This page is the beginnings of a portal for Wales community action in response to Ecological emergency.
Environment quality[edit | edit source]
Keep Wales Tidy is a Welsh national voluntary environmental charity which works towards achieving "a clean, safe and tidy Wales". It works in partnership with Local Authorities, schools and community groups, and organisations such as Waste Awareness Wales and Environment Wales in order to achieve these goals.
Open spaces[edit | edit source]
Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons and Pembrokeshire Coast. It has five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Anglesey, the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley, the Gower Peninsula, the Llŷn Peninsula, and the Wye Valley.[1]
Trees, woodland and forest[edit | edit source]
Size of Wales is a climate change charity founded with the aim of conserving an area of tropical rainforest the size of Wales. The project currently supports seven forest protection projects and one tree planting project across Africa and South America. The charity focuses upon furthering the promotion of rainforest conservation as a national response to the global issue of climate change.
Size of Wales aims to raise awareness about climate change and the importance of protecting the natural world through their Education Programme, visiting schools across Wales and delivering interactive and educational workshops and special events. Additionally, Size of Wales hosts a number of campaigns to raise awareness about the cause and effects of climate change and equally raise funds for their forest projects. Flagship campaign, Go Green Day encourages businesses, schools and other groups or individuals to take green action – from wearing a green wig to pledging changes in behavior for the sake of our environment.
Coasts[edit | edit source]
The Gower Peninsula was the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in 1956. As of 2019, the coastline of Wales had 40 Blue Flag beaches, three Blue Flag marinas and one Blue Flag boat operator.[2]
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.[3]
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.
Citizen science can include such activities as:
- Reviewing photographs or data online and spotting patterns, anomalies, things of interest etc.
- Taking field samples in local areas such as water from creeks/rivers, monitoring air quality
- Taking not of and listing species spotted, to help scientists assess decline or increase in species in certain areas; for example, see Big Garden Birdwatch as one example of such an activity
- Going through old scientific records and finding relevant data from the past and/or digitizing data for future use
- Taking measurements, keeping specific records, noting changes, etc. related to the local environment
- Sharing scientific information with other citizens in layperson's terms to spread understanding and engagement
See also[edit | edit source]
- Topic overview: Ecological restoration
- UK context: Ecological restoration UK
- Ecological emergency
- UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
References
