LONDON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Britain's main environmental agency is facing budget cuts that could set back conservation efforts and change habitats, wildlife groups say.
Some of the country's most beautiful nature reserves could be sold off and wildlife and countryside protection measures slashed in attempt to meet expected 40 percent cuts in the budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The Guardian reported Friday.
Among the austerity plans being considered by the British government are selling off national nature reserves, privatizing parts of the Forestry Commission, privatizing the Met Office, one of the world's leading research organizations on climate change, and withdrawing grants to British Waterways, which manages 2,200 miles of canals and rivers, the newspaper said.
Natural England, the government's main nature conservation agency, has proposed 400 job cuts next year and up to another 400 after that, potentially one third of its workforce, it says. UPI
