Britain’s loudest bird has enjoyed its best year since records began, according to a new survey by the RSPB.

Conservationists are heralding the success of a project to bring bitterns (a type of heron) back from the brink of extinction.

Bitterns are highly secretive despite their claim to fame as Britain’s loudest bird. With their well camouflaged, pale, buffy-brown plumage, bitterns spend most of their time hiding in dense stands of reed and are so elusive scientists count them by listening for the males’ distinctive booming call.

Astonishing recovery

Since 2006, there has been a year-on-year increase in the number of bitterns making their home in Britain. This year numbers reached record levels once more with 198 males recorded at 89 sites. This compares to 188 at 82 sites in 2018.

They had completely disappeared in Britain by the 1870s, before recolonising early in the 20th century. However, they found themselves back on the brink in 1997 when numbers dropped to 11 males.

Simon Wotton, RSPB Senior Conservation Scientist, said: “Bitterns are one our most charismatic birds. Their astonishing recovery from the brink of extinction is a real conservation success story and example of what is possible through targeted efforts to restore wildlife habitat.

“It’s a delight to hear their distinctive booming call echoing across the reedbeds every year as more and more bitterns are making new or restored wetlands their home.”

Two EU LIFE funded projects helped reinvigorate the bittern population, alongside the legal safeguards in place within Special Protection Areas (SPAs).But the number of SPAs has not increased for 20 years, despite plans to designate more SPAs as bitterns arrived in their newly created habitats. 

Success story

When the RSPB first started regular annual bittern monitoring in 1990, over 90 percent of booming bitterns were found on SPAs designated for the bird but this year only 23 percent were recorded on designated SPAs, leaving bittern nests vulnerable to damage and destruction.

The UK has the second lowest percentage of its national territory designated as SPAs of the EU28 member states.

The RSPB’s conservation director Martin Harper added: “The recovery of the bittern is a great success story.  It highlights the importance of nature reserves and protected areas in providing this species a lifeline. 

“Equally, we know that dedicated funding from the EU has been instrumental in driving positive action. 

“Rhetorical commitments to restore nature in a generation must be backed up with legal targets and adequate resources. That is why it is essential that governments across the UK pass new environment laws to drive nature’s recovery and replace the funding that will be lost if and when the UK leaves the European Union.”

Secretive bird

102 male booming bitterns were recorded across RSPB sites, up from 92 last year.

Booming was reported from five new sites. Although the number of confirmed booming males in Somerset dropped from 55 to 48 boomers, record levels were noted in the Fens and North Eastern England.

Bitterns are a secretive bird, very difficult to see, as they move silently through the reeds at the water’s edge, looking for fish.

If you keep your eyes peeled you might be lucky to spot one at a number of RSPB nature reserves in Somerset, East Anglia and Yorkshire. Click here to find a reserve close to you. 

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from the RSPB. 

This summer was a “painted lady year”, with almost half a million of the migratory butterflies recorded as part of an annual count, experts have said.

Results from members of the public taking part in the survey run by Butterfly Conservation have allowed the wildlife charity to confirm that 2019 was a year when unusually high numbers of painted ladies arrived in the UK.

A “painted lady year” is a natural phenomenon that occurs about once a decade, the experts said, with the last big influx of the migratory butterfly taking place in 2009.

Sightings

Results from the Big Butterfly Count, which took place over three weeks in the summer, show that the number of painted lady butterflies was almost 30 times greater than in 2018.

The count also revealed that several other common species have experienced a good summer, helped by the fine weather – in some cases boosting butterflies which have been struggling in recent years.

Peacock butterflies had their best summer since 2014, with a 235 percent increase in numbers sighted compared with last year, while the marbled white saw a 264 percent increase.

Red admirals were up 138 percent, gatekeepers up 95 percent, and there was a 64 percent rise in sightings of the six-spot burnet moth, one of two day-flying moths counted in the survey.

Tortoiseshell

And the struggling small tortoiseshell had its best result since 2014, with around 70,000 spotted during this summer’s count.

