Captive cetaceans wake up every day living without their families, confined to small concrete tanks, and forced to perform for human entertainment.

Within these conditions they face issues such as isolation, harmful chemicals, and dorsal fin collapse all leading to an eventual early grave. 

Wild and Free Beings hopes to combat this cruelty. Our recent launch outside Manchester Town Hall saw people from across the North West unify with an aim to spread an understanding of the struggles faced by animals in marine entertainment centres across the world. 

Cetaceans

Attendees were encouraged to promote the organisation’s three simple founding values: a world where every cetacean has freedom; inspiring people from all around the world to understand the reality of captivity; putting an end to cetacean captivity through education and awareness.

Cetaceans are a family group of aquatic mammals made up of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Within this group are around 90 species that can be divided into two groups; baleen whales and toothed whales. 

When most large whales open their mouths, you can see comb like bristles called baleen plates that hang from the upper jaw. This is allows them to filter-feed, meaning, when a whale has caught prey and water in their mouth the water then pours out, but the baleen filters out the prey for the whale to swallow.

Blue, humpback, gray, and right whales are just some that are included in this group of Baleen Whales.

The majority of whales and dolphins belong in the toothed category. They feed on prey in a similar manner to most carnivores. These include the dolphins, the porpoises, the beluga and narwhal

Choice

We believe in freedom, and beyond that choice. All living things should have the opportunity to choose the course of their lives.

Whilst the capacity to do this differs between different animals, with different levels of intelligence, their opportunity for choice shouldn’t be taken away simply to provide entertainment to humans. 

Just like humans, cetaceans are family orientated, maintaining lifelong bonds with their pod. Marine parks break these bonds firstly by stealing animals away from their families in the wild, and secondly, stripping offspring away from their mothers in captivity for financial development in other parks.

Taking a child from a mother, as within humans, can have a serious affect on the wellbeing of a Cetacean. Depression as a result of this can be common within Cetaceans in captivity. 

These feelings are often heightened by the conditions the animals are kept in. In the wild, cetaceans can swim up to 140 miles per day. In captivity, they would have to swim more than 1,400 times around their tanks to travel as far as they would in the wild.

Unnatural conditions

Their pools are often completely covered and tiny. In total darkness and isolation, the creatures develop fear, stress, and mental illness. 

In the same way environment can have drastic impact on the development and lifestyle of a human, Cetacean development can be severely hindered through these unnatural conditions. 

In the wild, an Orca can live up to 80 – 90 years old. In captivity, 92 percent of orcas die before the age of 25.

Dolphins living in the wild can live for at least 40 years, however in captivity, statistics show the average lifespan of a captive Bottlenose dolphin is a mere 5 years.

This difference in lifespan seems, to us, an unacceptable cost to justify captive entertainment from Cetaceans. 

How?

Wild and Free Beings was born from passion for seeing freedom for creatures unable to voice their own concerns.

Whilst this is also true for many other animals and people across the world, currently our impact can be maximised through focused campaigning for this group of animals for whom we have great love.

Our journey has recently begun, having launched recently with an event raising awareness of this issue. We don’t, however, plan to stop there. 

We plan to continue this work and inspire a new generation with a love for these creatures, drawing on the founder’s passion for music and creative arts. She plans to combine our cause with her skills from a degree in Musical Performance from the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music and a wealth of experience and contacts within the music industry. 

Music is a powerful tool. We have written a range of songs designed to highlight issues in an accessible and engaging way, the first snippet of which can be heard on the highlights video from our recent event in Manchester.

Change 

Alongside this we are developing school workshops and lessons. These will incorporate the music in an effort to inspire the next generation, raising their awareness of issues around animal welfare. 

Erica Memphis, founder of Wild and Free Beings, said: “Through engaging and interesting approaches, we believe we can help educate the public about the fascinating creatures of the sea and why keeping them in tiny concrete tanks is wrong.

“The time for captive animal entertainment is over. We now step into a time of freedom. Together, we can put an end to their suffering.”

It takes time to bring change. Hard work, commitment, and a great deal of nerve are needed to stand by what you believe.

Though change won’t come quickly, in time, the importance of looking after these creatures will be widely acknowledged. Until then we will continue to step out into change, in whichever way we are able. 

Get involved 

We’d love your support and to hear what you think.

If you’d like to find out more about us, sign up to our mailing list, or get in touch visit our website or connect on Facebook or instagram.

This Author 

Peter Bonnebaigt is operations manager  at Wild and Free Beings. He draws on a wealth of experience managing and growing businesses, events, and campaigns across the world.

Forest Europe, European health and wellbeing experts, have been reviewing evidence on the benefits of spending time in forests. 

