英国已经进行了很长时间的秘密谈判,想要保护英国的最重要的野生生物自然保护区。因为这些保护区已经陷入了崩溃的边缘。这究竟是怎么回事呢,我们来看一下下面的雅思阅读材料。
Secret Government negotiations to dispose of Englands most precious wildlife sites in a big money-saving exercise are in tatters.
Wildlife charities which the Government had assumed would take over the running of 140 national nature reserves are refusing to do so without new funding, which would run into many millions of pounds. Their insistence on a big cash injection as a condition of any transfer may mean the whole idea will be scrapped.
The reserves, which range from the Lizard in Cornwall to Lindisfarne in Northumberland, and in size from three-quarters of an acre at Horn Park Quarry in Dorset to 22,000 acres of the Wash, represent many of the finest wildlife sites in the country. There are 224 of them, 140 run by the Governments wildlife agency, Natural England. Harbouring such distinctive habitats as ancient woodland, chalk grassland and lowland heath, and sheltering rare species such as nightingales, orchids and red squirrels, the reserves are regarded as the jewels in the crown of British nature conservation.
Since the election, however, Conservative ministers from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have been trying to get rid of the sites run by Natural England. Ministers have been engaged in confidential talks to try to get several wildlife charities to take over the running of the reserves.
Initially, ministers wanted to sell the nature reserves outright, but quickly found there were no takers. So for several months they have been talking about handing them over to the National Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wildlife Trusts Partnership, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, the Woodland Trust, Butterfly Conservation and Plantlife.
These charities do not object in principle to taking on the reserves, and all have the necessary expertise to run them. However, they have raised a number of objections, the key one being money, and in a written warning to Defra, the charities state that Government must ensure sustainable funding packages are in place to support delivery throughout the length of service delivery agreements. Translation: you will have to pick up the cost for the whole length of the time we run one of your former nature reserves.
There is a further financial caveat: the charities insist that the government must comply with regulations which safeguard staff when their jobs are transferred. This means that the Government will have to guarantee the salaries and pension arrangements of Natural England employees now managing the reserves, which are likely to be more generous than those prevailing in the charities.
The full cost to Natural England of running its reserves is £9.9m annually: this is made up of £4.5m for maintenance and other running costs, and £5.4m in staff costs. If the wildlife charities together insist on a similar sum for taking on the reserves, the potential savings will simply disappear. Some observers think this puts the whole idea in jeopardy. A senior government source admitted that it was now having to think through lots of different funding models.
Yet money is not the only hurdle. The charities are also insisting on a strict regime of safeguards for any reserves which are transferred, or for any of the landholdings of the Forestry Commission which the Coalition plans to sell off. They say that there should be no net loss of biodiversity, heritage significance or public access as a result of the transfer of land.
The charities tough conditions have emerged because their document, which has not been officially published, has been made available on the website of the wildflower charity Plantlife, and this is the first public acknowledgement of the discussions which have been going on. Victoria Chester, Plantlifes chief executive, said the charities were all agreed that the Government had to be involved in funding.
Englands most precious wildlife sites
The Lizard
The Lizard national nature reserve in Cornwall is a remarkable mixture of habitats, from majestic cliffs and beaches to coastal grassland and inland heaths. The wildlife star is the chough, the crow with a red bill which is also the county bird of Cornwall. In spring the swaths of cliff-top wild flowers are breathtaking and the heaths are ablaze with colour in summer.
The Wash
Englands largest nature reserve is one of the countrys last great wildernesses, an internationally important wetland site in Norfolk and Lincolnshire whose mudflats and saltmarshes represent one of Britains best winter feeding areas for waders and wildfowl. Its star species include waders and one of the largest breeding colonies of seal in the UK.
Lindisfarne
The Northumbrian island of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, has a twinfold importance: its monastery was one of the key sites of early Celtic Christianity and it is a superb wildlife site. Its most typical habitat is the sand dunes which in summer are alive with orchids and insects. Its special birds are wintering wildfowl and waders, including pale-bellied brent geese from Svalbard, wigeons, grey plovers and bar-tailed godwits.
Horn Park Quarry
Britains smallest national nature reserve has been listed for its geology: the disused limestone quarry, once worked for local building stone, contains preserved fossils from the Inferior Oolite, which dates from the Middle Jurassic period, particularly ammonites. Public visits to the site can be arranged
Uber前员工爆性别歧视,用户大规模删除账户
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题2 完形填空 3记叙文(三)(含解析)
体坛英语资讯:Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei on track to final showdown
国内英语资讯:China busts first market manipulation case under Shanghai-HK stock link
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题2 完形填空 4说明文(含解析)
国际英语资讯:Spotlight: EU summit concludes but debate on EU future, unity continues
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题1 七选五 2说明文(二)(含解析)
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题2 完形填空 7夹叙夹议(二)(含解析)
快递新规落地! 禁寄物品最新版目录出炉!
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题5短文改错(含答案)
《血战钢锯岭》电影精讲(视频)
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题3 阅读理解 2数字计算(含解析)
国际英语资讯:IMF chief warns against dangers of protectionism
美国六个州挑战川普新的旅行限令
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题3 阅读理解 8词语意义猜测(含解析)
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题3 阅读理解 9主旨大意(含解析)
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题2 完形填空 1记叙文(一)(含解析)
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题3 阅读理解 4隐含信息(含解析)
美国的这个妇女节不太平,特朗普压力山大
体坛英语资讯:Balotelli on target, Nice slip up points in Ligue 1 title race
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题3 阅读理解 5文章出处或读者对象(含解析)
【创新方案】2017届高考英语二轮复习专题滚动检测:30(含解析)
你没看错! 法国人邀请奥巴马参选总统!
专家给你支招,适应新工作不是难事!
国内英语资讯: Chinese envoy calls for improvement of security situation in Afghanistan
国内英语资讯: China punishes firms for faking assets to get listed
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题3 阅读理解 6观点看法(含解析)
2017届高考英语一轮复习阅读理解解析版汇编:16(含解析)
【南方新课堂】2017高考英语二轮复习专题训练:专题1 七选五 1说明文(一)(含解析)
国际英语资讯:Malaysian police confirm DPRK man killed in airport to be Kim Jong Nam
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |