Dear friends and co-fighters!

Welcome to the next issue of Positive News.

Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth.

We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices.

Welcome to send us photos of your country's Nature Reserves.

Sviatoslav Zabelin, SEU coordinator

Digest of Socio-Ecological Union International for September 12, 2022. №53

Karatal-Zhapyryk State Reserve was established by the Decree of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 91 dated March 1, 1994 in order to preserve unique natural complexes, rare and endangered species of animals and plants of the Central Tien Shan, the total area of the reserve is 36392.6 hectares. The territory is a powerful mountain structure, significantly elevated (min. 2565 m, max. 3930 m) above sea level, with a complex combination of the Acha-Tash, Koroo ridges, which occupy most of the territory of the reserve.

Insect hotels. Rooftop gardens. “Honey highways.” With its National Pollinator Strategy, one country is showing the world how to save pollinators. Summer is here, and some public outdoor spaces in the Dutch city of Utrecht are a riot of colors: wildflowers in myriad hues of orange, red, yellow and purple pop in the sun.

A roof garden in the Netherlands. Credit: Shutterstoc

More than mere beautification projects, these wildflower patches are among an array of Dutch initiatives to help insect pollinators — part of an ambitious national strategy to support honey bees, wild bees, hoverflies, beetles, butterflies and other species. The Netherlands is one of only a handful of countries that has a comprehensive strategy aimed directly at stemming the decline in pollinators. Launched in 2018, the National Pollinator Strategy encompasses a range of ongoing efforts and carries clear and measurable benchmarks for success. Already, it is providing a roadmap for other countries looking to conserve their pollinators. Read more

Ambitious schemes by farmers and landowners to restore nature and reduce flooding while still producing food will be supported by the government in 22 locations across England. The landscape recovery scheme is being hailed by land managers and conservationists as the most “exciting and important” step in a generation to restore lost biodiversity.

Titchwell Marsh RSPB nature reserve on the north Norfolk coast. Photograph: Simon Dack/Alamy

Projects include recreating water meadows in the Cotswolds, reviving eel-rich waterways in the Severn Valley, and restoring Enfield Chase on the edge of London. Jake Fiennes, the conservation director of the Holkham estate, one of the landowners behind a plan to create 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres) of wildlife-rich habitat along the north Norfolk coast, said: “We’re excited, we’re ambitious and this could be the start of 30-year conservation covenants. This is a long-term commitment to biodiversity and all the public goods that are spelled out in the government’s 25-year environment plan.” Read more

The Republic of the Congo has created its first ever Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), supported by a research team including the University of Exeter and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Beach of Pointe-Noire of Congo Brazza. Credit: user:unsonique/ Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

The three new MPAs will protect more than 4,000 square km (1,500 square miles) off the West African coast—covering 12% of Congo's Exclusive Economic Zone. The area includes globally important nesting grounds for leatherback turtles, and critical migrating and breeding habitats for marine mammals including Atlantic humpback whales. The new MPAs are home to more than 40 species of sharks and rays, including the world's largest fish, the open ocean whale shark. Read more

The high court has ordered the Environment Agency to reduce water abstraction and protect England’s rare wetland habitats, in a landmark case that confirms that European nature conservation laws remain enforceable despite Britain having left the EU.

Tim and Geli Harris on Catfield Fen, Norfolk. Tim Harris said reducing abstraction would lower some yields but encourage farmers to grow less water-hungry crops. Photograph: Si Barber/The Guardian

The victory for Tim and Geli Harris means the Environment Agency will be forced to tackle the damage caused by the removal of water from the internationally important wetlands of the Norfolk Broads, home to rare species including the Norfolk hawker dragonfly and the swallowtail butterfly. The abstraction of water from England’s largest protected wetland – situated in one of the driest regions of the country – is done mostly so that farmers can irrigate crops. The couple, who are farmers themselves, have spent £1m on legal challenges over more than a decade, winning a key battle six years ago when a public inquiry found that abstraction licences were damaging critically endangered plants such as the fen orchid at Catfield Fen, a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) that they in part own. But they took the Environment Agency to court again because it was failing to stop abstraction reducing the flow of groundwater at other internationally important wetland sites across the Broads. Read more

A South African court has revoked Shell’s licence to explore for oil and gas along the country’s east coast; a biodiverse region popular with whales. The Eastern Cape high court ruled on Thursday that a government decision to grant Shell the right to conduct seismic surveys there did not follow fair procedure.

Image: Stephan Louis

Judges also said that it failed to take relevant considerations into account, such as the impact on communities and nature. The case was brought by environmental groups and local communities. Greenpeace described the ruling as a “monumental victory for the planet”. Shell said: “We respect the court’s decision and have paused the survey while we review the judgment.” Read more

Knik Arm Services is the second oil company to cancel its oil and gas lease for a tract of land in the largest wildlife reserve in America, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, following fierce opposition by the Indigenous Gwich’in committee and environmental groups.

The Biden administration is intent on continuing Trump-era policies by supporting oil drilling in Alaska’s northern slope amid rising energy costs in the country – despite the president’s campaign promises to ban new oil and gas leases. Land in the refuge will still be available for lease to oil and gas companies in 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management told Mongabay. Read more

The Albanese Government’s landmark Climate Change Bills have now passed the Senate, ensuring Australia's emissions reduction target of 43 per cent and net zero emissions by 2050 will be enshrined in legislation.

For al most a decade, Australia stumbled from one policy to another, and our economy and communities missed out on billions of dollars in public and private clean energy investment. But today that changes. This overdue legislation will provide the energy policy and investment certainty needed to usher in economic growth and opportunity in a decarbonising global economy. The Bills ensure a whole-of-government approach to drive down emissions and accountability through an annual update to Parliament. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said the legislation puts Australia on a credible path to net zero. Read more

Dear friends and co-fighters! Welcome to the next issue of Positive News. Let you spread it among your friends and co-fighters in your countries and around the Earth. We will be glad to receive and publish your positive news from the fields and offices.

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