The experts say that just two or three short visits a week can dramatically improve mental health.

In response, Forestry England & television presenter Kate Humble are encouraging people to visit the nation’s forests during mental health week (13 – 19 May) to enjoy the natural health benefits they provide.

Health benefits

Over half the population lives within six miles of a Forestry England woodland or forest and as part of their centenary in 2019, Forestry England is encouraging people to explore the nation’s forests.

There is strong scientific evidence that visiting a forest can improve your mood, your attention span, and even enhance psychological stress recovery.

Walking among trees can reduce levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, while improving mood and lowering anxiety. It also boosts the immune system from breathing in phytoncides, which trees emit to protect themselves from germs and insects.

Kate Humble, TV Presenter said: “Walking for me is a form of mediation, and the simple act of putting one foot in front of another has extraordinary benefits to my mental wellbeing. It helps me feel relaxed, less anxious and more creative.

“Walks enjoyed in the nation’s forests can be particularly special. I love to follow trails through the trees where with every step you can enjoy the sounds, sights and smells of nature.” 

Restorative environments

Humble continued: “Never knowing what wildlife is going to appear on my pathway makes me excited! There is something so simple about walking but the benefits are huge.”

Liz O’Brien, Forest Research continued: “Woodlands can be restorative environments. If you visit the forest now in spring, your senses can be stimulated by the sight of bluebells, the smell of blossom, the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the touch of wood.

“These sensory benefits are an important part of a woodland visit and can have a positive effect on your wellbeing.”

The nation’s forests have been encouraging people to visit since 1963 to benefit their health and well-being when Dame Silvia Crowe was appointed as their first landscape architect.

Bridgette Hall, Forestry England’s Head of Recreation said: “We plan our forests to benefit people, as well as wildlife and the supply of sustainable timber. They are so important for our well-being and we know that simply spending time in them can boost our mental health.”

Seeking adventure

Hall continued: “We work with lots of businesses and partners to make it an easy choice for visitors to come.

“Forests are places where you can play, seek adventure or find escape to take care of yourself.  For 100 years we have been taking care of your forests, so that they can now take care of you.”

The nation’s forests are so much more than just rural landscapes. With over 1,500 forests across the country, there are limitless ways for you to find your connection and enhance your wellbeing. To find out what your forest can do for you forest, visit the website. 

The Forestry Commission is marking its centenary in 2019 by inspiring people to visit its forests and woodlands, to help protect them for generations to come.

The centenary year includes the largest ever survey of forest wildlife, new works by sculptor Rachel Whiteread and poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and commemorative tree avenues planted to celebrate 100 years of forestry.

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from Forestry England. 

The Green and Black Cross has announced that it will no longer work with climate change activists Extinction Rebellion (XR) – saying that its core group had frequently ignored advice on legal issues.

Green and Black Cross (GBC) provides training about the law governing protests to those taking part, and coordinates legal observers who collect an independent set of evidence to be used by those arrested during direct action.

However, it is no longer willing to carry out such work with XR, according to a statement on the organisation’s website.  

Police

This states: “We do not usually make public statements because of the sensitive nature of our work, and because our role is to support people at risk of police and state violence, not to be involved in discussions around how people are engaging in activism.

“In this instance however, we have serious concerns about the safety of both legal observers and of those taking part in actions associated with Extinction Rebellion (XR), based on how XR’s core working groups have been dealing with legal and security aspects of their activity.”

It claims XR has provided inadequate and inconsistent training to legal observers; that these legal observers are not independent.

Further, it warned that the way XR stores personal data is inadequately secure – for example, in Google documents – so that it can be accessed by police and that the communication channels it uses – such as Whatsapp and Facebook messenger groups – are also not secure.

Democratic

The organisation also says that information published by XR for activists who have been arrested is misleading and inaccurate, meaning that people do not fully understand the risks that they are being asked to take.

The GBC says that it has raised its concerns with XR. Although XR acted on the advice in some cases, the organisation added that the boundaries it set were often pushed back, and “many times our advice was simply ignored if it did not align with XR’s aims and values”.

The organisation will not support XR “until a culture of solidarity, democratic accountability and security develops within the organisation”, it said. It will continue to support those arrested in XR action to date, it added.

XR did not respond to a request for comment on the allegations.

This Author

Catherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist and chief reporter for the Ecologist. She can be found tweeting at @Cat_Early76.

What do you do when your access to rivers, sacred sites, and forests, is cut off, especially when your whole identity has grown from a spiritual connection to nature?

When you face displacement from your native lands, discrimination, and human rights abuses, how do you survive?

This article was first published at The Lush Times.

