Jack Hurd’s Post

Some positive #environmentnews 👏 🏖 A collaboration between the Ministry of Justice and the Marine Conservation Society has resulted in more than a 1000 hours of unpaid community service to support the Great British Beach Clean this year. 💩 Coastal waters and estuaries will be added to the 'Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (SODRP)' with shellfish and marine protected areas as a priority. 🏘 Over £229 million has been invested in 369 projects across the UK, to support coastal community regeneration and economic growth. 🌊 A new study has found that ocean-based action can close the emissions gap by as much as 35%! 👩🌾 Government plans to weaken nutrient neutrality have been blocked by the House of Lords with votes down 203 to 156. - 7 is 7 and I'll take it 😂 🐻 An old coal mining site in Norway has been re-wilded to give polar bears new hunting ground. Have a great week all!

#BREAKINGNEWS Ecuadorians votes reject oil drilling in the Amazon Forest National Park. Ecuadorians have voted in a historic referendum to halt the development of all new oilwells in the Yasuní national park in the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet ( The Guardian) Voters opted to #safeguard the #unique biosphere by a margin of nearly 20% with more than 90% of the ballot counted – with more than 58% in favour and 41% against, according to Ecuador’s National Electoral Comission. Voting took place in the first round of presidential elections on Sunday, August 20th 2023. The move will keep about 726m barrels of oil underground in the Yasuní national park, which is also home to the Tagaeri and Taromenane people, two of the world’s last “uncontacted” Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation. At a time when the climate crisis is intensifying around the world and the Amazon rainforest is fast approaching an irreversible tipping point, Ecuador has become one of the first countries in the world to set #limits on #resource extraction through a #democratic vote. The Amazon rainforest has more than #threetimes as much #primaryforest as the world's next largest rainforest, that of the #CongoBasin. The Amazon rainforest accounts for just over a third of tree cover across the tropics. The scale of the Amazon extends beyond its forest cover. #HeartyCongratulations and my sincere #Gratitude to the People of Ecuador for their #selflessness and leadership in Biodiversity conservation to #serve the Planet, Earth & Humanity.

The Great Lakes are a huge portion of a comparably teeny, tiny amount of fresh water we have on the planet so this concerns us all. In a 2014 analysis, University of Michigan oceanographer David J. Schwab concluded that the Straits of Mackinac were the “worst possible place” for a Great Lakes oil spill because of high-speed currents that were unpredictable and reversed frequently. Within 20 days of a spill, Schwab estimated, oil could be carried up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the site into Lakes Michigan and Huron, fouling drinking water intakes, beaches and other critical areas. https://lnkd.in/gBdbEkCC

It's International Day of Forests🌳 Today is an opportunity to celebrate forests for their many benefits to people, nature, and climate. This day also exists to promote local & global action. Innovation is becoming more and more important in order to protect and restore forests. Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold some of the most pristine and resource-rich lands in the world — areas highly coveted by mining and logging companies and other profiteers. Land grabs and other threats are especially severe in places where the government does not recognize communities’ land rights. It’s the reason many Indigenous Peoples and local communities often take land monitoring into their own hands — and some are now using digital tools to do it. Learn How Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Are Using Satellite Data to Fight Deforestation▶️ https://bit.ly/4anlluL #IntlForestDay #ForestDay #GenerationRestoration

It's International Day of Forests🌳 Today is an opportunity to celebrate forests for their many benefits to people, nature, and climate. This day also exists to promote local & global action. Innovation is becoming more and more important in order to protect and restore forests. Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold some of the most pristine and resource-rich lands in the world — areas highly coveted by mining and logging companies and other profiteers. Land grabs and other threats are especially severe in places where the government does not recognize communities’ land rights. It’s the reason many Indigenous Peoples and local communities often take land monitoring into their own hands — and some are now using digital tools to do it. Learn How Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Are Using Satellite Data to Fight Deforestation▶️ https://bit.ly/3PwnHiS #IntlForestDay #ForestDay #GenerationRestoration

THE LARGEST FRESH WATER SYSTEM ON PLANET EARTH This article does a good job of explaining why a rupture in the exposed Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac would be especially catastrophic for the Great Lakes ecosystem and the people who depend on it. A must-read.

The priority of landmine action activities is to prevent loss of life and limb, however, in a recent article by Emily Chrystie, Global Environment Manager at The HALO Trust, a case is made to enable social and economic recovery to restore livelihoods through land release activities such as those promoted by www.ForestRelease.org https://lnkd.in/gNnb-FAM I paraphase from Emily's article in which a case for linking Humanitarian Mine Action priorities with ecosystem restoration activities is made. Prevention of loss of life and limb by mine action organisations goes beyond technical mine clearance. The International Mine Action Standards (IMAS), maintained by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) broadly defines mine action activities as those which “aim to reduce the social, economic and environmental impact of mines, and ERW [Explosive Remnants of War]”.Linking humanitarrian mine action priorities with #ecosystem #restoration activities will increase #biodiversity and provide communities with essential ecosystem services such as #water access, #carbon sequestration, and #soil erosion control, enabling #economic #recovery and increasing community #resilience to #climatechange.

Here's some Positive Ocean News! 🌊 🪸 Scientists in the Netherlands scientists are repurposing old felled pear trees as “tree reefs” in open waters. They found that the tree reefs attract a surprising amount of #marinebiodiversity. At least 15 species—including crabs, shrimp, fish and barnacles—were using these reefs after just a few months. 🦪 In Scotland's Firth of Forth estuary, 30,000 native oysters are starting to be reintroduced after 100 years, thanks to a large community effort to restore the #biodiversity and water quality of the ecosystem. 💪 A group of Pacific island nations came together to create a moratorium on #deepseamining, which prevented the Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals, from destructively mining gold and copper in Papua New Guinea. 🏛  The Biden administration canceled the seven remaining oil and gas leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, overturning sales held by the Trump administration's, and proposed stronger protections against development.

John’s article gives insight into the stealing of human right from domination. “the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.”* (*Webster Dictionary)

#Migration and #ForestManagement Migration is a complex phenomenon that is the result of interacting vulnerabilities. When people have exhausted their existing coping capacities, people will seek other ways to provide for their families and for themselves.   #climatechange is already exacerbating this condition with the increase in frequency and intensity of floods, droughts, fires, turning forced migration into the human face of the negative impacts of the global warming and its effects.   Poor soil leads to poor people; poor people lead to social breakdown, and social breakdown fuels the conditions for illegal activity such as violence, social unrest, and other. As we are part of a whole ecosystem, taking care of our natural resources is key for building resilience and our capacities to adapt and survive.   Forest management is one of the key strategies that yields economic, social, and environmental benefits to communities whose main livelihood depends on the forest.   This is an interesting story on how social cohesion plus economic opportunity through sustainable forest management can bring hope for people in their home countries. #migration #climatechange #usaid #climaterefugees