Scientists continue to be worried about the butterfly, which has seen declines of around 78 percent since the 1970s, and suggested climate change could be having an impact on its fortunes.

Butterfly Conservation’s Richard Fox said: “Last year the small tortoiseshell experienced its worst summer in the history of the Big Butterfly Count, so to see its numbers jump up by 167 percent this year is a big relief.”

He added that the results showed the species performed far better in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales.

Parasitic

“We’re still trying to establish what is behind the long-term decline of the small tortoiseshell and, while it is good news that the butterfly fared better this summer, the poor results in southern England in particular suggest that climate change may be having more of an impact on this species than we have previously realised.”

Mr Fox added: “The painted lady obviously stole the show this summer, taking the top spot in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but 2019 has also been the most successful Big Butterfly Count in its 10-year history, with more people taking part and more counts being submitted than ever before.”

It was less good news for small white, large white and green-veined white butterflies, which all saw their numbers drop by 42 percent compared with last year, while common blue and holly blue butterflies were both down by more than half.

The experts said these species all experienced a bumper year in 2018, and this year’s drop could be the result of being preyed on by parasitic wasps whose populations may have been boosted by the butterflies’ success last year.

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

Bus operators across England are setting out a bold strategy to work with government to improve services, help tackle climate change and get a billion more passenger journeys by bus by 2030. 

The new strategy Moving Forward Together was launched by the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT).

The strategy includes new commitments from the industry, including a pledge to work with government to make every new bus an ultra-low or zero emission bus from 2025. 

Bus strategy 

The CPT is the voice for bus and coach operators across the UK, representing over 95 percent of the bus industry including the major operators Arriva, First Group, Go Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach as well as hundreds of smaller operators.

Additional commitments in the strategy include reducing travel costs for job seekers and apprentices by 2021, introducing price-capped daily and weekly tickets across multiple operators by 2022 in urban areas and working with government to develop innovative sustainable solutions to rural transport. 

Alongside the industry’s commitments CPT is calling on the Government to introduce a national bus strategy to help deliver better bus services across England. This would include bus journey time targets for local transport authorities, speeding up millions of journeys to work, school and leisure and encouraging more people to get on the bus.

Graham Vidler, CPT Chief Executive said: “Buses are already the cleanest form of road transport and have a crucial role to play in tackling environmental issues and helping to meet important targets on improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions.

“With the right support from government to make the transition the bus industry will buy only ultra-low or zero emission buses by 2025, reducing CO2 emissions by half a million tonnes a year.” 

Essential infrastructure 

Buses are a vital part of the UK’s infrastructure with passengers generating £64 billion of economic output annually. Each person takes around 50 bus trips per year and 60 percent of all public transport journeys are taken by bus. 

Every day, over two million people all over the country travel to work by bus, and a million more to school or college.

Graham Vidler continues: “We can do even more to tackle climate change and improve air quality by getting people out of their cars and onto the bus. If everyone switched just one car journey a month to bus, there would be a billion fewer car journeys and a saving of two million tonnes of CO2 a year.

“Better bus services are the key to shifting travel habits and growing the significant economic contribution the industry makes. We know that congestion remains the biggest barrier to increasing passenger numbers in towns and cities and that many rural communities feel current bus services don’t meet their needs.

“We’ll continue to invest in better buses with better facilities and simpler ticketing. We need government to incentivise local authorities to cut congestion and work with us to examine new ways of delivering transport services that work for more isolated communities”. 

Cutting emissions

Buses Minister, Baroness Vere said: “Buses link people with work, school, friends and family and are vital to helping drive down emissions by providing a greener travel option.  

“That’s why this Government is spending an additional £200 million on boosting bus services. This is on top of £250 million already spent each year, as well as funding for a range of low-emission technologies across the sector.

“The Confederation of Passenger Transport’s strategy emphasises the importance of the bus industry and I look forward to working with them to continue to bolster bus services across the country.”

