Category Archives: UK
Badger cull on hold in Wales as Government awaits an independent review
The Welsh Government announced earlier this week that plans for a controversial cull of badgers in north Pembrokeshire would be put on hold whilst Ministers await the outcome of a science review. Professor John Harries, Chief Scientific Advisor to the … Continue reading
Energy debates in Wales
Welsh Labour’s First Minister, Carwyn Jones, is set to ask the UK government to devolve powers to Welsh government when it comes to decisions over clean energy projects in Wales. After a series of public campaigns against the National Grid … Continue reading
Biodiversity and the Big Society – The IEEM Summer Conference
Yesterday the BES policy team attended the IEEM summer conference on biodiversity and the Big Society. The conference was centred around four main themes; – What will localism mean for the environment and biodiversity? – How will measures to protect … Continue reading
The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature
This week Defra released the highly anticipated Natural Environment White Paper titled ‘The Natural Choice: Securing the Value of Nature’, outlining Government’s vision for the future of landscapes and ecosystem services. The paper emphasises that although we know the environment … Continue reading
The UK National Ecosystem Assessment
The UK National Ecosystem Assessment has been released today, and is the first independent, peer reviewed, in detail assessment of the state and value of the UK’s natural environment and ecosystem services. Both scientists and economists were involved in the … Continue reading
BES at the National Assembly for Wales
The British Ecological Society’s Policy Team attended a meeting at the building of the National Assembly for Wales on Tuesday, for a day of presentations from academics working in applied research across the country. The event, ‘Science at the Assembly, … Continue reading
Ministerial Posts Announced in Wales and Scotland
Following last week’s elections in the devolved administrations, the Welsh and Scottish Governments have today announced details of their respective cabinets. Wales John Griffiths AM becomes the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development, taking over from Jane Davidson AM, … Continue reading
All party Parliamentary Conservation and Wildlife Group 11th May 2011 – Future Priorities of Natural England
The BES policy team yesterday attended a meeting of the All party Parliamentary Conservation and Wildlife Group. The meeting commenced with a talk about future priorities of Natural England from Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England, followed by … Continue reading
Devolved elections: the results
On the 5th of May last week voters from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland took to the polls to vote in the devolved elections. The results have been announced over the past few days and are as follows: Scotland The … Continue reading
National Trust commence Badger TB vaccination programme
The announcement of a badger TB vaccination trial on the National Trust’s Killerton Estate has been welcomed by both farmers and local environmental groups. The four year programme which will commence this May aims to show that vaccination is a … Continue reading