annual report and accounts 2012 - RSPB

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RSPB trustees’ report and accounts 2011-12 Lancashire - the only place in England where hen harriers nested successfully in 2011. We have to do more in partnership with companies, farmers and other conservation charities and our fundraisers are striving to come up with new and innovative ways to fund more land purchases. To help constrain the damaging impact on conservation of sea level rise, we undertook two major projects on the English east coast during the year. The first one was at Wallasea Island in Essex, where Crossrail and the Environment Agency have helped to fund the Defra-supported project to secure 155 hectares of saltmarsh and mudflat as replacement habitat for that lost to “coastal squeeze”. And secondly, with financial support from the European Union, we have improved the sea defences to protect freshwater habitats at Titchwell on the Norfolk Coast. Still on the theme of water levels, further inland, the drought in eastern England badly affected wintering ducks and swans, whilst breeding waders in the Fens had their nests flooded out by the heavy spring rainfall. Careful management of water levels to try and reduce the risk to wetland wildlife and improve drought resilience is a relatively low cost way of achieving much. Within the RSPB we have been doing a lot to reduce our carbon footprint. We have used green electricity at our sites for many years and now have a number of new programmes underway - including solar, wind, biomass and heat-exchange. In the last year we added rechargeable electric vehicles to our fleet and plan more. All travel undertaken by staff is monitored and we set ourselves a target of reducing the carbon footprint by 3% per person, per year – a target we regularly hit but which becomes more difficult with every passing year. The amount we spend on Education and communications has been stable for the last couple of years but the amount spent probably is not the best way by which to judge the scale of much of our work. For example, new technology is driving down the cost of communication – which is a relief given the rising cost of postage – so this doesn’t mean we are doing less; we are just doing it more efficiently. Our monthly e- newsletter is a good example; we now have more than 400,000 subscribers. Trustees’ report Turning to education specifically, we are consciously investing in quality rather than quantity as verified by the Government sponsored Quality Badge – 14 of our sites reached the standard of outstanding or very good. And on the quantity side, we are very pleased that more than 50,000 children visited RSPB countryside classrooms in organised school groups. Minsmere’s million pound makeover (much of it funded by partners) sees a new discovery centre designed for families and children with a dedicated learning facility, Wild Zone and wildwood adventure. We were taken by surprise by the level of participation in the Big Schools’ Birdwatch after widespread coverage on TV. We sent out so many packs to schools that we ended up with just eight left! These examples are just the tip of the iceberg because education, in its widest sense, needs to engage every age group. With regard to new technology mentioned earlier; we have just made our debut into the world of Smartphone technology by launching two apps: LoveNature and LoveBirds. Looking further afield, through BirdLife International we work very closely with our overseas partners. About 12% of our expenditure supports overseas conservation but about half of this is funded from money specifically donated for the purpose (from the EU or KfW - the German Development Bank for example). Support for BirdLife Malta and Cyprus to save migrant birds that use the flyway between Africa and Europe is one of our top conservation priorities. It is an issue that many RSPB supporters care passionately about and, of course, success isn’t just dependant on funding; we have to change the behaviour of those involved in illegal trapping and hunting too. One the challenges we face is the pension deficit. The RSPB, like all other responsible employers, has invested considerable time and effort in finding the best solution to the complex problem of providing an affordable pension scheme for its employees. We are committed to providing a remuneration and reward package that attracts and retains the quality of people we need to deliver our conservation ambitions. We have made a number of changes over the last nine years to share the risk of pension provision more equally between staff and the RSPB and we have in place a long-term deficit recovery programme, which is agreed with the Pension Trustees. The latest triennial review is underway; in reaching an outcome we will strike a balance between the www.rspb.org.uk 19
RSPB trustees’ report and accounts 2011-12 Trustees’ report needs of all those involved but, at this stage, the specific details are under review. However, it isn’t just the financial consequences of recession that are of concern; economic woes have shifted the environment down the Government’s agenda as well as buffeting the security of our income; making funding sources harder to tap into. Thankfully, we have strong support from our members and we are weathering the storm reasonably well. We would love to be able to say that we confidently expect brighter skies to appear on the horizon by this time next year. The Trustees spend a lot of time balancing between the need for prudence and the need to invest wisely for the benefit of wildlife today and tomorrow; being realistic, we think that will be a feature of our financial planning meetings for some time to come. Signed on behalf of the Council Mr Ian Darling Chairman 20 www.rspb.org.uk
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annual report and accounts 2012 - RSPB

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