Happy Christmas everyone!!!! Lets all wish for a positive, constructive, peaceful, rewarding and environmentally friendly new year.
Having said all that  I'm having problems with my internet connection now so I'll sign off and try again soon.
David

Durban COP 17 News.

Click here for more info.


Durban - Nothing short of a new energy industrial revolution is going to hold global warming below 2°C, economist Lord Nicholas Stern said on Monday.

He told reporters at COP 17 in Durban that radical cuts would have to be made in global greenhouse gas emissions.

"The numbers on climate change - if we’re going to have a reasonable chance, at least 50-50, of holding to 2°C - are very clear," Stern said.

"And it’s also clear that they imply that if we’re to achieve the reductions that we have to achieve to get to 2°... those reductions have to be radical, and to achieve it means a new energy industrial revolution."

Stern, author of the landmark Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, was speaking a day ahead of the start of high-level political negotiations at the climate change conference.

Climate change, the demand for action

If you know how the United Nations is organising the battle to limit climate change then just skip the next bit.

Because I was getting confused about what is going on I did a bit of surfing.

IPCC  is the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They have just had a meeting in Kampala. It was identified as the 34th Session from 14th to 19th November.  They are working to produce their Fifth Assessment Report, AR5. Due for completion in 2014. Their previous report called AR4 was released in 2007.  The IPCC produces assessment reports for the FCCC.

The FCCC is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Set up in 1992 at the so called Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. That led to the Kyoto Protocol.

 The FCCC works in parallel with the IPCC.  It progresses through COP's (short for  Conference of the Parties). Their COP17 is currently in progress in Durban , South Africa.  26th Nov to 7th Dec.

Reports from Durban talk about AEOSIS which is the Alliance of Small Island States with 39 members and LDC's which are the 48 Least Developed Countries. This combined grouping of countries is about 50% of the total UN membership and they want action to start on Jan 1st 2012.

They are now confronted by the rest, some of whom also qualify as LDC's including India, Brazil and China who don't want action before 2020.

To find our what the situation is in the Conference you can find reports on the BBC Environment pages and no doubt else where.

If I've missed anything important don't hesitate to tell me!  Click here for a link to the BBC. Wiki is very good also.

The natural environment has been identified as the major obstacle in the future prosperity of the UK.
Please read the HM Government Document;
National Infrastructure Plan 2011
Click here to view the plan.
Here is an extract from the plan which expands on the views which many people have objected to in the Planning System proposed newNational Planning Policy  Framework:

0. Reforming the planning and consenting systems
   To tackle barriers in planning, the Government is placing the presumption in favour of sustainable development at the heart of the planning system, requiring a positive approach to be taken to plan-making and to decisions on individual planning applications.
   As set out in Chapter 6, as part of implementing the recommendations of the Penfold Review, the Government will:
   

9

10

• ensure the key consenting and advisory agencies have a remit to promote sustainable development as soon as the National Planning Policy Framework is finalised. This will ensure that these bodies consider the impact of their decisions on sustainable economic growth and swiftly approve consents when it is appropriate to do so; and
  
• introduce a 13 week maximum timescale for the majority of non-planning consents, to speed up the consenting process and give certainty to developers. This would take immediate effect for Government agencies.
  In addition, the Government will:
  

• ensure that there is a more effective mechanism for applicants to obtain an award of costs, if there is an appeal against refusal of a planning permission where a statutory consultee has acted unreasonably, through measures to be implemented in summer 2012. The Government will also improve the performance of the key statutory consultees in responding swiftly to applications;
  
• build more flexibility into the new major infrastructure planning process, particularly in the pre-application phase, by summer 2012, as part of a light touch review of the process responding to feedback from users of the regime; and
  
• ensure that compliance with the Habitats and Wild Birds Directives does not lead to unnecessary costs and delays to development, while continuing to support the Directives’ objectives. The Government is reviewing the directives as currently implemented in England by Budget 2012 and is committed to tackling blockages for developments where compliance is particularly complex or has large impacts. In addition, the Government can announce progress on specific projects where compliance has already proved problematic, including Falmouth Harbour. 
  

Reflections of a Curlew: New Relationship With Nature - The Government is g...

By visiting the  Blog shown below you can read a lot more about the Radio 4 programme and Mary Colwell's thoughts on the subject.


Reflections of a Curlew: New Relationship With Nature - The Government is g...: The Great Hall at the University of Bristol for the recording of Sustaining Life for Radio 4 Panelists J...

World population and nature

I listened to a poem written specially for the occasion and read out by the poet during the Radio 4 recording on Monday evening.   In the middle of a discussion about world population growth and its effect on nature it was a dramatic part of the whole evening. Listening to it live is probably the best way to experience the poets feelings for the subject. Below are some extracts from a transcript of the spoken word.The reading had more impact by taking place in the Great Hall of Bristol University. Its  a splendid venue.
You can find out more about the Radio 4 programme by going to my later posting.

Listen to the recorded programme on Dec 23rd on Radio 4.

