Monthly Archives: January 2025

Book reviews, Conservation, Mitigation

Climate and Nature Bill, 2024

 

      Climate and Nature Bill   (2024)   The ‘CAN’ Bill               

   (Briefing Note from Dr John Feltwell, Dip EC Law of Wildlife  Matters . 5 Jan 25)

Summary – the Bill seeks

  • To limit the global mean temperature increase to 1.5 degrees C
  • To ‘visibly and measurably’ see species and habitats ‘on the path of recovery’, to be measured from 2020-2030.
  • To abide by the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement,
  • To abide Leaders’ Pledge for Nature, 2020
  • To abide by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, 2022
  • To abide by the UNCBD and its protocols , 1993.

The Bill

This Private Members’ Bill was presented to parliament by Alex Sobel on 21 March 2024  and supported by a dozen MPs, mostly Labour, Lib Dems and Green Party –that included notables Caroline Lucas and Ed Davey.

Progress through The House

The Second Reading is scheduled to take place on 24 Jan 2025.

The official  ‘Long Title’ is

A Bill to require the United Kingdom to achieve climate and nature targets; to give the Secretary of State a duty to implement a strategy to achieve those targets; to establish a Climate and Nature Assembly to advise the Secretary of State in creating that strategy; to give duties to the Committee on Climate Change and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee regarding the strategy and targets; and for connected purposes.

 It has two OBJECTIVES  – to ensure that the UK

 (a) reduces its overall contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero at a rate consistent with—

 (i)  limiting the global mean temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and

  1. ii) fulfilling its obligations and commitments under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, taking into account the United Kingdom’s and other countries’ common but differentiated responsibilities, and respective capabilities, considering national circumstances; (‘the climate target’); and

(b) halts and reverses its overall contribution to the degradation and loss of nature in the United Kingdom and overseas by—

 (i) increasing the health, abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations, habitats and ecosystems so that by 2030, and measured against a baseline of 2020, nature is visibly and measurably on the path of recovery;

  1. ii) fulfilling its obligations under the UNCBD and its protocols and the commitments set out in the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature 58/4 5 10 15 20 Bill 192 2 Climate and Nature Bill and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; and

 (iii) following the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities; (‘the nature target’).

The Bill has the following definitions of ‘nature’ as

“nature” includes— (a) the abundance, diversity and distribution of animal, plant, fungal and microbial life, (b) (c) the extent and condition of habitats, and the health and integrity of ecosystems;

And the definition of ‘ecosystems’ as

“ecosystems” includes natural and managed ecosystems and the air, soils, water and abundance and diversity of organisms of which they are composed.

Biodiversity  – one big ask

Most of the Bill is about C02, but on Biodiversity there is not so much, only the following statement, and a request to abide by previous pieces of biodiversity legislation

Restoring and expanding natural ecosystems and enhancing the management of cultivated ecosystems, in the United Kingdom and overseas, to protect and enhance biodiversity, ecological processes, and ecosystem service provision;

The three previous biodiversity commitments are:

  1. fulfilling its obligations under the UNCBD and its protocols and the commitments set out in the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature 58/4 5 10 15 20 Bill 192 2 Climate and Nature Bill and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; and

Unpicking this statement, there are three biodiversity legal issues:

  1. “the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature” means the agreement of the United Nations Summit on Biodiversity of 28 September 2020; and
  2. “the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” means the framework adopted by the decision of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal on 19 December 2022; and “the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy” means the hierarchy adopted by resolution 58 of the World Conservation Congress at the International Union for Conservation of Nature from 1 to 10 September 2016. and
  3. “UNCBD and its protocols” means the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which entered into force on 29 December 1993, and all subsequent agreements and protocols arising from it;

Overall Comment

If all of these recommendations and commitments are upheld the steady plod of the Anthropocene will be stopped, C02 levels curtailed, and everything will be fine. However, history tells us that even after 30 years the 1993 initiatives have not been followed which is why the Anthropocene is upon us.

How will the Climate and Nature Bill fit into local politics?

