22 Dec 2022

Livestock farms in England polluted rivers 300 times last year, causing 20 major incidents, according to the latest government figures. Yet only six farms were prosecuted in 2021, with the Environment Agency giving out warning letters instead, the BBC reported. The dairy industry – mostly thanks to the waste its millions of cows produce – […]

22 Dec 2022

Seismometers could detect flooding and offer real-time information about incoming floods and their parameters. Normally, seismometers are used to pick up information from earthquakes. But increasingly, researchers are looking at using them for different additional purposes. For flooding, this could be a game changer. Climate change is making extreme weather more likely, and extreme weather […]

22 Dec 2022

New research led by the University of Stirling is to explore how pollution and climate change are impacting freshwater ecosystems for the first time. The study, which has been awarded funding of £2million from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), will investigate how pollutants interact with rivers and ecosystems, and devise a system to monitor and measure pollution. […]

22 Dec 2022

Scientists replicated a 1964 River Thames survey and found that mussel numbers have declined by almost 95%, with one species – the depressed river mussel – completely gone.  The detailed study measured the change in size and number of all species of mussel in a stretch of the River Thames near Reading between 1964 and […]

22 Dec 2022

Legally binding targets to protect the environment, clean up air and rivers and boost nature were published on Friday 16 December, 2022 by the UK Government. The Government will publish its Environmental Improvement Plan in January 2023 setting out in more detail how they will achieve these targets, including interim targets. Publication of the targets […]

22 Dec 2022

Defra published an unchanged set of final water targets to be delivered under the Environment Act 2021 from those consulted on at the start of the year. The final water targets are: Water demand: Reduce the use of public water supply in England per head of population by 20% from the 2019/20 baseline reporting year […]

20 Dec 2022

In the third year of annual fisheries negotiations with the UK operating as an independent coastal state, the UK and EU agreed catch levels for 69 important fish stocks. This included some of the most commercially valuable stocks to the UK fishing industry such as North Sea Nephrops (£54m), Anglerfish (£31m) and Western hake (£25m). […]

20 Dec 2022

The Crown Estate has announced its first major investment in surveys to support the proposal to unlock valuable new clean energy capacity through floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea. By investing in these surveys at an early stage and making the data freely available to successful bidders, The Crown Estate is aiming to accelerate […]