Celebration

Go for a walk run in the woods and breathe in
Mother nature till she fills your veins
Travel, view, as many beautiful landscapes
as you can until your imagination complains

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Sit on top of a satellite see the world
and the lands on which we all live
Take it in and ask yourself what can I invent?
what can I not take? What can I give?

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Trust her she continues to feed us
and give us all we need to drink
but she does more than that
She’s that essential creative link

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You can do it, amaze yourself,
this place is all we’ve got
This is our home and our children’s
children’s, children’s home
What? Don’t tell me you forgot?

Read by the poet, Miles Chambers

Living Landscapes

Its always good to start with a great photograph and I think this qualiflies. Photo by John Bebbington showing a Large Elephant Hawke moth on honeysuckle. I include it because its a special image but also as a demonstration of the wildlife that the subject of this post is all about.

Its probably three years since I heard Diana Pound run a session at a Wildlife Trust  AGM. I liked the subject and format and kept in touch with her consultancy by email. Details of a big event next Feb have just been announced and the subject is very topical and very relevant to the world we find ourselves in. I hope that people will  enquire  about this event and I hope someone from Somerset will be able to attend. Living Landscapes are an important part of SWT strategy.

Click here for more details.

and if you want to see what the Somerset Wildlife Trust means by the term Living Landscape, click here

 Here is a brief extract from the flier for the event:

This event champions smarter thinking, co-operation and collaboration to help you achieve more with less across urban and rural landscapes and benefit people, places and wildlife.

Keys to success are effective partnerships, pooled resources, effective communication, good practice stakeholder participation, novel collaborations and social enterprise.

Orchid - night flowering

Our local orchids

Having a photo of a common pyramidal orchid on the header for my Blog I was very interested to see a news report on BBC about a new variety of orchid which normally only flowers at night. It was discovered in Papua New Guinea in an area authorised for logging!
Click here to go to the BBC web page. On the page is another link to  " videos, news and facts " about orchids both in the UK and world wide.
We have two species on our local meadow, Bee and Pyramidal.
On our local Wildlife Trust reserves we can find around half a dozen species. We are planning to organise a visit to all 15 or so reserves next summer and will record what we can find.

Being a volunteer with the Wildlife Trust is almost a full time job and in another short briefing here are some of the recent activities I find myself involved in.

No sooner had I sent off my comments to my MP and the Gov on the NPPF ( see my earlier post) than I learn about the Neighbourhood Planning Bill  ( which I suppose I had heard about but not taken too seriously). It might be very significant and I've started finding out what its implications might be. I think there is a consultation period now so that could important but what should we say?

I might join the local history society to find our more about the history of the hedges round our village and fields. Some are likely to be hundreds of years old. It important from a wildlife point of view to be able to argue against any move to cut them down.

Attended a meeting of the local Area Groups a couple of weeks ago, which is a good place to find out how other groups are getting on . We can them make our views known to the Trust. We have some differences about how we volunteers would like more support  in trying to get better web site coverage and in making contact with our members. An ongoing discussion. Our Group had thought about having its own web site but that's on hold at present.

This week have had a local group committee meeting with two guests who might join our committee. The meeting as usual ranged over quite a few topics and might have been a little confusing for our guests. Talked about our future programme of events for 2012. More summer site visits to our local reserves perhaps. Tonight we have a talk about the importance of woodlands and how they function. Hope we have a reasonable turnout.

Yesterday spent most of the day at the HQ of the SWT. First in a meeting of the Private and Community Nature Reserves  Network . Its just a way for land owners with a few acres to get help in managing their land for the benefit of wildlife  and to be able to share their experience. with others.There are about 200 members. Discussed two field events next year with a Botany field trip included

Most of us stayed on to sit in on a presentation by the  manager of the local RSPCA rescue and rehabilitation centre. Its about 10 miles from here and I hope to arrange a visit to see their work and facilities. Very impressive.

Lastly a committee member is hoping to find more people to take a few battery hens from local farmers who are banned from keeping chickens in battery conditions from next Jan. A good idea , not wildlife of course and I don't think we could cope with looking after them. The Hen Welfare Trust will tell you more.

That'll do for this week.

PS Don't forget that the IPCC is meeting this week in Kampla between 18th and 19th. We should hear their latest news and views on climate change.

Reflections of a Curlew: People and Wildlife - A Shared Earth - BBC Recording

Reflections of a Curlew: People and Wildlife - A Shared Earth - BBC Recording

You might find the programme referred to in the link of interest. Just click on the words above. I've reserved three tickets and as far as I can see tickets are still available. ( checked today 20.11.11). 
This is a BBC recording on November 28th at 6.30 pm for a Radio 4  programme  debating world population issues and their effect on Wildlife.The programme will be broadcast on 23rd Dec 20.00 hrs and repeated on the 24th
Its part of a series which I regret I havent picked up on before called "Saving Species"  and this particular programme is titled Population and the Natural World.Its produced by Mary Colwell who amongst other things writes the Blog at  http://marycolwell.blogspot.com/      or click.here.