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14 January 2002 Mr Ken Livingstone, Dear Mr.Livingstone, The Institute of Horticulture welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Mayor's Biodiversity Strategy. The Institute is the professional institute representing professional horticulturists and has many members actively involved in the professions and businesses involved in the management of greenspace, as well as members involved in crop production and the research and education sectors. Our members are therefore in a position to directly influence biodiversity in London in many ways. We are also aware of the separate greenspace strategy and will be commenting on this separately. Our comments here are therefore limited to biodiversity and training and education in the broadest sense. Firstly we believe that the strategy should recognise that the work of horticulturists is an essential thread that will enable many of the objectives of this strategy to be met through the implementation of the various Biodiversity Action plans that are being developed at both a London and local level. For instance, horticultural research and the skills of the nursery stock industry are responsible for much of the work going on to select, verify the origin of, and propagate indigenous trees such as the Black Poplar. Horticulturists working within the amenity sector are responsible for the management and maintenance of large areas of London - particularly in areas such as parks and cemeteries. We have real concerns that over the last 15 or so years, the implementation of Compulsory Competitive Tendering has resulted in a dearth of training in land based industries. Because of this, the maintenance of many areas is undertaken frequently by unskilled and casual staff. The risks attached to this loss of expertise are compounded by management of the work by supervisors with little, if any, training in the land based disciplines. Because of these policies there are, currently, far too many people at all levels of many organisations who do not understand the importance of biodiversity. There is, therefore, an increasing need to educate and train people at all levels in both the importance of biodiversity and how parks and open spaces can be managed to preserve and enhance biodiversity whilst at the same time making them accessible to the general public. There is an especial need for the higher levels of management to be better informed so they can set a policy framework across London that will enable the practitioners to work in a far more informed way to the ultimate benefit of biodiversity. As the Mayor you have rightly recognised the benefits of biodiversity to Londoners; we believe you should encourage those responsible for this provision at a strategic level to take the advice of those with the necessary expertise in addition to those responsible for actually achieving results on the ground. Yours sincerely Angela Clarke |