If enacted, the Act will require Rother District Council to abide (especially) by the paragraph highlighted in red above, and their own declaration of the Climate Emergency in 2019.   They only have five years from NOW.

 Dr John Feltwell, BSc (Hons Zoology), PhD (Botany), FLS, FRES, FRSB, FLLA, Dip EC Law,  Henley’s Down, Battle, TN33 9BN.   07793 006832 john@wildlifematters.com   www.wildlifematters.com

 ends

Book reviews, Conservation

Education of a Prince by Prance & Crosby, 2024

The Education of a Prince, The Diary and correspondence of Frederick Waymouth Gibbs: tutor to King Edward VII. Edited by Ghillean T. Prance and Rachel J. Crosby. 2024. pp141.  ISBN 978-1-908787-50-7 and ISBN 9 781908 787507.

The papers of Mr. Gibbs (1821-1898), including his diary, letters and prints have come directly down the family tree to these two authors, Prof. Sir Ghillean T. Prance (Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1988 to 1999) and his daughter (manager of international projects in Africa and South America), Frederick Gibbs being Prance’s second cousin of his grandfather.  Gibbs’ claim to fame was that he was the tutor to Queen Victoria’s two eldest sons, from 1851-1856, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred.

And what a hard life Gibbs seems to have had. It was not an easy teaching job, since the Prince of Wales was particularly truculent, aggressive and prone to throwing things around. These transcripts of diary entries and letters (some originals are shown written in a spidery quill hand) are revealing and deal mostly with everyday life in royal Victorian circles. Most of the political issues of the day are not included. There are timetables and strict work schedules, often metered out by Victoria who insisted on seven hours teaching, sometimes seven days a week especially if the princes were especially naughty. There were many “wishes of the Queen on a number of small points and generally the host of nothings which become important only when neglected” said Gibbs in a letter home from Windsor Castle in 1852. There were “Rules for Meals” and regulations, such as not being rude to their sisters, how not to fidget with cutlery at the table, and never to interrupt people speaking at mealtimes, and when precisely to wear a kilt.   The Queen also provided approved lists of suitable boys (17 are listed) who the Prince of Wales could have round to play during the summer – and  eight listed for Prince Alfred.  Eton, being next door to Windsor Castle had been a source of teachers and appropriate playmates.

Day to day entries in his diaries are sometimes like entries in a school report…”the impulse to oppose is very strong and offers great difficulties in his education”, and  “nothing makes a deep impression, and he forgets the greatest part of what he learns”…  It seems hard work for Mr. Gibbs considering all the non-cooperation he had with the Prince of Wales, all for an annual fee of £1,000. He took over from a master at Eton who was regarded as being too lenient with the boys, which is why the Queen wanted someone a little more stricter. This did not go down well with the boys so Gibbs took a while to settle in. The diaries show that Victoria gave him presents, and that he dined with her on some evenings. In his role as a teacher he had to work at Buckingham Palace, Osborne House and Sandringham and took voyages around the coast following his subjects. In 1852 the Queen had a phrenologist look at the princes’ heads to see if they were developing correctly. “The predominant organs are still combativeness, destructiveness, self-esteem, firmness and conscistiousness. Concentrativeness also is large, and the cerebellum is of considerable size having increased since May 1851.”  Phrenology was highly regarded at the time.

The book is illustrated with very good sketches from Albert Edward, and black and white photographs of the boys later in life, and Queen Victoria.  There is correspondence between the princes after Gibbs left when he continued to write to them, and received letters from them with presents, and others, including Tennyson residing at Henley on Thames. He was given £400 rising to £800 for his pension after four years.

The book provides a valuable insight into royal life during this snapshot of Victoria’s life. The entries will provide historians with a wealth of finer detail from ‘upstairs’ as seen by a teacher, as well as shining a light on the abundance of courtesy, etiquette and behaviour amongst the royals.  As a teacher Gibbs clearly earnt his keep within the household and the princes obviously appreciated his efforts as they continued to send him presents during his retirement; so did the Queen. This was not an ordinary life of a teacher, but a privileged one.