Councillor Aves to move:
Devon County Council is developing the Devon Carbon Plan aiming to reach net zero carbon by 2050 at the latest. The Plan includes the ambition to enhance the ability of habitats along our 200 miles of coast, in our countryside and in our villages, towns and cities to store carbon. This offers tremendous opportunities to reverse the decline of biodiversity and restore healthy ecosystems. This council has shown its wider environmental values through its support of projects such as the Exe Estuary Management Partnership.
In May 2019, after Devon County Council declared a Climate Emergency, a partnership formed to respond to the climate and ecological emergency in Devon. Its members represent private sector interests, environmental organisations, academic institutions, and public bodies, including our neighbours Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council. Plymouth City Council is leading the way in connecting people to the ocean through the development of the UK’s first National Marine Park, in Plymouth Sound and as the first Council to pass the Ocean Recovery Declaration.
International and national context
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development runs from 2021 to 2030. Last year the UK hosted COP26 in Glasgow and the G7 came to Cornwall. The UK Government has publicly declared its ambition to be a global leader in marine conservation. All eyes are on the ocean.
There is national and global recognition that the world ocean is in crisis. The impact of the climate crisis on the ocean is profound, including in our local waters. Raised atmospheric carbon dissolves in the seawater and causes ocean acidification, dissolving the shells, reefs and other hard parts of marine animals. The heating of the climate causes ocean heating too which makes some parts of the ocean intolerable for life and is changing what lives and is caught locally. It also increases the volume of the ocean which causes sea level rise, added to by ice melt at the poles. Thanks to a more turbulent climate, increased storminess and sea level rise is a serious threat to all coastal communities, economies and infrastructure including Devon coasts. Marine microplastics have been found in all marine environments and in the bodies of many species, including humans. Fish stocks collapse from permitted and illegal overfishing. Poor water quality is impacting seafood and preventing safe bathing.
We must play our part in securing the sustainability and health of the ocean. Action is needed at all levels, from individuals developing their ocean literacy (understanding of the relationship between people and the ocean), individual and collective marine citizenship (promoting and demanding an ocean recovery through local, national and international policy changes).
This Council declares an urgent need for Ocean Recovery.
We recognise that we need ocean recovery to meet our net zero carbon targets, and we need net zero carbon to recover our ocean.
This Council pledges to:
1. Report to Full Council within 6 months on the actions and projects that will begin an ocean recovery in Devon.
2. Embed ocean recovery in all strategic decisions, budgets, procurement and approaches to decisions by the Council (particularly in planning, regeneration, skills and economic policy), aligning with climate change mitigation and adaptation requirements and considering ocean-based solutions in our journey towards a carbon neutral and climate resilient future.
3. Ensure that local planning supports ocean recovery, working closely with the Marine Management Organisation to embed strong links between the Local Plans and the South West Marine Plan to support ocean recovery.
4. Work with partners locally and nationally to deliver increased sustainability in local marine industries and invest in the development of a sustainable and equitable blue economy that delivers ocean recovery and local prosperity, including the local fishing industry and the vital work of the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA).
5. Grow ocean literacy and marine citizenship in the county, including ensuring all pupils have a first-hand experience of the ocean before leaving primary school, and promote sustainable and equitable access to the ocean through physical and digital experiences for all students.
6. Create an online portal of the Council website to update on ocean recovery progress, signpost to ocean literacy development opportunities, and marine citizenship pledges.
7. Write to the Government to put the ocean into net recovery by 2030 by
a. Ensuring Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities have the resources they need to effectively research and monitor our growing number of marine protected areas, and to set and enforce appropriate fishing levels that support local economies and deliver environmental sustainability.
b. Work with coastal communities to co-develop marine policy to ensure it delivers equitable and sustainable outcomes in local placemaking.
c. Appoint a dedicated Minister for Coastal Communities.
d. Stop plastic pollution at source by strengthening the regulations around single-use plastics and set standards for microfibre-catching filters to ensure that all new domestic and commercial washing machines are fitted with a filter that captures a high percentage of microfibres produced in the wash cycle.
e. And by listening to marine and social scientific advice to update the Marine Policy Statement and produce a national Ocean Recovery Strategy which will:
i. Enable the recovery of marine ecosystems rather than managing degraded or altered habitats in their reduced state.
ii. Consider levelling up, marine conservation, energy, industrial growth, flood and coastal erosion risk management, climate adaptation and fisheries policy holistically rather than as competing interests.
iii. Develop a smarter approach to managing the health of the entire ocean that moves beyond Marine Protected Areas and enables links to be made across sectors towards sustainability.
iv. Establish improved processes for understanding the benefits from ocean management, leaving no doubt the links between this and human lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing.
Decision:
In accordance with Standing Order 6(6) the Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Cabinet for consideration.