For Indigenous Miskito people in Nicaragua, this is the reality. Scenes of political violence and civil unrest in Nicaragua have hit headlines around the world, but the lesser known story is the desperate situation for Indigenous populations, as both land and culture are torn apart as a result of the exploitation of natural resources.

Human rights 

A Lush Spring Prize 2018 winning group – The Center for Justice and Human Rights in the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua (CEJUDHCAN) – fighting hard for the communal land rights of Indigenous people.

The organisation offers legal support to Indigenous communities, as well as support for practical solutions.

Lottie Cunningham Wren, the group’s founder, said: “Our human rights have been denied for centuries. That’s why we’ve struggled to be included in the process of development for Nicaragua.”

Lottie, who is a human rights lawyer and a member of the Miskito community, says her people have been excluded from services like access to clean water, food, and education, and now face the threat of extreme poverty.

But in addition to all this, she says they are victims of land grabbing for natural resources, meaning many people have been displaced from their land.

Legal action

Lottie said: “Outsiders might think these people live in poverty, but there’s only real poverty when the natural resources are destroyed.” 

Lottie refuses to stand aside and let this happen. Despite risking danger to herself, she is fighting back to defend human rights and cultural identities.

She and the team at CEJUDHCAN are currently taking legal steps, and finding additional ways to empower people to rebuild their lives.

As well as working with communities directly, CEJUDHCAN is taking legal action, in a bid to change the way Indigenous communities are treated and ensure they can access their human rights.

The group is fighting for a change in public policy to defend the collective human rights of Indigenous peoples and people of African descent in the region.

Communal land

Lottie and her team are pushing the Nicaraguan government to complete the final phase of titling, giving these communities their land rights. This would mean evicting third parties from Indigenous land.

This is work that continues from what Lottie describes as CEJUDHCAN’s greatest success; in 2001, the group worked with other NGOs to achieve a judgement through the Inter-American Court.

The court found that the State of Nicaragua had violated the rights of the Awas Tingni Mayangna community, by allowing natural resources to be exploited without consulting the community who lived on the land.

This case had a huge impact, and resulted in a law being created which, in theory, allows Indigenous communities to take a lead role in defining and protecting their communal land. But this is not the reality that Lottie has seen.

Lottie said: “Every year, the State of Nicaragua has to report on what kind of concrete action they are implementing to protect the life and land of Indigenous people, but they are still not doing anything to protect the communities.” 

Colonos

In 2014, Lottie says there was a huge increase in the arrival of settlers, known as Colonos, taking community land from Indigenous communities for lumber, mining, or cattle – without permission from the communities concerned.

She says the Colonos are usually Nicaraguan people who are often ex-military, or have connections with either the government or lumber companies, and are seeking the bountiful natural resources found in this part of the country.

The Miskito people have since experienced a rise in intimidation and kidnapping, and leaders have even been murdered.

Lottie said: “The forest is part of the Miskito people’s lives, and they don’t have that liberty anymore,” she says. “They just want to be left in peace.”

Many Miskito people are now left without access to the places where they fish, grow food, and gather traditional medicines. Parteras, or midwives, traditionally gather the resources they need from the forest whenever a new baby is due, but with no access to either the forest or a pharmacy, more and more pregnant women are suffering complications and dying.

Displaced peoples

Others have been completely displaced from their land, and are either living in refugee camps or cities in Honduras.

Based on figures from refugee camps, Lottie estimates that around 5,000 Indigenous people from Nicaragua have been displaced. Most of them are women and children.

She says that many young Indigenous people in Nicaragua are even pretending to belong to other ethnic groups, just so they can get jobs and avoid discrimination.

Research into this land grabbing is being undertaken as part of CEJUDHCAN’s work, and will be officially published later in 2019, while photo documentation has already taken place.

Agroecology 

Fighting cases in court takes time, and meanwhile communities need support in other ways. Lottie recalls being asked by one community member: “Why does justice move slowly like a turtle, and not run fast like a deer?”

Lottie replied: “The turtle might go slowly, but he always gets to his destination.”

But on later reflection, she added: “While we are trying to get to our destination, people are dying of hunger. So we need to provide food to families.”

CEJUDHCAN wanted to find a solution to hunger, and so set out to support people in growing food at home. Women are now growing crops from the safety of their village centres, providing their communities with both food and opportunities for income, without the need to travel to fields further away.

To get the project off the ground, Lottie and her team went to different areas, and asked people which fruits, vegetables, and traditional medicines they wanted to grow at their homes.

Food security 

After the area for each garden was identified, fences were erected to keep animals out (fences, Lottie notes, are not traditionally part of the Miskito people’s culture), and garden tools and seeds arrived.

