This page is the beginnings of a portal for Kent community action in response to Ecological emergency. See Ecological restoration UK and Ecological restoration for topic overview.
Community action projects[edit | edit source]
Ecosystem restoration[edit | edit source]
- Recognition from UN for Nepal’s tiger range restoration opens doors for technical and financial support, news.mongabay.com (Feb 15, 2024)
- Low-carbon milk to AI irrigation: tech startups powering Latin America’s green revolution, theguardian.com (Jan 30, 2024)
- Opportunities from a community-led strategy to save Brazil’s dry forests from desertification, news.mongabay.com (Dec 11, 2023)
Ecosystem restoration is the process of halting and overturning degradation, resulting in cleaner air and water, extreme weather mitigation, better human health, and recovered biodiversity, including improved pollination of plants. Restoration encompasses a wide continuum of practices, from reforestation to re-wetting peatlands and coral rehabilitation.[1]
Citizen Science[edit | edit source]
Citizen Science refers to the involvement, participation and engagement of citizens in local or online (global) scientific work relevant to the citizens' interests, usually as a hobby, often as a passion.
Biodiversity[edit | edit source]
Kent Wildlife Trust[edit | edit source]
Kent Wildlife Trust (KWT) is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom that was founded in 1958, previously known as the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. It aims to "work with people to restore, save and improve our natural spaces" and to "ensure that 30% of Kent and Medway – land and sea – is managed to create a healthy place for wildlife to flourish". In 2023, they have reported over 30,000 members and an annual income of £8 million. KWT manages over ninety nature reserves in Kent, of which thirty-seven are Sites of Special Scientific Interest, three are national nature reserves, five are Special Areas of Conservation, four are Special Protection Areas, six are local nature reserves, thirty-eight are in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and one is a scheduled monument.
Kent is a county in the southeastern corner of England. It is bounded to the north by Greater London and the Thames Estuary, to the west by Sussex and Surrey, and to the south and east by the English channel and the North Sea. The county town is Maidstone. It is governed by Kent County Council, with twelve district councils: Ashford, Canterbury, Dartford, Dover, Folkestone and Hythe, Gravesham, Maidstone, Thanet, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells. Medway is geographically part of Kent but is a separate unitary authority. The chalk hills of the North Downs run from east to west through the county, with the wooded Weald to the south. The coastline is alternately flat and cliff-lined.
- Kent Wildlife Trust, Video: Kent Wildlife Trust on youtube.com
Other initiatives[edit | edit source]
- The Fifth Continent, Romney Marsh Landscape conservation scheme. link checked 17:05, 2 February 2022 (UTC)
- Kent Bee-keepers' Association
- Kent Field Club
- Kent Reptile & Amphibian Group
Rewilding[edit | edit source]
- Wilder Blean, wildwoodtrust.org, flagship wilding project launched by Wildwood Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust, in part of the West Blean woods nature reserve, near Canterbury, which is in one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in the UK. added 17:42, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
see also: Rewilding UK, Video, (sections marked)
Environment quality[edit | edit source]
- Plastic Free Faversham, "group of Faversham based people, who share the same concerns about the growing problem of plastics in our environment", added 16:56, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- Canterbury Clean Air, community action on air quality in Canterbury; Canterbury pollution levels, map, added 16:01, 14 August 2020 (UTC)
Dartford Litterpickers, tidying up Dartford's public spaces - Tonbridge Litter Catchers, on facebook
Saving water in Kent[edit | edit source]
Between 50% and 100% of Kent's public water supply is from groundwater. Additionally, businesses and farms can abstract through private boreholes for irrigation and other uses. Of all the water on earth, only 2.5% is freshwater, most of which is bound in ice, groundwater or soil moisture. Only 0.01% is surface water. Sep 22, 2019[2]
see also: Saving water in South East England
Open spaces[edit | edit source]
Kent Downs[edit | edit source]
The Kent Downs is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in Kent, England. They are the eastern half of the North Downs and stretch from the London/Surrey borders to the White Cliffs of Dover, including a small section of the London Borough of Bromley. The AONB also includes the Greensand Ridge, a prominent sandstone escarpment which lies south of the chalk escarpment of the North Downs.
It was first designated as an AONB in July 1968 and covers 878 square km (326 square miles). The AONB's highest point is Toy's Hill, at 250m above sea level, and its boundaries include three main rivers: the Darent, Medway and Stour.
To the west, Surrey Hills AONB adjoins the Kent Downs AONB, and includes a continuation of the North Downs chalk ridge which runs through the Kent Downs, stretching from Farnham to the English Channel and reappearing within the Parc Naturel Régional des Caps et Marais d’Opale in France. High Weald AONB lies to the south east, separated by a distance of just over 2km at Bough Beech Reservoir.
