We lived in harmony with the natural world before the Industrial Revolution. That changed with the advent of new manufacturing processes in the mid-eighteenth century. 

We are now seeing a change whereby science and engineering are looking back to nature as something more powerful – something to learn from: Nature 2.0.

Our understanding of how species have evolved has increased vastly over the past 20 years, along with our use of technologies enabling us to delve further into the microscopic world. One such field that is taking advantage of this is biomimicry. This approach to innovation looks at what functions, process and systems nature uses, and replicates these principles.

Fluid mechanics 

Famous examples are: Velcro, inspired by burdock seed burrs, the cat eyes in our roads and barbed wire, inspired by the hawthorn bush.

One area of engineering that is attracting a great deal of investment is the field of fluid mechanics. 

When we think of looking to nature and flight, we think of bird flight. Thick wings of modern aircraft generate lift the same as in bird wings, gliding birds reduce drag by having winglets, which are now found on the majority of passenger airliners. These also focus on different air flows across and around the wings.

Even the study of shark skins for wings is in development. This exoskeleton type material reduces drag on the shark with micro vortexes along the body, allowing the shark to glide through the water. This would allow for a considerable reduction in drag and use less aviation fuel.

One of the most famous examples is the Shinkansen Bullet train. In the mid-1990s the engineering team looked at ways to increase a trains speed to reduce journey time. The issue being as the trains got faster, they were creating sonic booms as they left tunnels along the route.

How to solve this? They looked to the kingfisher and how it creates a minimal splash, just like a top-level diver. The long beak of the kingfisher pierces the water, and the train design team increased the length of the nose of the train to create the same effect at a differing scale.

Engineering solutions

What about automobiles? Improvements in airflow have been one of the critical areas of development of the car manufacturer, McLaren.

While looking at how to improve the update into the engines, they sought a remarkable example, the Sailfish. You think of these animals as smooth fish gliding through the water. In fact, they have small ridges near the tail which reduces the drag and increases efficiency.

The design team applied their engineering solutions to one of the cars and improved the air intake by a whopping 17 percent. 

What about future developments? The team at the Biological Form and Function lab led by Dr Naomi Nakayama have been developing research into how the dandelion seeds stay aloft.

Their investigation uncovered an unusual type of vortex. The discovery of the separated vortex ring provides evidence of the existence of a new class of fluid behaviour around fluid-immersed bodies, which may underlie locomotion, weight reduction and particle retention in biological and manmade structures. This could have potential uses in aircraft and vehicle industries and even household products.

For engineering and designers needing novel solutions, looking to the natural world is proving to offer unique solutions for the problems they hope to overcome. We need to continue to look at how the living world uses the materials in ever more complex ways.

These Authors 

Richard and Naomi will be joined by Dr Veronika Kapsali at the Edinburgh Science Festival on 13 April to talk about the latest developments in the field of biomimicry. From ecosystems to plant cells, science and engineering have developed some intriguing innovations that are solving some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Tickets and more information are available here. 

Wild Rumpus exists in a place where arts and culture meet the natural environment.

We create award-winning events which celebrate nature and believe that when audiences experience quality art together in the great outdoors, something quite amazing can happen. 

Wild Rumpus began in 2009 when we set up Just So Festival. Just So is a weekend of adventure on the Rode Hall Estate in Cheshire; everything is focussed around families having an incredible time outdoors, enjoying live music and art together in the natural environment. 

Radical change

We started out working from a windowless lock-up in Macclesfield – not the most inspiring environment for creating an outdoor arts festival! After our third Just So we decided to radically change the way we worked by moving to a woodland near the festival site.

We bought a Bedford horsebox to use as our office, got a generator and built some compost toilets. We immediately found that we were being more ambitious because we were working outdoors, having meetings on long walks instead of being stuck inside the same four walls. 

2019 marks the biggest change yet in the ten-year history of Wild Rumpus. In the past few weeks we’ve expanded to establish The Forge, a pioneering creation centre which includes the woods, our design barn where we build our stages and festival props, and the sixteenth century Ashbank Farm which has become our main office.