They worked together to make compost, and invited an agroecology student to help train people in this diverse system of agriculture where the environment, social systems, and cultural identities are prioritised and integrated.

One house, for example, had solar lighting and a roof water catchment system installed. Soon, plants like avocados, bananas, and pumpkins were ready to harvest.

Above all, having the gardens close at hand means the women do not have to walk to distant fields, where they risk attack, sexual violence, or even being killed.

This work to establish food security underpins the legal struggle; while the long fight for human rights plays out, communities can stay in their villages.

Territorial governance

The organisation has now supported 300 women in creating agroecology gardens, and 3,000 people are benefitting from the crops. But there’s still more work to be done – the soil is often acidic and there’s a lack of training in growing crops, so the gardens don’t always turn out well.

Lottie also wants to transport food between different areas, and set up more training programmes in agroecology: “We have a dream of strengthening the community around issues of territorial governance, so that they can have self-determination, and use and control their land in a sustainable way, which will benefit the planet as a whole.”

Through agroecology, CEJUDHCAN and Miskito communities have together found a way to limit displacement.

But this is not a long-term solution to the struggles of Indigenous people in Nicaragua, and the legal battle taking place in the background remains crucial to ensuring the community can stay on their own lands.

The biennial Lush Spring Prize supports projects across the world that are working towards environmental and social regeneration, with a prize fund of £220,000. CEJUDHCAN won the Established Projects Award in 2018. Find out more about the Lush Spring Prize.

This Article 

Katie Dancey-Downs is a writer for the The Lush Times. This article is part of a content-sharing arrangement with the environmental, animal rights, and social justice news channel The Lush Times. 

Photo: Lottie and Deborah from CEJUDHCAN, at the Lush Spring Prize 2018.

Indigenous leader Richard Rubio Condo was sitting in a strip-lit office in central Lima. He was a long way from his home along the Napo river in the Amazon.

He told The Ecologist: “An indigenous person without territory won’t survive. He won’t have a future.”

Rubio Condo, vice-president of national indigenous federation AIDESEP, wasn’t talking about himself or any of AIDESEP’s other leaders. He was talking about indigenous people in the remotest parts of the south-east Peruvian Amazon. 

Territorial reserve

He explained: “In terms of health and life, these isolated groups are very vulnerable. A cold could kill them, a chainsaw could terrify them. Their right to life is more important than money or investment.”

The reason for Rubio Condo’s concern was simple. The government is currently updating the legal status of the oldest reserve in Peru for indigenous peopleliving in “initial contact” and “isolation”, as the UN calls them. 

Now known as the Kugapakori-Nahua-Nanti and Others Reserve (KNNOR), it stretches for over 1.1 million acres across the Cusco and Ucayali regions.

But according to AIDESEP, this could be catastrophic for some of  the people living there. 

Transforming the KNNOR from a “territorial reserve”, as it has been since 1990, into an “indigenous reserve”, in accordance with 2006 and 2007 laws, would expose it to several dangerous loopholes.

Dangerous loopholes

Rubio Condo, a Kichwa man, continued: “The law says that if there are natural resources in the public necessity you can exploit them. So where’s the protection?”

This 2006 law states that indigenous reserves are “intangible”, but one clause, Article 5c, permits natural resource exploitation – as AIDESEP highlighted in a report last year. 

In addition, the federation argues that updating the KNNOR would mean losing the protection of a 2003 law specifically banning“new natural resource exploitation rights” in the reserve.

AIDESEP’s report said: “[Updating] the KNNOR implies a regression regarding protecting previously granted rights.” 

Such loopholes are particularly dangerous for the KNNOR because of the massive gas deposits – reportedly discovered by Shell in the 1980s – underneath it. 

Infringing on rights 

In 2000 a concession was superimposed over more than 250,000 acres of the reserve, and four years later a consortium including Pluspetrol, Hunt Oil and Repsol began producing gas. 

The multi-billion dollar Camisea project, as operations have become known, has been described as “without precedent” in Peru’s recent economic history. 

While it has generated huge revenues and 1,000s of jobs, it has reportedly had devastating impacts on wildlife, rivers, fish stocks, and the health and lives of indigenous people in the region, including the Nahua and Nanti or ‘Matsigenka-Nanti’.

The study required to update the KNNOR – called an Estudio Adicional de Categorización(EAC) – was initially going to be financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). But it pulled out in 2015 after it was agreed with the Culture Ministry – the government institution overseeing the process – that updating the reserve could weaken it legally. 

Following a complaint by AIDESEP to the bank’s Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism, the IDB acknowledged last year: “Management states that it believes that such reclassification could infringe upon the current level of protection of the KNNOR.”