As part of the management of the AONB, Village Design Statements have been adopted by 14 per cent of villages within its boundaries, going on to form part of Supplementary Planning Guidance, recognising the character of the historic landscape and distinctiveness of settlements.
Other initiatives[edit | edit source]
Friends of Calverley Grounds on facebook, community group looking after the park in the centre of Tunbridge Wells
Rivers[edit | edit source]
- Darent River Preservation Society, "aims to protect and improve the River Darent, its catchment and tributaries." added 19:13, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
Trees, woodland and forest[edit | edit source]
- The Kent Tree and Pond Partnership, composed of all the Tree Wardens and Pond Wardens in Kent and Medway, all volunteers whose vision is to improve the trees and ponds in their local communities.
Bedgebury Forest is a 10.5 square kilometres (2,600 acres) forest surrounding Bedgebury National Pinetum, near Flimwell in Kent. In contrast to the National Pinetum, which contains exclusively coniferous trees, the forest contains both deciduous and coniferous species. It forms part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is one of the so-called "Seven Wonders Of The Weald". Bedgebury Forest has facilities for cycling, mountain biking, riding, orienteering and adventure play.
Coasts[edit | edit source]
Kent Coastal Network - Medway Swale Estuary Partnership - Thanet Coast Project
Rural sustainability[edit | edit source]
Action with Communities in Rural Kent - CPRE Protect Kent - Kentish Stour Countryside Project - Kent Downs
- Medway Valley Countryside Partnership
- Valley of Visions, landscape-scale project from November 2007 to June 2013, that worked in partnership with communities, schools, landowners and local organisations to conserve the landscape, wildlife and rich heritage of the area. It also encouraged residents and visitors to learn about, enjoy and celebrate this stunning part of the AONB, nestled between Rochester and Maidstone in mid Kent.
The White Cliffs Countryside Partnership was established in 1989, to help landowners care for the special coast and countryside of Dover and Folkestone and Hythe districts. This includes the only two stretches of Heritage Coast in Kent; the Dover-Folkestone Heritage Coast and the South Foreland Heritage Coast between Dover and Kingsdown near Deal.
Urban and rural connections[edit | edit source]
- London Green Belt Council, protecting London's Green Belt, added 12:01, 5 November 2021 (UTC)
- About London's Green Belt includes "Benefits of the Green Belt", which include "Eco-system benefits: Different types of open land provide multiple eco-system benefits which include urban cooling, improved air quality, flood protection and carbon absorption (especially woodland areas), as well as local food production." as well as Recreation, sport, health, Future proofing, and multiple economic benefits.
- Our Message includes "Government must now:"
Overdevelopment[edit | edit source]
Take a look at the Community planning alliance, grass roots map: google.com/maps, and zoom in a little to see how communities in the South East are disproportionately affected by overdevelopment threats.
Reducing pressure on the South East would give greater opportunity to the rest of the UK.[3]
see also: Towards a more democratic and climate friendly way of meeting housing need across England
Ecological emergency[edit | edit source]
There is consensus in the scientific community that the current environmental degradation and destruction of many of Earth's biota are taking place on a "catastrophically short timescale". Scientists estimate that the current species extinction rate, or the rate of the Holocene extinction, is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than the normal, background rate. Habitat loss is the leading cause of both species extinctions and ecosystem service decline. Two methods have been identified to slow the rate of species extinction and ecosystem service decline, they are the conservation of currently viable habitat and the restoration of degraded habitat. The commercial applications of ecological restoration have increased exponentially in recent years. In 2019, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2021–2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. W
UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration[edit | edit source]
- Green Deal: pioneering proposals to restore Europe's nature by 2050 and halve pesticide use by 2030, ec.europa.eu (Jun 22, 2022)
The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems and restore them to achieve global goals. The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the UN Decade and it is led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The UN Decade is building a strong, broad-based global movement to ramp up restoration and put the world on track for a sustainable future. That will include building political momentum for restoration as well as thousands of initiatives on the ground.[4]
The decade was conceived as a means of highlighting the need for greatly increased global cooperation to restore degraded and destroyed ecosystems, contributing to efforts to combat climate change and safeguard biodiversity, food security, and water supply. W
See also[edit | edit source]
- Ecological restoration UK, Ecological restoration
- Ecological restoration London
- Ecosystem restoration
References
- ↑ Press release, unep.org
- ↑ southeastriverstrust.org
- ↑ londongreenbeltcouncil.org.uk
- ↑ Press release, unep.org