Having this much space means that we can invite other artists to come here and create new work in an inspiring outdoor environment.

We can also carry on our aims to be as sustainable as possible – we’re starting a kitchen garden for our staff, we’ll be raising chickens and are working to become carbon neutral.  

Commitment to sustainability

Working so closely with nature inevitably leads to an increased awareness of the impacts that we all have on the natural world.

We’ve always been keen to minimise the negative effects which Wild Rumpus and the events that we produce have on the environment and have worked hard over the years to establish eco-friendly ways of working.   

You can see our commitment to sustainability across all of our festivals, but especially at Timber Festival. Timber is a weekend of ideas and debate in the National Forest and uses the incredible natural landscape as inspiration for meaningful discussions about living sustainably.

Timber is still in its infancy; 2019 is only our second festival. This year our priorities are to reduce fuel and water consumption and to keep the non-recyclable waste we produce to an absolute minimum.

To do this we’re increasing the number of water standpipes around the site, setting up compost loos, using renewable and low energy to power equipment, and banning the sale of single use plastics including water bottles, plastic cutlery, straws and sauce sachets. 

Minimising travel 

One of the biggest impacts that festivals have on the environment is travel. Obviously you need to get audiences to your festival, but there are ways to reduce the negative effects of so much travel.

This year we’re working with a wonderful company called Red Fox Cycling so that people can cycle to Timber and have the cost of the bike hire taken off their festival ticket.

We’re also working with Midland Classic to offer a local bus route to the festival, and with Energy Revolution to offset the environmental impacts of our audience travelling to the site. 

Our audiences are the ones who champion the eco-friendly initiatives that we put in place. The Just So and Timber festival sites are always impeccable when we leave; people really care about looking after the sites and make sure that they don’t leave a single piece of rubbish behind.

Even though we’re working really hard it’s important that we don’t become complacent. If our audience are demanding that we change an element of how our festivals are run, we need to listen and make sure that we adapt. 

Environmental impacts

It feels like festivals are leading the way forward and inspiring best practice across the whole of the arts sector.

Festivals are normally temporary spaces set up in fields for just a weekend, often with the population of large towns and even cities, which means that organisers have a real responsibility to protect their festival sites for the long-term.

This responsibility can be quite a scary prospect, but it also means that you can decide how everything works – you can choose to set up compost toilets instead of chemical ones or to ban single-use plastics. If festivals can do this on such a large scale it shows that other organisations can make changes too.

It’s all very well thinking about the environmental impacts of a short-term event, but at Wild Rumpus we want to inspire real and lasting change. This means integrating sustainability into the fabric of every event, including what we choose to put on our stages.

Timber is packed full of workshops and talks about how we can live more responsibly and in harmony with nature, which inspires our audiences to think differently and take action in their daily lives. 

Changing habits

There are so many festivals embodying this idea of long-term change and encouraging their audiences to re-think their habits, whether it’s Shambala going vegetarian for all their food concessions (and 33 percent of their audience choosing to eat less meat at home as a result), Boomtown with their focus on audience travel or Hay Literature Festival with their Greenprint Toolkit. 

Festival audiences are really open-minded so are perhaps more willing to change their habits if they’ve been inspired by an idea over the weekend. 

Over the last year or so it feels like the world has woken up to the fragility of the environment. Just look at the heightened awareness of single-use plastics, and of course the strikes led by young people all across the world.

People understand that we have a responsibility to protect our planet. That’s why it’s so important that we’re always striving to improve and find better ways to keep sustainability at the heart of everything we do.  

Join in

Timber Festival is running from 5 – 7 July at Faenedock in the National Forest in partnership with the National Forest Company. 

Just So Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary from 16 – 18 August on the Rode Hall Estate in Cheshire.

This Author

Rowan Hoban and Sarah Bird are founding directors of Wild Rumpus. 

Wild Rumpus. 

An “army” of gardeners spurred on by The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has added 22 million plants to gardens in the last year, a survey for the organisation suggests.

