Transcript Document

SEVERN TIDAL ENERGY SCHEMES
IMPLICATIONS FOR WILDLIFE
PeterJones
Environmental Policy Officer
RSPB Cymru
7/20/2015
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THE RSPB – WHAT IS OUR INTEREST?
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IT’S THE BIRDS, STUPID!
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The Severn Estuary currently supports an overwintering assemblage of 69,000 birds, comprising
a mix of swans, geese, ducks, waders and others.
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The Severn ranks ninth in such numbers among
GB estuaries – the Ribble, for example,
accommodates 237,000, the Dee 134,000 and even
the Mersey 86,000.
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But the Severn assemblage includes seven bird
species of international significance: Mute swan,
bewick’s swan, shelduck, pintail, shoveler, ringed
plover and dunlin. Further ten or so species of
national GB significance.

RSPB policy staff engaged in climate change
studies, sustainable development and energy
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policy.
BIRDS – SO WHAT?
The Severn estuary has the following international
protective designations:
European Union Special Protection Area.

Ramsar site under the Convention on Wetlands of
International Importance.

Candidate EU Special Area of Conservation; the
tributary rivers Usk and Wye have SAC status.

Various designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest
under UK law.
Legal obligation on the UK government to uphold
these protections.
No development damaging to the species and
habitats protected under these designations can
proceed, unless it can be shown that there are no less
damaging alternatives, that the development is of
overriding public importance, and suitable
compensation can be found for the species and
habitats concerned.
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WILL A TIDAL ENERGY PROJECT IN
THE SEVERN BE DAMAGING TO
BIRDS AND OTHER WILDLIFE?
‘A tidal barrage would fundamentally change the
nature of the Severn estuary’. [SDC – Turning the Tide, 2007]
Over-wintering birds forage for invertebrate prey found
in the inter-tidal mud and sand-flats. Around 60% of
this habitat would be lost if the Cardiff/Weston
barrage were to be built.
Fish species, including Atlantic salmon, lamprey, shad
and eels would be at risk from the turbines.
The unique tidal dynamism of the Severn would be much
reduced, creating an up-stream water environment
fundamentally different to its current status –
implications for sediment deposition, invertebrate
species and the current range of bird species.
What would happen to overall capacity and foraging
opportunities?
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LA RANCE – ANY LESSONS?
Severn conservation aim – to maintain its role as an
exceptional high-energy system.
La Rance: 0.24GW capacity; 540GWh output
C/W Barrage: 8.64GW capacity; 17,000GWh output
La Rance – ria-type estuary; embayment of the sea.
Little information re La Rance habitats, wildlife or
ecosystems prior to barrage completion.
Loss of inter-tidal habitat, with increased sub-tidal – the
latter has minimal significance for birds.
Bird species increases since the 1970s are general across
western Europe – cannot be ascribed to the Rance
barrage. Fish species – Rance doing less well than the
barrage-free Severn.
Severn is not a ‘barren system’ – typical of a very high
energy system with associated ecology – ‘special’, not
ordinary.
Ordinariness is hardly something to aspire to!!
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ARE BIRD NUMBERS DECLINING?
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS?
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The five-year assemblage for 2006/07 is slightly
higher than the comparable figure at the time of
SPA designation in the late 1980s.
Dunlin and European white-fronted goose have
decreased substantially, probably due to global
warming and short-stopping. Some species have
increased – shelduck, pintail, teal, lapwing –
while most show no significant change.
Sea-level rise from global warming is a major
unknown – the cautious figures of the IPCC 4th
Assessment Report >3.7m by 2100; or the
consequence of melting polar ice sheets and
glaciers >12m.
Possible increase in frequency and severity of tidal
surges.
Temperature changes likely to affect migration of 6
some over-wintering Severn species.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS/ISSUES
Climate change threatens birds and other wildlife as
much as it threatens humans.
RSPB-supported research suggests that up to 37% of
global land-based species could be on the road to
extinction by 2050 – combined effect of business-asusual greenhouse gas emissions and human land use
changes.
Research also suggests that renewable energy and GHG
emission reduction targets can be met without a major
tidal energy scheme in the Severn. Any such scheme,
therefore, need only be adopted if it is likely to be
environmentally benign.
Trashing the natural world in order to save it is not a
sustainable strategy.
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