Biodiversité

The latest State of Nature Report rings yet another alarm bell on the biodiversity crisis in the UK, showing major declines in many species since monitoring began in 1970. Since this date, species have declined by 19% on average and one in six are now at risk of being lost in the UK.

Les ministres de l'Atlantique du Nord-Est se sont réunis pour renouveler et étendre leurs engagements en faveur de la protection et de la conservation de l'Atlantique du Nord-Est et de ses ressources.

Les 15 pays représentés à la réunion sont tous signataires de la convention OSPAR, ainsi que l'Union européenne. La réunion a désigné une nouvelle aire marine protégée (AMP) en haute mer pour la protection des oiseaux de mer plus grande que la masse terrestre du Royaume-Uni et de l'Allemagne réunis. Une nouvelle Stratégie pour le milieu marin de l’Atlantique du Nord-est a également été adoptée.

Marine protected areas, or MPAs as they’re more commonly called, are very simple. Areas of the sea are set aside where certain activities – usually fishing – are banned or restricted. Ideally, these MPAs might be placed around particularly vibrant habitats that support lots of different species, like seagrass beds or coral reefs. By preventing fishing gear such as towed seabed trawls from sweeping through these environments, the hope is that marine life will be allowed to recover.

When used well, they can be very effective.

When an expert volunteer is walking through a sunny meadow recording butterflies or searching by torchlight for newts, it can seem a long way from the negotiating halls of Convention on Biological Diversity meetings or from civil servants drafting new legislation.

But trends in species’ abundance, distribution or extinction risk, derived from monitoring and recording schemes, have wide influence in developing and monitoring environmental strategies, agreements and legislation.

Individual species status assessments underpin the lists of priority species within each of the four UK countries. For example, the Environment (Wales) Act 2016 gives Welsh ministers the responsibility ‘maintain and enhance’ species on the Section 7 list. However, many uses of species’ status information come from creating composite measures giving an overview of the status of a taxonomic group, habitat type or of species in general.

Le passage de chalutiers à perche électriques bouleverse la biodiversité sous-marine, révèle une étude réalisée par le Cefas, l’équivalent britannique de l’Ifremer, que le JDLE s’est procurée.

Mainstream political and policy debates have failed to recognise that human impacts on the environment have reached a critical stage, potentially eroding the conditions upon which socioeconomic …

Les administrations infranationales ont un rôle déterminant à jouer dans le respect des engagements pris au regard de la biodiversité aux niveaux national et international. En s’appuyant sur l’expérience pratique de l’Écosse (Royaume-Uni), de la France et d’autres signataires de la Déclaration d’Édimbourg, ce document présente et analyse les stratégies et plans infranationaux, ainsi que les mécanismes servant à assurer la cohérence et la coordination de l’action publique

Les aires marines protégées ont un rôle à jouer dans la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique. C'est ce que soutiennent la France, le Chili, le Costa Rica, le Royaume-Uni et les Etats-Unis. Le 2 juin dernier, l'Office français de la biodiversité a annoncé un partenariat international entre les agences de protection du milieu marin de ces cinq pays. Le but ? Promouvoir les aires marines protégées comme des outils de lutte contre le changement climatique auprès des dirigeants mondiaux. Il s'agit de l'international partnership on MPAs, biodiversity and climate change.

The naturalist uses a UN event to call on world leaders to do more to protect nature.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said "a much greater level of urgent action" was needed to put nature into recovery, including rescuing wildlife sites currently in decline.

The government figure of 26% includes national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), which are more about how our landscape looks as opposed to the state of nature within them, he said.

He told BBC News: "The reality is, at best what's being managed for nature at the moment is only 10%. Even according to the government's own advisers on nature, they say half of that is in a poor condition, so it's nearer 5%. We've got a mountain to climb if we're really going to put nature into recovery in this country and reach the Prime Minister's target by 2030."

Le Royaume scandinave veut anticiper la pénurie, alors qu’il est dépendant des importations pour le traitement de l’eau du robinet et que les livraisons prennent du retard en raison de la pandémie de coronavirus.

Experts from across the globe will come together at the University of Stirling in a series of keynote talks, sessions and workshops, to share their knowledge on the impact that wind energy has on wildlife and discuss the upcoming challenges for this dynamic industry.