The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs celebrated its third anniversary last week. In the three years since it was established, Defra has achieved some significant milestones and reviews them in a web publication, 'Defra's first three years - some of our achievements'.
Defra's agenda is one of the most exciting in British government. The department deals with issues that touch everyone and have the potential to improve the lives of millions. In its daily work, the department is promoting sustainable development and developing strategic priorities for issues like climate change and energy, sustainable consumption and production, natural resource protection, sustainable rural communities, and a sustainable farming and food sector.
Alongside this challenging programme, the department operates as part of a wider government agenda at local, national and international levels on issues of social inclusion, poverty eradication, improvement in productivity and public health protection. Defra also makes a key contribution to the government's preparedness to respond to emergencies.
The Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, said: “The department was set up to develop policies and promote activities that will contribute to a better quality of life for people in this country and across the world. We have some key successes which have enhanced the department's reputation.
'Internationally, we have supported the Prime Minister's leadership on climate change and breathed legal life into the Kyoto Protocol. Domestically we have worked constructively with other government departments, which puts tackling climate change at the heart of the UK's energy policy.
'In Europe we have achieved what I never thought I would see in my political lifetime -- ground breaking reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy which provides the incentive for more environmentally sensitive and market orientated farming. It has provided the bedrock for sustainable food and farming at home.
'I am proud of our achievements and indebted to the whole Defra team for their continuing commitment and hard work.'
Lord Whitty, parliamentary under-secretary of state (minister for farming, food and sustainable energy), added: 'When Defra was established the department was almost overwhelmed in the fight against Foot and Mouth. We dealt with that crisis and instituted new procedures which will reduce substantially the risk of disease spreading like that ever again.
'After that we had the Curry Commission pointing a positive way forward for English farming and the establishment of bodies like the English Food and Farming Partnerships, the Food Chain Centre and the new AFS Red Tractor set up to help the industry adapt. And then the major negotiations on Common Agricultural Policy reform, transforming the support for farming.
'Then on the environment side we had the international agreements on climate change and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg on the international stage. And the Energy White Paper setting out a strategy for reducing carbon emissions by 660 per cent by the middle of the century.'
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