Extractive activities

However, the Andes Amazon Fund (AAF), which describes itself as a “project” of the US-based New Venture Fund, subsequently stepped in. 

According to AIDESEP, AAF money channelled into Peru via an NGO called the Asociación para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (ACCA) is financing another Peruvian NGO, ProPurús, to conduct the study that the IDB backed away from. 

Last year AIDESEP’s president, Lizardo Cauper Pezo, wrote to all three organisations, as well as ProPurús’s US partner Upper Amazon Conservancy, warning of the “danger.” 

Cauper Pezo accused them of endangering indigenous peoples’ lives and “facilitating the promotion of extractive activities” in a supposedly intangible area. He urged AAF and ACCA to suspend financing, and requested ProPurús to do likewise with its research.

The only organization to respond to AIDESEP, according to Rubio Condo, was AAF. Enrique Ortiz, its programs director, stated that they share the federation’s concerns about the potential danger to the KNNOR.

Legislative reform 

Ortiz wrote: “We believe that the process to update these territories – as required by law – should be accompanied by legislative reform that ensures the survival of the [indigenous people in isolation]. 

“Given that, we’re including, in our strategy, actions to eliminate the aforementioned risks. Debate between government and civil society is necessary and we’ll be helping with that.”

In a statement to The Ecologist, AAF claimed it is “collaborating” with AIDESEP: “The policy and intent of the AAF for grantmaking concerning voluntarily isolated peoples (PIACI) in the Amazon is always to protect these indigenous groups from harmful contact and to ensure that the forest that they depend upon is rigorously protected.

“We’re in frequent dialogue and collaboration with the leadership of AIDESEP, FENAMAD, and other indigenous organizations regarding the protection of PIACI” 

Conserving biodiversity 

Elsewhere across Lima, ACCA’s Ronald Catpo told The Ecologist that he wasn’t aware AIDESEP had written to his organization, but that he knew of their concerns. 

He made it clear he felt the process to update the KNNOR should continue, saying that it would be better if AIDESEP raised such issues at a later stage and that the Culture Ministry had assured indigenous leaders that thereservewouldn’t be weakened.

Catpo, based in Cusco, said: “The Ministry met with AIDESEP and told them it wouldn’t be like that [permitting natural resource exploitation]. 

“They said it would become an indigenous reserve and the interests of the local population would be guaranteed. And there’ll be more attention from the government. I think that lowered tensions.”

Catpo emphasised that institutionally ACCA, whose sister organization is the US-based Amazon Conservation Association (ACA), is opposed to more gas or other kinds of natural resource exploitation in the KNNOR: “These are very significant areas for conservation, biodiversity and ecosystem services.” 

Empty talk

Capto continued: “For us, as conservationists, it’s very important that there are no serious impacts like the Camisea gas project, or something like that. 

“We believe everything should be done to make sure that doesn’t happen. ProPurús is the same. They’re very concerned too. What they want is an indigenous reserve and a very clear agreement [that no more natural resource exploitation will take place]. I think that’s what’s going to happen.”

But Angela Arriola, an anthropologist with AIDESEP, dismissed any assurances made by the Culture Ministry: “That’s just empty talk. 

“They could change Ministry personnel the next day, and nothing would be any different. ACCA and Andes Amazon can share our fears – even the consultants doing the research, ProPurús, can share our fears– but none of them can control what happens in the end.”

In addition to requesting that AAF et alsuspend the process to update the KNNOR, AIDESEP has urged the Culture Ministry to do likewise. 

Imminent risks

After receiving no satisfactory response, the federation filed a lawsuit last year demanding, among other things, that the Ministry is ordered to forgo updating the reserve.

Arriola told The Ecologist: “The risks are imminent. A sentence is expected this month.” 

AIDESEP insists that it is not opposed outright to updating the KNNOR. What it wants – first – is a “legal guarantee” from the government that the reserve won’t be weakened, and the loopholes such as Article 5c eliminated.

Rubio Condo said: “As we’ve told Culture, updating the reserve without previously establishing it won’t be weakened legally would be a serious risk to the people living there. 

“That means, before going ahead, we need a Supreme Decree law or a ministerial resolution ensuring that no resource exploitation can be done.”

ProPurús and the Culture Ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment. 

This Author 

David Hill is a freelance journalist and environment writer, writing for the Guardian, The Ecologist and other publications. For more details see his website or follow him on Twitter: @DavidHillTweets.

Image: Matsigenka-Nanti mother and child in the Kugapakori-Nahua-Nanti and Others’ Reserve. Javier Florez. 

Citizens from low-lying islands off Australia’s north coast will lodge an official complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, over the threat to their culture and their ability to live on their home islands.

