SEVERN TIDAL ENERGY SCHEMES IMPLICATIONS FOR WILDLIFE

1
SEVERN TIDAL ENERGY SCHEMESIMPLICATIONS FOR
WILDLIFE

• PeterJones
• Environmental Policy Officer
• RSPB Cymru

2
THE RSPB WHAT IS OUR INTEREST?

• ITS THE BIRDS, STUPID!
• The Severn Estuary currently supports an
  over-wintering assemblage of 69,000 birds,
  comprising a mix of swans, geese, ducks, waders
  and others.
• 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.
• But the Severn assemblage includes seven bird
  species of international significance Mute swan,
  bewicks 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
  policy.
• Data from Wetlands Bird Survey 2006/07

3
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.

4
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?

5
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!!

6
ARE BIRD NUMBERS DECLINING?CLIMATE CHANGE
IMPACTS?

• 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 gt3.7m by 2100 or the
  consequence of melting polar ice sheets and
  glaciers gt12m.
• Possible increase in frequency and severity of
  tidal surges.
• Temperature changes likely to affect migration of
  some over-wintering Severn species.

7
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-as-usual 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.