Nature on the World Stage
There are 3 big international events in 2021:
- IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) World Conservation Congress. Held once every four years, the IUCN World Conservation Congress brings together several thousand leaders and decision-makers from government, civil society, indigenous peoples, business, and academia, with the goal of conserving the environment and harnessing the solutions nature offers to global challenges.
- UN (United Nations) COP15 Convention on Biological Diversity held every 2 years
- UN (United Nations) COP26 Climate Change Conference is the big one in the news as the UK holds the presidency and is hosting the live event in Glasgow this November. When COP26 was delayed last year we held our own Tees Nature and the Climate Crisis there were some fantastic contributions you can revisit via out YouTube channel.
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Biodiversity 3.0 metric launched in new sustainable development toolkit
Natural England unveils the Biodiversity Metric 3.0 to help developments achieve biodiversity net gain and give back to nature. This July Natural England (NE) launched three new tools to help developers measure biodiversity net gain and ensure new developments are “nature positive”.
Where a development has an impact on biodiversity, it will ensure that the development is delivered in a way which helps to restore any biodiversity loss and seeks to deliver thriving natural spaces for local communities.
As proposed in the Environment Bill, biodiversity net gain must be measured using a recognised biodiversity metric. The new Biodiversity Metric 3.0 will provide a way of measuring and accounting for nature losses and gains resulting from development or changes in land management.
Also announced is the Small Sites Metric (SSM), a beta version designed to simplify the process of calculating biodiversity net gain on smaller development sites. The Environmental Benefits from Nature Tool (EBNT) was also launched to give developers a way of exploring the benefits habitats bring to people, such as improvements to water quality, flood management services and carbon storage.
Full article
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The Economics of Biodiversity - critical review published
The Dasgupta Review is an independent, global review on the Economics of Biodiversity led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta.
David Attenborough says in the forward 'Economics is a discipline that shapes decisions of the utmost consequence, and so matters to us all. The Dasgupta Review at last puts biodiversity at its core and provides the compass that we urgently need. In doing so, it shows us how, by bringing economics and ecology together, we can help save the natural world at what may be the last minute – and in doing so, save ourselves.'
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Green light for 'net zero'
equivalent for nature
The government has promised to "halt the decline of nature" as part of a new drive to improve the environment.
More trees are to be planted, the sale of peat will be banned and new targets will be set to return species such as wildcats and beavers to the countryside. The measures include a legally binding 2030 target to address wildlife loss.
Environment Secretary George Eustice described the move as "a huge step forward". In a speech from Delamere Forest, in Cheshire, he said: "We hope that this will be the net zero equivalent for nature, spurring action of the scale required to address the biodiversity crisis."
The legally binding target will apply to England only, with devolved administrations able to set their own policy.
Full article
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UK Climate Policies Falling Short
The UK Climate Change Committee says government needs to ‘step up very rapidly’ to meet ‘historic’ targets.
In the 2021 Progress Report to Parliament the government’s independent advisers on the climate warned that "The Government has made historic climate promises in the past year, for which it deserves credit. However, it has been too slow to follow these with delivery. This defining year for the UK’s climate credentials has been marred by uncertainty and delay to a host of new climate strategies. Those that have emerged have too often missed the mark. With every month of inaction, it is harder for the UK to get on track."
The report showed that the UK is falling behind on its key goal of 78% cuts to greenhouse gases by 2035 and made a set of recommendations on how to get back on track before legislation falls too far behind. You can read the full report here.
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Sales of peat compost to gardeners to be banned from 2024
In April, gardening experts, conservationists and scientists called on the UK government to ban the sales of peat compost by the end of 2021, after its goal of a voluntary phasing out by 2020 – set in 2011 – proved an “abject failure”.
On the back of this the environment secretary, George Eustice, announced £500m to fund a tripling of tree planting in England to reach 7,000 hectares a year by 2024 and said a new 2030 target for wildlife populations would be set. A species reintroduction taskforce was also unveiled, to take forward work on recovering species lost to England, such as wildcats and beavers.
Restoring peatlands and increasing woodlands are vital to tackling global heating and boosting biodiversity.
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Active Hope Foundations Training
Video-based training in Active Hope Foundations is free of charge and you can start at any time. It's designed as a seven-week course that takes you on a journey through seven areas that can nourish our ability to make a difference in the world. While we suggest a week for each module, you can do it at your own pace and take longer if you prefer.
We're still at work finishing the videos for the last parts of the course, but there's plenty here to engage with already, with the first four weeks of the course available so far, and the remaining videos being added week by week.
For more information go to https://activehope.training/
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