More than 120 pregnant whales were killed during Japan’s annual “research” hunt in the Southern Ocean last summer, a new report has revealed. Of the 333 minke whales caught during the controversial 12-week expedition, 181 were female – including 53 immature ones. Figures show that of the 128 mature female whales caught in the hunt, […]
Prince Charles popped down the road from Highgrove to speak at a Water Summit, which helped launch a Catchment Management Declaration. Over 60 organisations including businesses such as M&S, Nestlé, Coca Cola and Asda as well as number of water companies including Anglian Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water, have agreed to step up action […]
The latest round-up of news from the Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) partnerships is available here. It includes A case study in catchment governance from the River Irwell News from last week’s Water Summit (see item above) Funding confirmed for CaBA partnerships for 2018/19
We might (or might not) be leaving the EU, but there’s still plenty going on across the Channel. Last week, the MEP Water Group in cooperation with the World Water Assessment Programme of UNESCO, hosted a public session for its 2018 United Nations World Water Development Report on ‘Nature-based solutions for water’ at the European […]
The European Commission has published its latest implementation report on the Nitrate Directive. It shows only a slight improvement in agricultural nitrates pollution. The report concludes that nitrate levels in groundwater and surface freshwaters have “slightly improved” since 2008. Nitrates were still above 50 mg/l at over 13% of monitoring stations 2012-2015, compared to 14% […]
Two new resources are available or in development that can support the promotion of green infrastructure and water efficiency. The Green Infrastructure Resource Library (GIRL) is a pdf and searchable database of 1,000 (exactly) documents on Green Infrastructure, green spaces, natural capital and related topics. It is freely available here and here. Waterwise are developing an inventory […]
Last week we provided a link to an article by George Monbiot criticizing using the idea of natural capital to inform conservation measures. The Natural Capital Coalition have issued a response. They state that natural capital proponents share his concern with ‘pricing’ and do not advocate the ‘pricing of nature’. Their core assertion is that […]
The Financial times has reported that plans for a tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay are about to be rejected by government. The £1.3bn renewable energy project would involve building a six-mile horseshoe-shaped seawall with underwater turbines generating energy on the outgoing tide. The company hoped that it would be the first of a series […]