Their case asserts that by failing to take adequate action to reduce emissions or to build proper adaptation measures on the islands, Australia is failing its legal human rights obligations to Torres Strait people.

These are the rights to culture, the right to a family and the right to life, under the first global United Nations treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Severe impacts

Advancing seas are already threatening homes, as well as damaging burial grounds and sacred cultural sites.

Many islanders are worried that their islands could quite literally disappear in their lifetimes without urgent action, with severe impacts on their ability to practice their law and culture.

Eight islanders from four different Torres Strait islands are making the complaint, including: Yessie Mosby and Nazareth Warria of Masig (Yorke Island); Keith Pabai and Stanley Marama of Boigu; Nazareth Fauid of Poruma (Coconut Island); Ted Billy, Daniel Billy and Kabay Tamu of Warraber (Sue Island).

One of the complaint authors and sixth-generation Warraber man, Kabay Tamu, said: “We’re currently seeing the effects of climate change on our islands daily, with rising seas, tidal surges, coastal erosion and inundation of our communities.

We are seeing this effect on our land and on the social and emotional wellbeing of our communities who practice culture and traditions.”

Climate refugees

Tamu continued: “If climate change means we’re forced to move away and become climate refugees in our own country, I fear this will be colonisation all over again.

“Because when you’re colonised, you’re taken away from your land and you’re forced to stop using your language and stop practising your culture and traditions.”

The complaint will be the first climate change litigation brought against the Australian federal government, based on human rights and the first legal action worldwide brought by inhabitants of low-lying islands against a nation state.

The claim is supported by the Torres Strait’s leading land and sea council that represents the regions’ traditional owners, Gur A Baradharaw Kod (GBK).

Lawyers with environmental law non-profit ClientEarth are representing the islanders, with support from barristers from 20 Essex Street Chambers in London.

Continued failure

Sophie Marjanac, Australian climate lawyer and ClientEarth’s lead lawyer for the case, said: “Climate change is fundamentally a human rights issue.

“The predicted impacts of climate change in the Torres Strait, including the inundation of ancestral homelands, would be catastrophic for its people.

“Australia’s continued failure to build infrastructure to protect the islands, and to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, constitutes a clear violation of the islanders’ rights to culture, family and life.”

Ned David, GBK chairman and Iama (Yam Island) Traditional Owner, said: “As Mabo Day approaches, and we celebrate that landmark native title decision for the Torres Strait, this claim is highlighting the next chapter in our story: ensuring our traditional culture survives climate change.

“The Australian government needs to act, and quickly. We extend an invitation to Australia’s next Prime Minister, whoever that is after this week’s federal election, to visit our islands, see the situation for themselves and commit to protecting First Nation peoples on the climate frontline.”

National petition

The claimants have launched a national petition campaign highlighting their asks for the Australian government. 

Their demands include committing at least $20 million for emergency measures such as seawalls, as requested by local authorities – and sustained investment in long-term adaptation measures to ensure the islands can continue to be inhabited; reducing Australia’s emissions by at least 65 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and going net zero before 2050; and phasing out thermal coal, both for domestic electricity generation and export markets.

The online petition is being hosted by grassroots climate action group 350.org. Veteran US environmental activist and co-founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben, said: “The Torres Strait islands have been settled for millennia, but if the Australian government continues on its present course they may not last the century.

“This lawsuit is part of an epic fight to hold the carbon barons accountable for wrecking the one planet we’ve got.”

This Author 

Marianne Brooker is The Ecologist’s content editor. This article is based on a press release from ClientEarth. 

Image: ClientEarth. 

The national grid would be nationalised under a Labour government so that £13 billion would no longer be paid to shareholders each year and more investment would be targeted at decarbonisation, the Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long Bailey, announced today.

Heat and electricity would be made a “human right for all” under the radical new policy which has the personal support of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party leader. 

A Labour party spokesperson said: “Privatisation of the UK’s energy grid is ripping off customers. 25 percent of energy bills is paid out to network companies. This is used to line the pockets of shareholders, with over £13 billion paid out in dividends over the last five years.”

Collective ownership

“Instead of pocketing excess profits, publicly owned networks will build out connections to parts of the country with high solar, wind and tidal potential, overcoming the bottlenecks, inefficiencies and underinvestment that has characterised private ownership.”

Bailey said: “Climate change represents a risk to our future, but also an opportunity to gather our resources and transform it through a Green Industrial Revolution. That means dramatic, public driven and coordinated action, without which we simply will not be able to tackle climate change.

“So our plans see climate justice and social justice as inseparable. It’s an insult and an injustice to our people and our planet for companies operating the grid to rip customers off, line the pockets of the rich and not invest properly in renewable energy.

