1. SEVERN TIDAL ENERGY SCHEMES IMPLICATIONS FOR WILDLIFE
PeterJones
Environmental Policy Officer
RSPB Cymru
12/8/2018

2. THE RSPB – WHAT IS OUR INTEREST?
IT’S 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, 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 policy.
Data from Wetlands Bird Survey 2006/07
12/8/2018

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.
12/8/2018

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?
12/8/2018

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!!
12/8/2018

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 >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 some over-wintering Severn species.
12/8/2018

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.
12/8/2018