The poll of 2,000 RHS members found gardeners typically put in some 10 to 40 new plants a year, which the charity said benefits wildlife, the environment, health and well-being.

It is expanding its “greening grey Britain” campaign, which aimed to promote more planting in concreted and paved spaces, into a “greening Great Britain” scheme to promote growing more plants in any setting.

Diversity

The RHS said that among the estimated 22 million plants going in the ground or pots a year, at least 157,000 trees were introduced.

RHS director-general Sue Biggs said: “We know most of our members are active gardeners, but these figures are stunning and exceeded our expectations with the amount, and diversity, of plants they are adding each year.

“This is immensely positive for wildlife, the environment and numerous other benefits, including cooling local areas in summer, flood protection, air quality improvement, noise reduction and well-being benefits.”

Health benefits

And she said: “Without the plants our gardeners grow we would have fewer insects, wildlife, bees, beauty and benefits to the environment.

“We would have less nature, seasonality and colour in our front and back gardens; and if we didn’t have our ‘army of gardeners’ we wouldn’t have the rich and beautiful diversity we are so famed for and so good at maintaining.”

The polling by SurveyMonkey also suggests that three-quarters (77 percent) of gardeners quizzed choose plants for bees, while 96 percent of members believe in the health benefits of gardening and 95 percent think it is beneficial for the environment.

This Author

Emily Beament is environment correspondent for the Press Association.

Nuclear power has never lived up to the promise of cheap energy for all, but the costs have included displacement and sickness to nearby communities, contamination of land and water resources, and a build up of 70 years worth of nuclear waste.

In the UK, the costs of nuclear developments have been borne by the taxpayer. Under the ‘Contracts for Difference’ scheme, bills for electricity from the new plant at Hinkley C will be twice what we currently pay.

This does not cover the costs of accidents, which are underwritten by the Government. Nuclear plants typically run overtime and over-budget.

Nuclear waste

The Government’s consultation about burying nuclear waste is about to end, kicking off a five-year search for a willing host community with ‘suitable’ ground conditions.

We are presented with two options: leave the waste in crumbling storage facilities like Sellafield; or bury it and let it contaminate the environment.

In Scotland, new surface-level management facilities are being built but in England this is deemed too expensive. It is clear that we need a solution to managing the waste before we create more of it.

Springfields is where nuclear fuel is produced for both civil and military use, and waste processed from both the UK and abroad.

‘Surround Springfields’ on 27 April is an opportunity to follow the route of radioactive waste and to understand how this issue affects everyone, everywhere.

Creative action 

We will even be dressing as barrels of waste in an attempt to break a world record for surrounding a nuclear site.

We will also be having a live conversation with indigenous people in other countries via a webinar about the impacts of uranium mining and nuclear waste. You can join this remotely if you cannot get there – check our Facebook page for details.

Do we choose a long term, socially responsible and ethical energy supply, with a moral commitment to the wellbeing of future generations?

We need to come together and make the Government approach these challenges with vision and creativity, not with the poverty of ambition, opacity and lack of foresight that characterises the nuclear solution.

Take part

Surround Springfields will take place on Saturday 27 April. For more information, contact the organisers. 

This Author 

Chris Bluemel is a music teacher and campaigner and part of the Stop New Nuclear network. He has been involved in a wide range of campaigning from standing in elections as a Green Party candidate to direct action against road-building, fracking, the DSEI arms fair, and Trident.  He is also part of the radical protest-folk band Seize The Day. 

People are increasingly concerned about how to work hard towards a sustainable future. For some of them, that means investing in electric cars or biking to work while others might specifically aim to do businesses that have eco-friendly products and manufacturing practices.

But, most of them arguably don’t think about gender equality and inclusiveness as tying into sustainability.

The treatment of women moved into the forefront recently due to the #MeToo movement. And, that trend is undoubtedly crucial in achieving more equality across the board. But, it’ll soon become clear that any view of sustainability remains incomplete without including women within it.

