Recent Comments
navasolanature on Poundbury Nature for Wellbeing… Alex Tylor on ‘Look but don’t pick’ – Wild M… AllRoundNature on Will Prime Minister Truss aban… Peter Lancashire on The true story of David Camero… Peter Lancashire on The true story of David Camero…
Tag Archives: Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
Floods and SUDS
As the flood waters recede they reveal that the “Greenest Government Ever”‘s environmental credentials have finally all been washed away. The idea of Sustainable (Urban) Drainage Schemes, or SUDS has been around for a long time. I can remember arguing … Continue reading
Biodiversity Challenge 4: Broken Dreams
meetings meetings meetings ((c) By Agriculture And Stock Department, Publicity Branch via Wikimedia Commons) Todays blog completes my series this week of blogs looking at what Biodiversity Challenge achieved, looking back with the benefit of hindsight 20 years on. Biodiversity … Continue reading
Biodiversity Challenge 3: Habitats
Continuing my series to celebrate 20 years since the launch of Biodiversity Challenge: an Agenda for Conservation in the UK (yes I had a hand in the hubristic title), today I look at Habitats. Derek Ratcliffe had developed the criteria … Continue reading
The fallacy at the heart of the Governments biodiversity offsetting proposals
I have been thinking a bit more about last week’s Biodiversity Offsetting debate at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Biodiversity, which I blogged about here. Something was niggling away at the back of my mind and I couldn’t quite … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, Biodiversity APPG, biodiversity offsetting, EIA, farming, housing, meadows, Owen Paterson, regulatory reform
Tagged All Party Parliamentary Group, biodiversity, Biodiversity action plan, biodiversity offsets, Defra, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, EIA, Environment, nature after minerals
5 Comments
Biodiversity Offsetting – some further thoughts
Today’s blog appears on the Woodland Trust Blog site. http://wtcampaigns.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/biodiversity-offsetting-some-related-issues/.
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, Charities campaigning, ecosystem services, environmental policy, forest elephant, George Monbiot, housing, management, meadows, neoliberalism, Owen Paterson, rewilding, scrub, spiritual value, straight tusked elephant, uplands
Tagged biodiversity, Church, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, George Monbiot, offsetting, Owen Paterson, re-wilding
3 Comments
Goodbye Peter Kendall
Peter Kendall, President of the National Farmers Union, has announced his intention to retire from the role next February. I for one, will miss him – simply because he provides me with so many easy blogs to write. Peter is … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, badgers, bees, biodiversity, Common Agricultural Policy, deregulation, environmental policy, farming, NFU, Peter Kendall, public goods, regulatory reform
Tagged Agriculture, Bedfordshire, common agricultural policy, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, deregulation, Intensive Farming, National Farmers' Union, NFU, Peter Kendall, Whitehall
4 Comments
Paterson: Badgers ate my credibility
By BadgerHero (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons “It woz the badgers wot dunnit ossifer, honest.” It’s embarrassing isn’t it, when a Cabinet Minister appears on national TV and makes such crass statements. Owen Paterson … Continue reading
Posted in agricultural pests, agriculture, anti conservation rhetoric, anti-environmental rhetoric, badgers, David Heath, environmental policy, farming, George Eustice, Owen Paterson, Richard Benyon
Tagged anti environmental rhetoric, Badger culling in the United Kingdom, Conservative Party, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice, John Gummer, Owen Paterson, Somerset, Wikimedia Commons
Leave a comment
Dams and Dredging Update
Coincidentally, following Monday’s blog I received an email from Natural England yesterday. They informed me that “A member of our Land Management Team has investigation the situation and we appreciate your concerns about the work undertaken. The farmer was … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, Beavers, deregulation, Dredging, ecosystem services, Environment Agency, environmental policy, farming, Floodplains, management, Natural England, regulatory reform
Tagged beavers, Business, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, deregulation, dredging, ecosystem services, Environment, Environment Agency, Governmental, Natural England, Organizations, Water Framework Directive
2 Comments
Who Owns Nature?
“Possession is nine tenths of the law” is a truism – and one which multinational fishing corporations must have felt applied to them. They possessed Common Fisheries Policy fishing quota, and that meant, as far as they were concerned, that … Continue reading
Posted in agriculture, biodiversity, carbon storage, climate change, ecosystem services, fishing, regulatory reform, soils
Tagged carbon, Climate Change Committee, Common Fisheries Policy, Corporate Social Responsibility, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, ecosystem services, Fish, Greenpeace, High Court, Richard Benyon
1 Comment
a new nature blog 