This Article 

This article is based on a press release from the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

Music and politics often go hand in hand. Womad has dealt with annual visa challenges for large bands entering the UK determinedly and diplomatically, for over three decades.

The festival goes the extra mile to source signature new finds from across the globe, with its roots in world music, platforming performers in an appreciative, supportive environment and championing diversity.

This year, it was women performers who won the limelight. 

Sense of identity 

The two most established performers were Nadine Shah and Anna Calvi. Each brought fire and terror, musical beauty and brevity in what proved to be electrifying performances.

Shah, with her Tyneside and Muslim background, brought a sense of place and belonging, coupled with the contradiction of experiencing daily racism and bullying. She’s now celebrated and treated with pride by some locals who formerly terrorised her. 

Shah’s punk attitude helped her to negotiate a region where a sense of identity is strongly associated with local geography, social expectations and folklore – and often with being white.

At once demonic and possessed, Shahs on stage persona, merged seamlessly with her everyday self, is an expression of out and out ‘living it’. Her songs clearly reveal that she was up against prejudice that would prove much more than a thorn in her side – it shaped her. 

It’s heartening beyond measure to see Shah’s defiance translated into musical brilliance. Her’s was one of those performances where everyone was left ruffled and in awe. A raw power, provocative and politicised, yet with a compassionate and essentially Northern sensibility, in which empathy will out.

She spoke with a  Tyneside twang of ‘being told to go back home’, which brought me to tears. Shah is a mesmerising and electrifying performer. Once experienced, never forgotten.

Bold and daring

Anna Calvi strutted the stage, singing with an operatic range in which the long held notes hung in the air like lost souls. Swaying and sauntering, she almost floated, poltergeist-like.

Calvi drew in an audience who came like moths to a flame. A dramatic show and intense presence, guitar riffs surely re-purposed from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Calvi called the shots.

She appeared to leave the stage in tears amidst rumours and an announcement that this was potentially her last performance. 

It was a bold and somewhat daring move of Womad to programme both Calvi and Shah, neither of whom are usually associated with the festival’s emphasis on ‘world music’, a term and a genre that constantly stirring debate.

Womad is a familiar and safe space, particularly for punters who return annually on family holidays. But this year’s programming was a smart move to attract a new and more varied audience. That said, they also included some old school faves, such as Orbital, resplendent with signature insect-aping headsets, contemporary ‘techy’ anarchy,  amagnificent lightshow, on-screen politicised text and edgy energy. 

Ethno-chaos

In sharp contrast, Robert Plant’s new project ‘Saving Grace’, with Elaine Dian, was a melancholic affair, prompting an (rather un-WOMAD!) audience member to shout “Make the next one a f*****g happy one!”.

Nevertheless Plant’s long-term eagerness to embrace diverse music, cultures and traditions remains admirable.

The high hats of Dhakhabrakah, a Ukrainian quartet, gained much audience approval, for their unique sound and ‘ethno-chaos’.

Their strong female physicality and musicality, powered the big-top tent with forceful drumming, singing and funked-up bass-lined fused with the more traditional had the audience erupting after each song. This splendid subversion in sound is a Womad’s signature offering. 

Coaxing discussion

In addition, Mr. B’s Emporium of Reading Delights is a retail paradise for bookworms and a magical palace of insight and fantastical tales. Its staff informatively introduce potential reader-book-buyers, to suitable (book) matches. It is a beacon to the book and written word, in an ocean of drudgery battling a challenging market for print. 

Womad annually secures literary masters and persons of great social impact, intent on coaxing discussion and open-mindedness.

Should ever the heinous thought enter one’s mind that, “Oh yes, I have life sussed”, some speaker, often unexpectedly, will answer an audience question to swiftly quash such a notion with refreshing consciousness. Hurrah and also, how very dare you!

This is Womad’s calling card, to expect the unexpected, is encountered in their arts, annually. More than any festival, it generously understands the need for creative expression and modern musical ‘purism’. 