Economic activities

Women bring a diversity of thought and practices, and the contributions they make will both directly and indirectly affect sustainability moving forward.

Once people recognise that females are essential for making sustainable improvements and safeguarding the planet for the future, they’ll facilitate meaningful progress in both small and large-scale ways. Here’s an overview of why that’s true.

Research shows that women are both impacted by sustainable social development and are well-positioned to influence it. Think of how women are often the ones responsible for sourcing the daily supplies for a household. As such, they are frequently the first to feel the effects of non-sustainable practices.

But, at the other end of the spectrum, consider that countries with high percentages of women in legislative positions tend to have fewer problems with unsustainable overshoot.

Positive changes

That’s an issue that happens when growing populations and economic activities harm the biophysical carrying capacity of the environment and could stimulate hardships such as having to travel further to find food or water.

As such, researchers argue that women have a continual motivation to work toward greater sustainability that might not be present in men.

In short, they may have different priorities that arise when caring for their families compared to men. That’s not to say males don’t care about sustainability, but the matters that women bring to the table regarding it could offer unique perspectives.

Findings also indicate that women are often better at building consensus or responding to the needs of their constituents. That could mean that the ongoing investment women have towards sustainability does not only extend to their immediate families but their communities and the wider world.

If females have the opportunities to promote positive changes through sustainability laws or movements, they could make long-term changes.

Thrive

Females have ongoing investments in making our future more sustainable. They have valuable and worthwhile reasons to fight hard for sustainability in ways that matter to themselves, their families and broader groups.

Additionally, they may also have priorities that men don’t initially bring up. So, their perspectives matter in giving well-balanced pictures of why sustainability counts now and moving forward.

There is still much progress left to make regarding equal opportunities for women to contribute through their work, ideas and perspectives. But, focusing on women during efforts to improve sustainability will pay off in countless ways.

In Philadelphia, for example, there’s a women-aimed sustainability group that stimulates discussions and opens minds about sustainable possibilities presented by local entrepreneurs.

Sustainability also applies to the workforce. Some long-standing employment models are difficult for women to enter and thrive within. However, the cooperative movement is one that empowers women.

Advocate

It also gives people the opportunity to behave in sustainable ways. More specifically, cooperatives are owned and operated by their members. They’re democratic organisations that give decision-making power to each member, too.

When women get involved in cooperatives, they have opportunities to make smart decisions that protect the planet for the future. But, the influence of women doesn’t only extend to cooperatives, of course.

An in-depth study profiled the contributions of females to ocean governance, including marine conservation and sustainable fisheries. It also helps that previous gender-related boundaries are getting blurred.

The experiences women have throughout their lives, whether while raising their families, participating in the workforce and doing the other things that comprise their daily existences allow them to advocate strongly for why sustainability matters and how it could positively impact their lives.

Pioneering

But, it’s crucial for the people involved in spurring sustainability progress to listen to women and realise that their voices matter.

In closing, it’s short-sighted and damaging for people to neglect to consider and prize female views during the continual push for better sustainability.

Women become affected by non-sustainable outcomes and associated problems like climate change in ways that men may not through during their lives.

And, they have pioneering ideas that could help bring about sustainability in unexpected and valuable ways.

This Author

Emily Folk is a conservation and sustainability writer and the editor of Conservation Folks.

‘Extinction’ is a word which has been cropping up more and more in news headlines. We regularly hear about different species which are being pushed to the brink of survival, whether at home or abroad.

Recently, a parliamentary debate was interrupted by protestors from Extinction Rebellion who stripped off in the House of Commons in order to bring attention to what they term an ‘unprecedented global emergency’ in which every species on earth is threatened.

Experts agree that we are living in an unprecedented time of species extinction. According to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, we lose between 24 to 150 species every day.

Unlike past mass extinctions which have been caused by phenomena such as ice ages and meteor strikes, current losses can be traced back to human activity. But what are we doing to cause it?