“Only by taking the grid into public ownership can we decarbonise the economy at the pace needed to secure the planet for our children and grandchildren while ending the rip off, creating good jobs in local communities and making heating and electricity a human right.

She added: “That’s why public and collective ownership is a fundamental part of Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution.”

Community

Public energy agencies will also be tasked with tackling fuel poverty and protecting energy as a human right – making good on Labour’s promise that energy transition must go hand-in-hand with social justice.

Labour claims it will create a national as well as regional and municipal agencies that are run for the many, not the few to decarbonise the economy and deliver electricity and heat as a human right for all.

The National Energy Agency (NEA) will own and maintain transmission infrastructure, replacing the National Grid. The NEA will ensure access to electricity and heat as a human right and set and oversee targets for decarbonisation to meet Labour’s target of 60 percent renewable energy by 2030 and net zero carbon before 2050.

Regional Energy Agencies (REAs) will replace the existing Distribution Network Operators. REAs will hold statutory responsibility for decarbonising electricity and heat; hold statutory responsibility for ensuring every household can access affordable energy, and to reduce fuel poverty; take responsibility for rolling out the UK’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and create local jobs.

Where local authorities want to accelerate the energy transition, they will be able to set up Municipal Energy Agencies (MEAs), and take over responsibility for ownership and operation of distribution networks from the REAs. MEAs will then own and operate distribution networks, enabling them to integrate networks with local generation and supply.

Flexible

In addition to the public institutions described above, Labour will support the establishment of Local Energy Communities (LECs) to develop small scale energy generation and engage with distribution at the micro level (e.g. a housing estate, street or small village). LECs will be wholly community owned and non-profit making.

Dr Nina Skorupska, chief executive at the Renewable Energy Association, said: “It is good to see positive ambitions set for renewables and with the urgency the task requires. Solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy. After years of damaging policies we would welcome the kick start to an industry that was thriving three years ago.

“We need to focus on how we can achieve our climate targets cost effectively, and how we can get there practically.

“Networks and the grid have a vital role to play in supporting a cheaper, greener and more flexible energy market, and whilst we would support more policy and regulatory direction from government on how to achieve this, the priority must be to accelerate the decarbonisation of our energy systems.”

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist.

Schemes to tag fishing nets so they are not lost at sea and use fungi to break down rubbish are among the winners of a £1 million fund to tackle plastic pollution.

Waitrose & Partners has revealed five projects it will be supporting through its Plan Plastic – The Million Pound Challenge initiative, with money awarded over a year to schemes which can demonstrate an impact on reducing plastic.

The scheme, which has been set up with environmental charity Hubbub, attracted 150 applications.

Mussels

The five ideas selected for funding include the Blue Marine Foundation’s Safegear initiative to stop fishing gear being lost in the ocean by attaching beacons to buoys to make nets visible and allow them to be monitored, tracked and retrieved.

The Onion Collective and Biohm are creating a plastic biorecycling facility in Somerset that will use mycelium – a vegetative part of a fungus or fungus-like bacteria – to break down synthetic plastic waste and turn it into new products.

Women’s Environmental Network is to receive a share of the fund for a “plastic-free periods” campaign with City to Sea to bring about behaviour change that reduces pollution from sanitary products.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory is running a project to develop the use of “bioreefs” – beds or rafts of mussels deployed in estuaries and coastal sites to filter out microplastics and test if they will work to reduce the problem.

Pollution

The Youth Hostel Association is installing water bottle refill stations in 60 major hostels across England and Wales, eradicating single-use plastic bottles from packed lunches, cafes, bars and vending machines.

The £1 million fund was raised from the sale of 5p carrier bags, which have now been removed from shops, and will be split between the five winners. They will each receive funding of between £150,000 and £300,000.

Tor Harris, from Waitrose & Partners, said: “It’s important for us to tackle unnecessary plastic both in our shops but also in the wider world.

“All these inspirational projects have the ability to create real impact in tackling environmental issues and encouraging behaviour change so we can collectively achieve our goal of reducing plastic pollution.”

This Author

Emily Beament is the environment correspondent for the Press Association.

The national grid would be nationalised under a Labour government so that £13 billion would no longer be paid to shareholders each year and more investment would be targeted at decarbonisation, the Shadow Business Secretary, Rebecca Long Bailey, announced today.

Heat and electricity would be made a “human right for all” under the radical new policy which has the personal support of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour party leader. 

A Labour party spokesperson said: “Privatisation of the UK’s energy grid is ripping off customers. 25 percent of energy bills is paid out to network companies. This is used to line the pockets of shareholders, with over £13 billion paid out in dividends over the last five years.”