In a rapidly changing global society, Womand stands like a steadfast, steel ship, anchored and proud, it has weathered all-sorts, at times looking like it would sink. Yet it buoys back and floats freely through frequently difficult waters – politically, financially, culturally, and logistically.

This Author

Wendyrosie Scott is an anthropologist, journalist & stylist focusing on design & creative communities. She looks at positive partnerships between lifestyle trends & the natural world.

The country may be split on Brexit, but one thing most of us agree on is that our money should not be invested in a way that goes against our values.

Profit should not come at any price, particularly investments with a long time horizon, such as your pension. No one is saving with the deliberate intention of creating a future that is financially secure but socially and environmentally impoverished – because what would be the point in that? 

So most people would be pretty unhappy if they knew about the impact of some of the company shares that they own through their pension. But most don’t know.

Fossil fuels

This lack of knowledge isn’t due to a lack of ethics, but rather a surfeit of labels, indexes, ratings and disclosures which leave most investors reeling. Instead, we look for something we can feel good about such as giving up meat, buying a bamboo toothbrush and shopping in packaging-free shops. 

It turns out that using an ethical compass, particularly in the world of investment, involves an ever-increasing list of regulations and standards.

The impetus to provide ethical choices for pensions and investments may actually be slowing the shift of capital away from ecologically damaging activities as it moves towards efforts to address the twin crises of climate and society. 

It’s no good focusing on the good companies, if the bad ones carry on as before. And we all have a different view of which those are.

For example while some global energy companies have turned their backs on fossil fuels to transition into purely renewable generation, others see this just as an add-on to the way they’ve always done things.

Unethical markets

The market theory is that company behaviour is driven by incentives rather than rules, by carrots rather than sticks. The incentive should be for companies to engage with stakeholders, changing their strategies to address their concerns. 

One global consumer goods company notably staked its market reputation on shifting to a more sustainable business model rather than simply being measured on growth and profitability. Sustainable business is good business too, right?

But global giants invariably still operate in unethical markets too – where do we choose to draw the line?

Companies like this are able to jump through the ethical hoops needed to be included in indices such as FTSE4Good which highlights stocks which display positive environmental, social and governance strategies. 

But that’s the problem. By choosing your investments with your ethical compass you are inherently aligning them towards things that are good rather than away from things that are bad. 

Stock market

Hell will freeze over (or Greenland will melt) before there is a stock market index called FTSE4Bad. Here’s the list of companies which are currently in the FTSE 100.

They include fossil fuel companies, mining businesses, house builders, global supermarket chains and multinational banks. Most pensions’ default settings will include most, if not all, of these stocks. 

This Author 

Bruce Davis is managing director of Abundance Investment, which advertises with The Ecologist.

Almost two thirds of people want to know about a flight’s carbon pollution when they search online, new polling released today shows. 

Friends of the Earth is calling for all airlines to make a flight’s carbon pollution public before a customer books so that an informed choice about how to travel can be made.

People are thinking much more about their personal actions in connection to climate change so it’s right that companies do better at showing the climate impact of what they sell.

With long-haul flights creating more carbon emissions than that produced by the average person in dozens of countries in an entire year, companies that market to travellers should be clearer about the impact of their services.

Greener choices

Recent research showed even a short return flight from London to Edinburgh pumps out more carbon dioxide (CO2) than the mean annual emissions of a person living in Uganda or Somalia.

But, with airlines advertising to us all the time, and given the attractiveness of travel, isn’t it time we were able to make informed decision about the cost?

Aaron Kiely, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Major train websites show carbon pollution so why can’t airlines do the same?

“Now the full scale of the climate emergency is known we have decisions to make about how we live our lives, and it’s reasonable to want to make changes based on a full picture – industry should be clearer and more up-front. This is what people also want as this polling shows.

“Giving people more information about the journeys they take can prompt them to make greener choices about their travel – maybe even deciding against that long-haul break for just a few days or look at a train instead to assess the cost, in pounds and carbon, of a journey.”