Habitat loss

The WWF states that habitat loss poses the greatest threat to species. The expansion of agricultural land is one of the main drivers for the destruction of natural habitat. This isn’t new information – a 2015 article in Science Direct states that “livestock production is the single biggest driver for habitat loss.”

Animal products are incredibly inefficient to produce, meaning that huge amounts of land are needed to raise animals and grow their feed.

Up to 91 percent of Amazon deforestation is attributable to animal agriculture. In just 12 months between 2017 and 2018, an area the size of one million football fields was lost, largely to make space to grow crops to feed to farmed animals. With this we lose some of the richest habitat on our planet.

But you don’t need to travel as far as the Amazon to see the impact. Here in the UK it’s the same story. We have lost 50 percent of UK wildlife, and again experts cite modern farming methods as the culprit.

In a recent article Michael McCarthy paints a stark picture: “The fields may still look green in spring, but it is mostly lifeless scenery … it is green concrete.”

Climate change

And then there’s the other reason. As the parliamentary protestors called it – the elephant in the room.

We’re all familiar with the powerful image of the polar bear struggling to stay afloat on an ever-decreasing ice floe. This is a potent symbol of what is happening across the world as animals struggle to adapt to changes in the environment caused by climate change.

Again, this leads back to animal agriculture, a major contributor of greenhouse gases. Farmed animals produce more emissions than all of the direct emissions from all transport globally.

Often the gas contributed is methane, which is about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of warming the earth’s atmosphere.

The solution

In the face of this bleak picture, what if there was something you could do to tackle the problem? What if you could do something positive to counter it three times a day?

More and more people are going vegan, withdrawing their support from animal agriculture industries and instead funding a food system which is more environmentally friendly and more compassionate.

If you need any help or advice along your vegan journey, why not sign up to the free VeGuide app? It will walk you through 30 days of plant based living, offering help, tips and advice. Going vegan has never been so easy.

You might find it’s the simplest way that you can reduce your carbon footprint – and you don’t even need to take part in any kind of semi-naked public protest.

This Author 

Elena Orde is senior communications and campaigns officer at The Vegan Society and editor of The Vegan magazine.

As the Brexit deadlock continues to dominate the agenda – it’s difficult to keep other pressing issues such as the climate crisis on the agenda.

Extinction Rebellion’s naked protest in Parliament’s public gallery this week, demonstrates the need for bold action to keep the most important issue of our time visible while the public conversation is elsewhere.

We know how urgent serious action on climate change now is. Last year, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) laid out in clear terms that we have 12 years – now closer to 11 to cut emissions by 45 percent if we’re to keep to 1.5 degrees of warming and reduce the risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and resulting poverty.

Averting catastrophe

Academic Jason Hickel recently wrote in the Guardian that the course of action required to avert catastrophe “represents a total and rapid reversal of our present direction as a civilisation.” As the UK’s political paralysis continues, we’re losing precious time to start moving ourselves towards a greener future – radically retooling our economy to reflect the severity of the challenges ahead.

For campaigners, activists and NGOs the length and breadth of the UK, it’s a daunting and unprecedented to time to be trying to influence to influence public policy. Just how do you keep talking about your issues, keeping up a conversation and attempting to reach policy makers when the normal business of national politics has ground to a halt?

The sight of a group of nearly naked protesters gluing their bums to the security glass in the public gallery of the House of Commons provided a distraction and some light relief from the turgid and seemingly endless debates taking place in the chamber.  It may have been a somewhat amusing stunt – which lead to Ed Milliband’s eyes virtually popping out of his head – but the message couldn’t have been more serious.

For years as a country we have failed to take the bold and forward thinking action that is required to seriously reduce our emissions. The IPCC’s report brought home the urgency of the situation but as political stagnation grips the country, we’re virtually unable to discuss the most pressing issue facing humanity.

Extinction Rebellion was formed to take eye catching and provocative direct action to cause disruption that the political classes can’t ignore. To date, it has done that admirably – with this week’s protest building on mass actions that have grabbed headlines and disrupted city centres around the UK.

