FiPL Spotlight: Meadow Match, Cornwall's wildflower seed dating service
In this guest post, Seán O'Hea shines a light on Cornwall National Landscape's Farming in Protected Landscape project.
Updated: Wed Dec 18 2024
Coverage following announcement that water companies must double compensation for service failures
There has been widespread coverage of the Government announcement that water companies will be forced to double the compensation paid to customers for service failures. The Guaranteed Standards Scheme (GSS) will see new, improved, and compulsory payments in the event ...
Updated: Tue Dec 17 2024
Shark Plan: Conserving Sri Lankan sharks, rays and chimaeras through the Ocean Country Partnership Programme
The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) collaboration with Sri Lanka on shark, ray and chimaera conservation through the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) was furthered in mid-November with a UK visit from the Sri Lankan Director General and ...
Updated: Tue Dec 17 2024
Big data, tiny microbes: environmental DNA in action
All living things, from bacteria to blue whales, have DNA in their cells. DNA provides the blueprint for life, directing how organisms grow, reproduce, and live. Since DNA gives a unique genetic code for every species on Earth, we can ...
Updated: Mon Dec 16 2024
Early Career Ocean Professionals at the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA)
Written by Parvathi Vallivattathillam, National Oceanography Centre (NOC), Lianne Harrison, Cefas and Francesca D'Enno, Defra. The All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) is a science diplomacy effort which unites twelve countries across the Atlantic to strengthen and foster collaborative ...
Updated: Fri Dec 13 2024
World Soil Day: Unearthing the secrets of soil
Happy World Soil Day! Let's take a moment to appreciate the incredible role soil plays in our lives. Healthy soil is the foundation of sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Below, read about the Environment Agency's efforts to measure, monitor, and ...
Updated: Thu Dec 12 2024
Coverage following reforms to electrical waste regulations
There has been widespread positive coverage following our announcement to make online giants pay their fair share for the treatment of electrical waste.
Updated: Tue Dec 10 2024
Coverage following British unprocessed pork exports to China resuming
Today we are looking at coverage of our announcement that the government has secured the end of China's Covid-era restrictions on UK unprocessed pork.
Updated: Mon Dec 09 2024
Following in my family's forestry footsteps
Ian Everard is a Field Manager in the Yorkshire and North East team and has been in forestry for 43 years. Ian talks about his journey into forestry, what inspired him and why it's been such a rewarding experience.
Updated: Wed Dec 04 2024
An update on capital grants
As a result of unprecedented demand, some of the capital grant offers for farmers has temporarily closed to new applications. In this post, we summarise the changes to capital grants.
Updated: Thu Nov 28 2024
Seeing Red: Cefas contributes to IUCN global assessment of threatened coral reefs
Coral reefs are vital for our oceans. They are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on the planet, providing habitat for a vast array of marine life. They also provide livelihoods for over 600 million people, and coastal protection ...
Updated: Thu Nov 28 2024
Tree planting at Silver Hill: four years later
Find out how Shaun Purkiss-McEndoo, Head Forester at Zetland Estates, is transforming Silver Hill into productive woodland.
Updated: Mon Nov 25 2024
New guidance page for Integrated Pest Management
To help farmers, growers and land managers adopt different IPM approaches, we've published a new guidance page on GOV.UK. This post includes a link to the new guidance page and background on IPM.
Updated: Fri Nov 22 2024
World AMR Awareness Week - working together to tackle the global challenge
World AMR Awareness Week 2024 takes place this week, 18-24th November, a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and to promote best practices to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections. Antimicrobial resistance occurs ...
Updated: Fri Nov 22 2024
Ocean Country Partnership Programme in Sri Lanka - climate change, seafood and pollution updates.
Authors: Peter Randall, Charlotte Reeve, Alessandra Bielli, Bryan-Goodsir Thompson, Kelly Bateman, Angharad Elliman Through the Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP), Sri Lanka and the UK are collaborating to tackle the three key challenges of marine biodiversity, marine pollution and sustainable ...
Updated: Wed Nov 20 2024
Statement on farming and agricultural property relief
There has been extensive discussion about the changes to Agricultural Property Relief, announced in the Budget on 30 October. The government inherited a £22 billion hole in the public finances, and we had to make difficult decisions at the Budget ...
Updated: Tue Nov 19 2024
Flashy crabs turn up in Brighton!
A colourful crab with white and orange claws and blue legs recently turned up (dead) in Brighton in the summer. After a second one was found this October (alive), the alarm was raised. These pretty, but out of place crabs ...
Updated: Fri Nov 15 2024
From AI to underwater microphones: improving the evidence base for marine mammals
By Samantha Parker and Emma Milner, Natural England marine mammal senior specialists Why are seal population numbers changing so fast along our coasts? How are porpoise feeding patterns changing as our seas become increasingly crowded? And how does the health ...
Updated: Wed Nov 13 2024
Our enforcement options to stop waste criminals
To carry out our regulatory responsibilities to protect the environment, we have a range of powers at our disposal. The severity of waste crimes varies greatly and our response to each incident is proportionate to the permit breach or offence ...
Updated: Wed Nov 13 2024
Understanding climate change risk to Namibia's diverse fisheries sectors
In this Q&A, Georg Engelhard Principal Marine Climate Change and Fisheries Scientist at Cefas, discusses a new One Ocean Hub paper titled "Climate risk assessment of the fisheries in Namibia" and its associated policy paper. It is the outcome of ...
Updated: Wed Nov 13 2024
Reporting water pollution to get easier with new online service
We're piloting a new digital service to provide more ways for the public to report environmental problems. Public reporting of water pollution, odours, flooding or wildlife concerns is an important way that we are alerted to environmental incidents. Our national ...
Updated: Tue Nov 12 2024
The benefits of mosses, liverworts and lichen
Find out how these often-overlooked plants play their part in woodland ecosystems.
Updated: Tue Nov 12 2024
Strategic Renewables Unit Powers Ahead!
Successfully Tackling Underwater Noise This summer, the SRU, alongside other MMO teams, regulators and industry developers, collaborated to manage noisy activities in the Southern North Sea Special Area of Conservation. By working together, all parties successfully kept noise levels below ...
Updated: Thu Nov 07 2024
Turning up the heat: Advancing UK science to better predict and respond to marine heatwaves
By John Pinnegar, Director of the International Marine Climate Change Centre, Cefas and Caroline Rowland, Head of Oceans, Cryosphere and Dangerous Climate Change, Met Office. In 2023 and 2024, global air temperatures reached unprecedented levels, with 2023 being officially the ...
Updated: Thu Nov 07 2024
Day in the life of a new Environment Officer
The Environment Agency (EA) is improving the way the water industry is regulated. This includes expanding the number of our officers focused solely on regulation and compliance. Here, one of the EA's new dedicated Environment Officers, Rebecca Lee, explains why ...
Updated: Thu Oct 31 2024