example, multiple methods are used to aggregate indicator assessments into GES ratings. This obscures how assessments have been conducted and makes progress difficult to gauge.
- Data gaps and an inconsistent approach to addressing them, creates a fragmented and potentially misleading picture of progress - undermining the credibility, comparability, and robustness of the overall assessment.
- None of the proposed overarching or criteria targets are entirely SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). While some examples are better than others, most lack specificity and none are timebound.
Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) has also identified similar concerns in its response to the consultation. ESS Chief Executive Mark Roberts said: "The assessment comes at a critical time for Scotland's seas. It coincides with proposals for statutory nature targets under the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill and the backdrop of continuing pressures from human activity and climate change.
"However, in its current form, the published assessment and the associated consultation fall significantly short of the standards that we expect from public authorities. Our response to the consultation outlines key actions that we hope will now be taken to allow thorough scrutiny of whether Part One of the assessment accurately represents the condition of UK seas."
To read the OEP’s response, click on the blue button on the right of this page.
The ESS response can be found here: Letter from ESS to Scottish Government - UKMS Consultation - Environmental Standards Scotland
The consultation response is separate from the OEP’s ongoing investigation into a suspected failure to exercise relevant functions so as to secure compliance with the Marine Strategy Framework Directive requirement to take the necessary measures to achieve or maintain GES by 31 December 2020. More information about that investigation can be found here: OEP launches investigation into a suspected failure by Defra to take the necessary measures to achieve Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine waters | Office for Environmental Protection