Growing movement

When the political class is failing to address such an important issue – it’s down to ordinary people and communities to use whatever peaceful means are available to them to keep raising the issue and demanding change.

As Extinction Rebellion continues to grow in both numbers and the boldness and audacity of its stunts and actions – I can only hope that the message continues to cut through the noise and that more people are inspired to take action.

Despite how gloomy the political landscape of the UK feels right now – there is hope in the form of our movements. The School Strike for Climate, alongside Extinction Rebellion, demonstrates the power of people whatever their age or background taking action on the most urgent issue of the day.

In many ways it’s disheartening that it’s even necessary for people block access to fracking sites or strip off in the commons ­– but thankfully people are willing to take direct action for the sake of our future.

As we continue to be gripped by Brexit uncertainty ­­– campaigners and activists will need to find eye catching and effective ways to ensure the most pressing issues facing humanity remain part of the conversation.

This Author

Andrew Taylor-Dawson has been involved with the social justice and environmental movements for over a decade. He works in the NGO sector as well as writing about civil society, campaigning and progressive causes. Twitter: @Andrew_J_Taylor.

The Big Garden Birdwatch, now in its fortieth year, is a chance for people of all ages to count the number of birds that visit their garden, helping the RSPB build up a picture of how birds are doing.

This year, almost half a million people across the country took part counting an impressive 7.5 million birds.

The event, held over the last weekend in January, revealed the house sparrow held on to its number one spot, whilst there was a decrease in garden sightings of wrens and long-tailed tits, two of the smallest species to visit our gardens.

Good news

Long-tailed tits decreased by more than 27 percent and wrens by 17 percent in 2019 after being counted in particularly large number in 2018.

Populations of both species may have been affected by last year’s ‘Beast from the East’ as small birds are more susceptible to spells of cold weather. But it’s too early to say if this is a one year blip or the beginning of a trend.

Over its four decades, Big Garden Birdwatch has highlighted the winners and losers in the garden bird world. It was first to alert the RSPB to the decline in song thrush numbers. This species was a firm fixture in the top 10 in 1979. By 2009, its numbers were less than half those recorded in 1979, it came in at 20th in the rankings this year.

Daniel Hayhow, RSPB Conservation Scientist, said: “Over its long lifetime, the survey has shown the increasing good fortunes of birds such as the goldfinch and wood pigeon and the alarming declines of the house sparrow and starling.

“But there appears to be good news for one of these birds. While the overall decline in house sparrow numbers, reported by participants, since the Big Garden Birdwatch began is 56 percent (1979–2019), in the most recent decade (2009-2019) numbers appear to have increased by 10 percent, giving us hope that at least a partial recovery may be happening.

“This year’s survey also highlighted a rise in the number of sightings of redwings and fieldfares on last year’s figures.

School participation

The house sparrow remained at the top of the Big Garden Birdwatch rankings at the most commonly seen garden birds with more than 1.2 million recorded sightings throughout the weekend.

Starling held down the second spot once more, with the blue tit moving up one spot to round off the top three.

Throughout the first half of the spring term the nation’s school children took part in the RSPB’s Big Schools Birdwatch. The UK-wide survey of birds in school grounds saw close to 60,000 school children spend an hour in nature counting the birds.

Blackbird was the most numerous species seen with an average of 8 per school; and was seen in 89 percent of all schools that took part.

Martin Harper, the RSPB’s Director of Conservation said: “Our garden birds should be a part of our everyday life. For many people they provide our only connection to the natural world and bring enormous joy.

“To have hundreds of thousands of people spend an hour watching the wildlife in their garden doesn’t only help us build up a picture of how our garden birds are doing, but people who take part feel better.”

Beautiful recordings

The RSPB is releasing a specially-created track of birdsong titled ‘Let Nature Sing’, to highlight the crisis that nature is facing and the loss of over 40 million wild birds from the UK in just half a century.

The single contains some of the most recognisable birdsongs that we used to enjoy, but that are on their way to disappearing forever. 