Minutes:
Councillor Aves MOVED and Councillor Barnes SECONDED
Devon County Council is developing the Devon Carbon Plan aiming to reach net zero carbon by 2050 at the latest. The Plan includes the ambition to enhance the ability of habitats along our 200 miles of coast, in our countryside and in our villages, towns and cities to store carbon. This offers tremendous opportunities to reverse the decline of biodiversity and restore healthy ecosystems. This council has shown its wider environmental values through its support of projects such as the Exe Estuary Management Partnership.
In May 2019, after Devon County Council declared a Climate Emergency, a partnership formed to respond to the climate and ecological emergency in Devon. Its members represent private sector interests, environmental organisations, academic institutions, and public bodies, including our neighbours Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council. Plymouth City Council is leading the way in connecting people to the ocean through the development of the UK’s first National Marine Park, in Plymouth Sound and as the first Council to pass the Ocean Recovery Declaration.
International and national context
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development runs from 2021 to 2030. Last year the UK hosted COP26 in Glasgow and the G7 came to Cornwall. The UK Government has publicly declared its ambition to be a global leader in marine conservation. All eyes are on the ocean.
There is national and global recognition that the world ocean is in crisis. The impact of the climate crisis on the ocean is profound, including in our local waters. Raised atmospheric carbon dissolves in the seawater and causes ocean acidification, dissolving the shells, reefs and other hard parts of marine animals. The heating of the climate causes ocean heating too which makes some parts of the ocean intolerable for life and is changing what lives and is caught locally. It also increases the volume of the ocean which causes sea level rise, added to by ice melt at the poles. Thanks to a more turbulent climate, increased storminess and sea level rise is a serious threat to all coastal communities, economies and infrastructure including Devon coasts. Marine microplastics have been found in all marine environments and in the bodies of many species, including humans. Fish stocks collapse from permitted and illegal overfishing. Poor water quality is impacting seafood and preventing safe bathing.
We must play our part in securing the sustainability and health of the ocean. Action is needed at all levels, from individuals developing their ocean literacy (understanding of the relationship between people and the ocean), individual and collective marine citizenship (promoting and demanding an ocean recovery through local, national and international policy changes).
This Council declares an urgent need for Ocean Recovery.
We recognise that we need ocean recovery to meet our net zero carbon targets, and we need net zero carbon to recover our ocean.
This Council pledges to:
1. Report to Full Council within 6 months on the actions and projects that will begin an ocean recovery in Devon.
2. Embed ocean recovery in all strategic decisions, budgets, procurement and approaches to decisions by the Council (particularly in planning, regeneration, skills and economic policy), aligning with climate change mitigation and adaptation requirements and considering ocean-based solutions in our journey towards a carbon neutral and climate resilient future.
3. Ensure that local planning supports ocean recovery, working closely with the Marine Management Organisation to embed strong links between the Local Plans and the South West Marine Plan to support ocean recovery.
4. Work with partners locally and nationally to deliver increased sustainability in local marine industries and invest in the development of a sustainable and equitable blue economy that delivers ocean recovery and local prosperity, including the local fishing industry and the vital work of the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCA).
5. Grow ocean literacy and marine citizenship in the county, including ensuring all pupils have a first-hand experience of the ocean before leaving primary school, and promote sustainable and equitable access to the ocean through physical and digital experiences for all students.
6. Create an online portal of the Council website to update on ocean recovery progress, signpost to ocean literacy development opportunities, and marine citizenship pledges.
7. Write to the Government to put the ocean into net recovery by 2030 by
a. Ensuring Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities have the resources they need to effectively research and monitor our growing number of marine protected areas, and to set and enforce appropriate fishing levels that support local economies and deliver environmental sustainability.
b. Work with coastal communities to co-develop marine policy to ensure it delivers equitable and sustainable outcomes in local placemaking.
c. Appoint a dedicated Minister for Coastal Communities.
d. Stop plastic pollution at source by strengthening the regulations around single-use plastics and set standards for microfibre-catching filters to ensure that all new domestic and commercial washing machines are fitted with a filter that captures a high percentage of microfibres produced in the wash cycle.
e. And by listening to marine and social scientific advice to update the Marine Policy Statement and produce a national Ocean Recovery Strategy which will:
i. Enable the recovery of marine ecosystems rather than managing degraded or altered habitats in their reduced state.
ii. Consider levelling up, marine conservation, energy, industrial growth, flood and coastal erosion risk management, climate adaptation and fisheries policy holistically rather than as competing interests.
iii. Develop a smarter approach to managing the health of the entire ocean that moves beyond Marine Protected Areas and enables links to be made across sectors towards sustainability.
iv. Establish improved processes for understanding the benefits from ocean management, leaving no doubt the links between this and human lives, livelihoods, and wellbeing.
In accordance with Standing Order 6(6) the Notice of Motion was referred, without discussion, to the Cabinet for consideration.