Category Archives: Government
GLOBE: an international platform helping legislators to get prepared for Rio + 20
At the Natural Capital Initiative Steering Group meeting this morning we received a very interesting talk about GLOBE International’s work. GLOBE International was founded in 1989 with the aim to tackle pressing environmental challenges through legislation by creating an international … Continue reading
New cross-governmental unit formed as part of Red Tape Challenge review of environmental regulations
The Government has announced the formation of a new cross-government unit to improve implementation of the Habitats and Wild Birds Directives. The new ‘Major Infrastructure and Environment Unit’ is designed to help developers ensure that large infrastructure projects promote sustainable … Continue reading
UK Government Announces £1bn to Support Carbon Capture and Storage
A new £1 billion competition has been announced by the UK Government to support the development of industrial scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology. So far CCS has been developed on small scales but no commercial scale test of … Continue reading
New Planning Guidance for England: Analysis by the IEEM
On 27 March, the UK Government published its final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how they should be applied. The final NPPF is an improvement (for nature … Continue reading
Environmental organisations react to the Chancellor’s 2012 Budget
The Chancellor George Osborne yesterday announced the UK’s new budget for 2012. With the Government’s election pledge to be ‘the greenest government ever’, environmental groups were anxious to see whether the proposed financial measures for the coming year would reflect … Continue reading
Overseas Biodiversity
Last week saw the joint meeting of the all party parliamentary groups on Biodiversity, UK’s Overseas Territories and Zoos and Aquariums, at which the BES Policy team was fortunate enough to attend. The meeting was chaired by Andrew Rosindell MP … Continue reading
Incentivising Private Sector Investment in R & D
UK businesses as a whole invest less in research and development than their major international competitors and there is more that the Government can do to address this disparity. That was the message from Beck Smith, Assistant Director of the … Continue reading
12 New Nature Improvement Areas Announced
The Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, today announced the creation of 12 new Nature Improvement Areas (NIA) across England. NIAs were a flagship policy contained in last year’s Natural Environment White Paper “The Natural Choice”, which set out aims to improve … Continue reading
Draft review of Scottish Biodiversity Strategy published
The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Scotland’s Biodiversity: It’s in Your Hands‘ is currently undergoing a review and a pre-consultation draft of the new strategy was published on the 15th February. The Scottish Government published the first Biodiversity Strategy in 2004 with … Continue reading
Consultations launched on major proposals for Wales’ environmental policy
The Welsh government is seeking opinions on two major new proposals for the future of Wales’ environmental policy. Following the announcement of Welsh Environment Minister John Griffiths in November last year proposing the development of a single body to replace … Continue reading