A compilation of beautiful sound recordings of birds with powerful conservation stories including the cuckoo, curlew, nightingale, crane and turtle dove who form part of the dawn chorus choir.

The charity is calling on the public to download, stream and share the single (available 5th April) and help get birdsong into the charts for the first time, spreading the word that people across the UK are passionate about nature’s recovery. 

Martin Harper continued: “Birds are such iconic parts of human culture but many of us no longer have the time or opportunity to enjoy them. The time we spend in nature, just watching and listening, can have huge benefits to our wellbeing, especially in these stressful times.

“The RSPB wants to help more people reconnect with their wilder sides and is bringing birdsong back into people’s busy lives by releasing a soothing track of pure unadulterated bird song. We hope that by understanding what we have lost that we inspire others to take part in the recovery. Without nature our lives are so less complete.”

The track is designed to help reconnect the nation with nature, helping people find a moment to relax and promote a feeling of tranquillity, as birdsong has been shown to aid mental health and promote feelings of wellbeing.

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from the RSPB. For a full round-up of all the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch results and to see which birds were visiting gardens where you live, visit their website. 

Image: Mick Lobb, Geograph.

A network of marine reserves could be rolled out across the high seas to protect wildlife hotspots and save species from extinction, a report has said.

The study by academics at York and Oxford universities in collaboration with Greenpeace maps out how to protect at least 30 percent of international waters, a target scientists have said is needed to conserve wildlife and tackle climate change.

The high seas, areas of ocean outside national waters, cover more than two-fifths of the Earth’s surface and are home to an array of life which rivals that found in coastal areas or on land.

Fishing

Biological processes by ocean creatures which see carbon captured at the surface of the sea and stored deep below also play an important role in reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

But the report warns the global oceans are at risk from fishing, the emerging threat of deep seabed mining, climate change warming the seas while carbon emissions are making them more acidic, and plastic and other pollution.

Negotiations at the United Nations (UN) towards a new global ocean treaty could pave the way towards protecting vast swathes of seas outside national borders totalling 230 million square kilometres, the study said.

It breaks down the global oceans into 100 kilometre squared units and maps the distribution of wildlife and habitats such as sharks, whales, seamounts or underwater mountains and hydrothermal vents which support unique nature.

It modelled the best way to fully protect 30 percent or 50 percent of the global oceans to ensure hundreds of important conservation features are protected in the most efficient way while minimising impacts on human activity such as fishing.

International waters

The most efficient design included existing high seas marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic and vulnerable areas closed to fishing by regional fisheries management organisations.

The designs only displaced around 20 percent or 30 percent of existing fishing activity, showing that networks which cover the full range of wildlife and habitats can be created with limited economic impact, the report said.

Professor Callum Roberts, marine conservation biologist at the University of York, said: “The speed at which the high seas have been depleted of some of their most spectacular and iconic wildlife has taken the world by surprise.

“Extraordinary losses of seabirds, turtles, sharks and marine mammals reveal a broken governance system that governments at the United Nations must urgently fix.

“This report shows how protected areas could be rolled out across international waters to create a net of protection that will help save species from extinction and help them survive in our fast-changing world.”

Abundant

Louisa Casson, Greenpeace UK campaigner, said: “Over the next 18 months, governments around the world have a unique opportunity to establish a global framework for protecting the oceans.

“By working together they can facilitate the protection of 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, via a network of fully protected ocean sanctuaries.

“UK ministers like Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt need to take the lead and personally engage with their counterparts to encourage international collaboration and high ambition to protect the oceans for future generations.”

The report has been welcomed by Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who said: “From climate change to overfishing, the world’s oceans are facing an unprecedented set of challenges.

“It is now more important than ever to take action and ensure our seas are healthy, abundant and resilient.

“The UK is already on course to protect over half of its waters, and I join Greenpeace in calling for the UK and other countries to work together towards a UN High Seas Treaty that would pave the way to protect at least 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.”

This Author

Emily Beament is environment correspondent for the Press Association.

When Marion Esnault and comrades began removing portraits of president Emmanuel Macron from the walls of town halls across France they expected to get into trouble.