We can arrive at better decisions about how we spend our time, our money, and how we reconcile the pollution generated, if we have more information – information that all industries should publish.

This Author 

Marianne Brooker is The Ecologist’s content editor. This article is based on a press release from Friends of the Earth. 

Youngsters are urging people to join them in the streets for demonstrations as part of what is expected to be the largest global climate strike.

More than 150 protests are planned in the UK from Cornwall to Scotland on Friday September 20, as children and students leave lessons and lectures to demand urgent action to curb global warming.

They are being supported by more than 80 environmental groups, aid agencies, social and religious organisations, and by unions, with the TUC Congress voting to call for “workday campaign action” to coincide with the strike.

Demonstrations

Youth strikers are calling on parents, businesses, working people and politicians to get behind the action and demand urgent steps to tackle the climate crisis.

The UK action is part of an estimated 2,500 events that will take place around the world, including New York, where teenage activist Greta Thunberg will take part in a strike, having sailed to the US by yacht to avoid flying.

The global movement, inspired by Greta’s weekly protests outside the Swedish parliament, has helped push climate and environment up the agenda, along with major UN scientific reports on the impacts of rising temperatures and the Extinction Rebellion protests.

Thousands of young people took to the streets in strikes in the UK in February, and in March as part of a global day of action.

The YouthStrike4Climate campaign is organised by the UK Student Climate Network, which has co-ordinated more than 550 demonstrations this year.

Demanding

Next Friday’s global protest comes ahead of a UN climate action summit in New York, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging world leaders to boost national ambitions for cutting greenhouse gases to tackle the crisis.

It comes as polling by Opinium of 2,000 UK adults for the UK Student Climate Network found more than six in 10 (61%) believe in supporting the youth climate strikers and driving climate action.

In the UK, students want action including effective policies such as a “green new deal” which would cut carbon and at the same time reduce household bills, provide better quality housing, and deliver zero-carbon infrastructure and jobs.

Jessica Ahmed, 16, from London and part of the UK Student Climate Network, said: “The Government’s failure to tackle climate change and implement effective policies can’t be ignored anymore.

“On September 20, millions of people will be taking action globally, demanding change and policies that will protect our future, such as a Green New Deal.

Grandchildren

“Instead of focusing all their energy on Brexit, we desperately need our politicians to put their time, resources and money towards dealing with the worsening climate emergency. Time is running out.”

Anna French, a mother of two from Bedfordshire, who is going on strike, said: “Seeing the children take to the streets, I felt a great sense of shame that we have left this problem to them.

“We have a responsibility to do everything we can to help secure them a safe future. I am taking action now so I can look at my children in the eyes and know I did all I could.”

And John Sauven, executive director at Greenpeace UK, said older generations had failed and it was the children whose voice people now had to listen to.

“They’re asking us to join them as they hit the street once again on September 20. The question for adults today is – when your children and grandchildren ask if you stood with the schools strikers will you be able to say you were there?”

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

One of the UK’s largest renewable energy suppliers has written to Sajid Javid, the chancellor, to warn that plans to change VAT from five percent to 20 percent for families buying solar panels and renewable technology could harm the country’s push for a net zero carbon economy by 2050.

Juliet Davenport, chief executive and founder of Good Energy – which has around 250,000 customers, called on Mr Javid to scrap the plans, which come into effect on October 1 this year. 

She wrote: “There are more than one million solar PV installations now in operation across the UK.

Rules

“Their sum capacity totals more than our single biggest power station. This has grown from near-zero within 10 years, showing what can be achieved when we encourage people to be part of the solution to climate change. We need to ensure that this momentum is not lost.

“Consequently, this government must not support the proposed VAT increase to 20 percent on clean energy solutions for households, including solar and storage, whilst it remains at five percent for coal and gas.”

The letter also has the support of Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association; Alice Bell of 10:10 Climate Action and Aaron Kiely, climate campaign lead at Friends of the Earth.