Collective ownership

“Instead of pocketing excess profits, publicly owned networks will build out connections to parts of the country with high solar, wind and tidal potential, overcoming the bottlenecks, inefficiencies and underinvestment that has characterised private ownership.”

Bailey said: “Climate change represents a risk to our future, but also an opportunity to gather our resources and transform it through a Green Industrial Revolution. That means dramatic, public driven and coordinated action, without which we simply will not be able to tackle climate change.

“So our plans see climate justice and social justice as inseparable. It’s an insult and an injustice to our people and our planet for companies operating the grid to rip customers off, line the pockets of the rich and not invest properly in renewable energy.

“Only by taking the grid into public ownership can we decarbonise the economy at the pace needed to secure the planet for our children and grandchildren while ending the rip off, creating good jobs in local communities and making heating and electricity a human right.

She added: “That’s why public and collective ownership is a fundamental part of Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution.”

Community

Public energy agencies will also be tasked with tackling fuel poverty and protecting energy as a human right – making good on Labour’s promise that energy transition must go hand-in-hand with social justice.

Labour claims it will create a national as well as regional and municipal agencies that are run for the many, not the few to decarbonise the economy and deliver electricity and heat as a human right for all.

The National Energy Agency (NEA) will own and maintain transmission infrastructure, replacing the National Grid. The NEA will ensure access to electricity and heat as a human right and set and oversee targets for decarbonisation to meet Labour’s target of 60 percent renewable energy by 2030 and net zero carbon before 2050.

Regional Energy Agencies (REAs) will replace the existing Distribution Network Operators. REAs will hold statutory responsibility for decarbonising electricity and heat; hold statutory responsibility for ensuring every household can access affordable energy, and to reduce fuel poverty; take responsibility for rolling out the UK’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and create local jobs.

Where local authorities want to accelerate the energy transition, they will be able to set up Municipal Energy Agencies (MEAs), and take over responsibility for ownership and operation of distribution networks from the REAs. MEAs will then own and operate distribution networks, enabling them to integrate networks with local generation and supply.

Flexible

In addition to the public institutions described above, Labour will support the establishment of Local Energy Communities (LECs) to develop small scale energy generation and engage with distribution at the micro level (e.g. a housing estate, street or small village). LECs will be wholly community owned and non-profit making.

Dr Nina Skorupska, chief executive at the Renewable Energy Association, said: “It is good to see positive ambitions set for renewables and with the urgency the task requires. Solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy. After years of damaging policies we would welcome the kick start to an industry that was thriving three years ago.

“We need to focus on how we can achieve our climate targets cost effectively, and how we can get there practically.

“Networks and the grid have a vital role to play in supporting a cheaper, greener and more flexible energy market, and whilst we would support more policy and regulatory direction from government on how to achieve this, the priority must be to accelerate the decarbonisation of our energy systems.”

This Author

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist.

Schemes to tag fishing nets so they are not lost at sea and use fungi to break down rubbish are among the winners of a £1 million fund to tackle plastic pollution.

Waitrose & Partners has revealed five projects it will be supporting through its Plan Plastic – The Million Pound Challenge initiative, with money awarded over a year to schemes which can demonstrate an impact on reducing plastic.

The scheme, which has been set up with environmental charity Hubbub, attracted 150 applications.

Mussels

The five ideas selected for funding include the Blue Marine Foundation’s Safegear initiative to stop fishing gear being lost in the ocean by attaching beacons to buoys to make nets visible and allow them to be monitored, tracked and retrieved.

The Onion Collective and Biohm are creating a plastic biorecycling facility in Somerset that will use mycelium – a vegetative part of a fungus or fungus-like bacteria – to break down synthetic plastic waste and turn it into new products.

Women’s Environmental Network is to receive a share of the fund for a “plastic-free periods” campaign with City to Sea to bring about behaviour change that reduces pollution from sanitary products.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory is running a project to develop the use of “bioreefs” – beds or rafts of mussels deployed in estuaries and coastal sites to filter out microplastics and test if they will work to reduce the problem.

Pollution

The Youth Hostel Association is installing water bottle refill stations in 60 major hostels across England and Wales, eradicating single-use plastic bottles from packed lunches, cafes, bars and vending machines.

The £1 million fund was raised from the sale of 5p carrier bags, which have now been removed from shops, and will be split between the five winners. They will each receive funding of between £150,000 and £300,000.

Tor Harris, from Waitrose & Partners, said: “It’s important for us to tackle unnecessary plastic both in our shops but also in the wider world.

“All these inspirational projects have the ability to create real impact in tackling environmental issues and encouraging behaviour change so we can collectively achieve our goal of reducing plastic pollution.”

This Author

Emily Beament is the environment correspondent for the Press Association.