But it now emerged that their protest – involving up to 27 portraits so far – against what they say is Macron’s failure of climate leadership, has become the target of an investigation involving France’s Bureau de la Lutte Anti-terroriste (Blat), the office of counter-terrorism operations.

In correspondence leaked online, and reported by environmental publication Reporterre, Marc de Tarlé, deputy director of the judicial police, urged police forces to “counter this phenomenon” by contacting the Bureau de la Lutte Anti-terroriste (Blat), France’s office of counter-terrorism operations, and asking for help to investigate the group, known as ANV-COP21 (Non-Violent Action COP21).

Offences

It was unclear what assistance the Blat are expected to give police. But Marion Esnault, an activist who has taken down three portraits of Macron in Paris, told Climate Home News that the involvement of an agency self-described as “specifically concerned with the prevention and repression of terrorism acts”, was disturbing.

According to ANV-COP21, 276 activists have taken part in actions since they began in February. In response, police have prosecuted 20 people, detained 22 people and carried out 16 police searches.

“We had thought that the repression we’d faced until now – all of the police custodies, the police searches, and the four trials with many incriminated activists – was out of proportion for a symbolic action,” said Esnault. “But for them now to call on the Blat, it’s beyond disproportion. There are no words. We are considered terrorists when we’re citizens aware of the climate crisis and the current ecological catastrophe.”

Esnault said she understood certain actions risked prosecution, such as when Greenpeace activists entered nuclear power stations. “It’s more surprising to see activists who enter townhalls to take down portraits of Macron, demanding that he lead more ambitious climate policy, end up with trials and police custodies,” she said.

“It isn’t normal to resort to anti-terrorist units in order to pursue activists whose acts threaten neither the security nor the integrity of the state,” Alexandre Faro, a lawyer representing members of ANV-COP21, told Reporterre. “These are theft charges, thus common law offences: what is the point of resorting to the office of anti-terrorist operations?”

Green scare

The gendarmerie brushed off the correspondence, telling Reporterre that “just because the BLAT is involved doesn’t mean that it’ll take on exceptional proportions”. The letter wasn’t classified, they said, pointing out the “routine” tag pinned to the top of the message. The police force did not respond to questions from CHN.

Tarlé also instructed police forces to encourage mayors or state prefects to press charges against activists and “ensure that a judicial investigation be systematically carried out for aggravated robbery”.

The incident comes amid a hardening of responses from governments across western Europe to protest groups calling for a faster response to climate change.

Heather Albarrro, an associate lecturer in political ecology at Nottingham Trent University, said there were signs of a resurgence of “green scare” – a phenomenon in the mid-2000s during which the US government persecuted environmental activists. At its height, the FBI labelled the Earth Liberation Front as the nation’s lead domestic terrorist threat.

“The question of the green scare resurgence – maybe it’s not in full force as it was in previous decades,” Albarro told Climate Home News. “But then again, with the increasing severity of things like climate change and increasing desperation of some of these more radical strands, you might see more clamping down.”

Extremism

Albarro said the key message of the green scare was that authorities “weren’t clamping down on these activists because they were a threat to life per se. What they are is a threat to the status quo in the sense of growth-oriented capitalism”.

In February, high commissioner of human rights Michelle Bachelet recommended the UN investigate France for excessive use of force by police forces against the gilets jaunes.

Outside France, the German government deployed one of the largest police forces since WWII to arrest activists occupying Hambach forest in an effort to keep coal giant RWE at bay. One person died in an accident, according to climate campaign group 350.org.

Meanwhile, the British government’s extremism analysis unit has produced a report called ‘Leftwing Activism and Extremism in the UK’, according a February investigation by the Guardian.

Part of 21 reports designed to inform on extremism, including Islamist and far-right wing extremism, the document comes four years after it was revealed that an extremist database included politicians and activists. The political activities of Jenny Jones, a London assembly member, and Green Party councillor Ian Driver were recorded.

This Article

This Article first appeared on Climate Home News.