A petition on the issue has received more than 17,000 signatures.

Current rules mean anyone buying solar panels or other electricity storage for their homes are charged five percent VAT, but an EU ruling in 2015 said the UK government must charge the full 20 percent.

Scrap

Negotiations led to the Government and EU agreeing that the 20% level only needs to be charged for technology over a certain threshold, but Good Energy warn this could stifle innovation.

Kit Dixon, Good Energy’s regulatory affairs officer, explained: “It penalises people who want to use the best technology. If you have panels and a battery installed in your home or business you’ll almost certainly be above that threshold.

“The energy system is changing and more homeowners and businesses do want to invest in this kind of technology and it is vital we see an uptake from this tech.”

He added that last month’s blackout across large parts of the country could be avoided in the future if more households generated their own electricity and relied less on the national grid.

The calls to scrap the planned VAT rise also come as figures suggest that solar panel installation rates have been steadily falling as government backed incentives and subsidies have been cut.

Amend

Labour accused the government of “actively dismantling” the solar power industry, whist still agreeing to huge subsidies for new nuclear power stations.

The Treasury was approached for comment, but said it was a matter for HMRC.

An HMRC spokesperson said: “The government is committed to greening our economy and designed the changes for energy-saving materials to retain as much of the VAT relief as possible for UK households, while complying with EU law.

“While the UK remains a member of the EU, the Government is obliged to make these changes which were approved by Parliament on 25 June and will take effect from 1 October 2019. As all taxes are kept under review, it may be possible to amend these rules once the UK has left the EU.”

This Author

Simon Neville is the city editor at PA.

A “fundamental shift” away from all single-use packaging – not just plastic but other materials too – is needed to help the environment, MPs have urged.

The government should review systems where customers can reuse and refill containers to see what works and where official intervention could encourage retailers to offer refillable options, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said.

Refill schemes already being piloted include the Waitrose “unpacked” trial being rolled out to several stores, which has refillable options for products ranging from wine and beer to cereals, pasta and cleaning products.

Example

Another is Loop, run by TerraCycle and set to be piloted in collaboration with Tesco, which will deliver products ordered online to homes in reusable containers that will then be collected, cleaned and refilled.

A report from the committee warned that, in the backlash against plastic, there was increasing use of alternatives such as aluminium, glass, paper and plastics made from biological materials or which are compostable.

But these all have environmental impacts, potentially causing problems such as pushing up energy use and carbon emissions, while there is confusion over compostable plastics and issues with disposing of them, the report stated.

The MPs said the Government was not putting enough emphasis on reducing plastic food and drink packaging in the first place, and called for a fundamental shift away from all single-use packaging of various materials.

They also urged Parliament to lead by example, with the ambition to remove single-use packaging from all its catering facilities.

Compostable

The government has unveiled plans to improve recycling rates, with a greater responsibility on producers to pay for the costs of dealing with packaging, a deposit return scheme on drinks containers and more consistency in local council recycling collections.

The committee’s report backed these moves, and also called for the proposed plastic packaging tax – which will tax packaging with less than 30% recycled content – to have lower fees for higher levels of recycled material.

Neil Parish, the committee chairman, said: “We all know that plastic pollution of our rivers and seas is a huge problem.

“However, replacing plastic with other materials isn’t always the best solution, as all materials have an environmental impact.

“My committee is also concerned that compostable plastics have been introduced without the right infrastructure or consumer understanding about how to dispose of them.

Recyclable

“Fundamentally, substitution is not the answer, and we need to look at ways to cut down on single-use packaging.”

He added: “Currently, packaging labelling can be confusing, unclear, or even misleading.

“Ensuring that all local authorities collect the same plastics for recycling will make it easier for packaging to be labelled, so consumers know whether that packaging is recyclable or not.”

A spokesman for the Local Government Association said: “Manufacturers need to up their game now and respond to the public’s call to action by using packaging that is fully and easily recyclable, and pay the full cost of recycling packaging.

Households

“Councils are doing all they can to improve recycling rates, but further improvement on current levels needs significant extra funding so councils can cover new materials proposed in the Government’s waste strategy.

“Councils should be free to decide how to deliver their waste services locally, as various factors determine waste collection methods, such as property type and rurality.”

A government spokesperson said its waste strategy would ensure businesses and manufacturers “pay the full net cost” of handling packaging that ends up in household waste.

“Our reforms will also mean producers will need to label their packaging as ‘recyclable’ or ‘not recyclable’ so households can know more clearly what they can recycle.”

This Author

Emily Beament is the PA environment correspondent.

Blackpool’s piers stand exposed and look perilously fragile as the North Sea waves crash again and again against the Victorian structure.

These structures stand as an appropriate reminder of the very immediate threat climate breakdown poses to some of our most valuable coastal heritage – it’s quite literally falling into the sea. 

World Monuments Fund (WMF) featured the piers in their 2018 ‘Watch’ cycle to raise awareness and broker solutions. WMF also joined with Blackpool Council to bring together a delegation of world experts for the Blackpool Sea Change conference. The delegation’s expertise spanned fields from conservation to architecture, tourism, academia, and drew participants from grassroots as well as professional bodies.

Managing change

Blackpool Sea Change showcased examples of such heritage under threat and shared best practice – and offered up solutions. 

It is clearly not possible to hold back the tide, as the apocryphal and appropriately historic story of King Cnut so ably demonstrated. Climate breakdown has always altered our coastlines, but the rate of change is rapidly accelerating, with significant losses predicted over the next century.

In 1772 the light house at Orford Ness was two miles from the sea; now waves lap at its door.

The Blackpool Sea Change conference, which included 60 presentations from 13 different countries, had three clear take-away messages. As archaeologists, conservators and heritage professionals, many of the audience in the room were at the forefront of understanding that change is the story of the past, the only constant. Heritage conservation can therefore best be described as the ‘careful management of change’.

As such delegates were well-placed to help explain future change, by imaginatively demonstrating what has happened in the past. This usefully addresses a commonly held perception that the heritage profession is about stopping change or ‘pickling in aspic’. 

Honest and brave

There are many solutions to climate breakdown and coastal built heritage, from the traditional, such as building sea-defences and protecting against physical erosion, to managed retreat, which accepts and records loss.

Hard solutions however, are expensive, and the heritage cause needs to be combined with other needs to make a strong case.

Increased loss is inevitable, and we need to be more honest and braver in telling that story. Most importantly we need to make decisions and to prioritise. The alternative is that the decision will be taken for us.

The heritage profession needs to work in partnership with others – both to share solutions and to ensure our voice is heard. A theme heard repeated throughout the conference was of the success of nature-based solutions in mitigating the impact of climate breakdown, many of which had significant value for cultural heritage – the restoration of saltmarsh for economic benefit in the Venetian lagoon being an active example.

Concepts such as ‘natural capital’ are invaluable in making politicians, decision-makers and business leaders understand the financial benefits of investing in solutions to climate breakdown: the same applies to cultural capital, which we need to explain better. Combining forces with others in the world of arts, culture, heritage and tourism was seen as an important step.

Innovative technologies

It’s paramount that we involve local communities, help them to understand the issues and to care for their heritage, and that we adopt a clear language and a values-based approach.

The use of art, photography and a range of innovative technologies, combined with a desire for true engagement (rather than consultation) were seen as essential pre-requisites for success.

Next steps for World Monuments Fund, Blackpool Council and the other conference partners, are to encourage participants and others with an interest to join The Climate Heritage Network, which launches in October in Edinburgh.

We are also exploring publishing the proceedings of the conference and developing a one-day version of the event which would act as a road-show for other coastal areas of the UK. 

This Author 

John Darlington is executive director of World Monuments Fund Britain. An archaeologist by training, John is an author and conservation professional with over 30 years of practical experience. He tweets at @JohnD_WMFB.