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Dorset Peat Partnership, led by Dorset Wildlife Trust, has been awarded a £750,000 grant from Defra's Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme, matched by £250,000 from other funders and partners to fund work on 16 sites across Dorset to rewet and restore 172 hectares of fragmented and damaged peatlands.
Dorset's iconic heathlands hold the largest areas of our county's peat in 'peaty pockets' and valley mires. Peatlands are England's largest land-based carbon store, yet most of them are degraded and emitting carbon, because they are not wet enough to be building up peat. The grant has been awarded following 18 months of survey work by the partnership organisations and volunteers to gather data on an initial long list of 80 candidate sites across urban and rural Dorset and then to identify 16 sites where the most successful restoration can be achieved. This funding will enable restoration of these sites to hold water for longer each year which will reduce the amount of carbon emitted from degraded peat and once restored, allow carbon sequestration. The work will also improve drought and fire resilience by holding more water in the landscape during the summer and by increasing site capacity for water storage, it will also help to reduce nuisance flooding year-round. Dorset Peat Partnership is part of Dorset Catchment Partnerships and is hosted by Dorset Wildlife Trust. Other partners include Natural England, Environment Agency, Forestry England, Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole (BCP) Council, Dorset Council, National Trust, RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and Bournemouth University, plus one private landowner.
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The Wimborne Minster Bunting & Bags team have handed out over 150 Boomerang Bags to their independent shops in Wimborne. The upcycled, reusable, plastic free Boomerang Bags have been made from curtain fabric donated by the community. More than 350 Bags have been handed over to the Wimborne Food Bank users, with the purpose of reducing single use plastic. Wimborne Minster Town Council were thanked for their support.
Campaigners from three of Dorset’s leading climate action groups have come together to host the Dorset COP-2023.Climate action groups Zero Carbon Dorset, Dorset Climate Action Network (Dorset CAN) and Sustainable Dorset have joined forces to launch the first community-led Dorset COP in Dorchester.
The event will take place on Saturday 9 September at the Corn Exchange in Dorchester, with the aim of spurring the local community into urgent action to combat the threats posed by climate change and ecological collapse. The conference will be opened by Laura Baldwin, environmental campaigner and former Olympian, who said: “This event is not only ground-breaking but also of huge importance – not just for Dorset but for community activists everywhere. That’s why it hopes to attract people and organisations from right across the county.” COP-2023 hopes to attract people and organisations from all over Dorset, will feature a series of keynote speakers, workshops and panel discussions, and will close with a declaration of intent similar to those issued at the international COPs. Giles Watts, a coordinator with Dorset Climate Action Network, said: “This ground-breaking, community-led event is an attempt to apply the power of the international COPs to local issues and so galvanise Dorset into faster action to tackle the climate and ecological emergency.” Chair of Sustainable Dorset, Jenny Morisetti, said: “This event, a first in the UK we believe, will be Dorset’s very own opportunity for the community to network and have its say on climate and ecological issues. It will raise the power and reach of Dorset-based organisations by fostering collaboration, supporting the spread of vital information, and helping organisations to act locally in a way that puts people at the heart of decisions.” Co-founder of Zero Carbon Dorset, Mark Chivers, said: “While Dorset is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, from rising sea levels to the loss of local species unable to cope with the rising temperatures, globally others are already suffering the consequences of climate change; losing their livelihoods, homes and even lives. But by raising awareness of the urgent need to act locally and demonstrate the depth of community commitment to tackling the crises we aim to secure action from all stakeholders and spur both Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Councils to take the lead suggested by the government’s own Climate Change Committee. A new garden is blooming after The Salvation Army in Winton joined forces with a local business and a charity-run nursery for a garden makeover this week.The church and charity’s garden in Latimer Road was transformed thanks to Cherry Tree Nursery, which provides voluntary work for people suffering from mental illness, and the Bournemouth office of insolvency practitioners Antony Batty and Company.
Cherry Tree Nursery designed planting to suit the soil in the garden, while Antony Batty donated a van load of plants and accessories with a team of six staff members from the Bournemouth and Salisbury offices helping to plant them. The initiative, which took place on Tuesday and has been supported by Sir Conor Burns MP for Bournemouth West, came to fruition after Tina Shave, Salvation Army centre manager spoke to Maria Tidy, community liaison officer at Cherry Tree, about how the garden could be enhanced. Oly Rush – also known as Dorset’s ‘human fish’ – will soon be taking on his next challenge, to swim around the Greek island of Ithaca. The swim is expected to take about 24 hours, covering almost 40 miles, and follows his previous challenges which include swimming the length of the Jurassic Coast, becoming the fastest person to swim around the Isle of Wight and the first person ever to swim around Grand Cayman. Each swim has raised money to help clean up the world’s oceans, and this one is no different. Every penny donated will be split between Project Planet Earth and Healthy Seas.With the Ithaca swim, Oly will face the potential danger of jellyfish, so will have spotters on his support boat looking out for them.The challenge has been made possible by recruitment company Green Folk Ltd based in Hook, Hampshire, which has funded Oly during his training and is covering his costs.In addition, Oly has received help in planning from Adriana Eyzaguirre who runs a kayak tour company on the island, while Kerry Jamieson of Argos Animal Welfare will be helping to observe the swim and ensuring the rules are followed. Even the mayor of Ithaca has offered to help out with free accommodation.Oly spends his time clearing plastic from Dorset’s beaches as well as giving talks to schoolchildren about plastic pollution.The swim is planned to take place on Monday 4 September although, if conditions aren’t right, it could be delayed for a few days.There will be a tracker on the www.projectplanet.earth website and the link to make donations is https://gofund.me/a2c63c3d
A cutting edge eco hub, created using old wooden seaside defences, has won a sustainability award.
A cutting edge eco hub, created using old wooden seaside defences, has won a sustainability award. The beach-based venue at Durley Chine, one of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council’s developments, won the prestigious Sustainability prize at the 2023 Constructing Excellence South West (CESW) awards. The two-storey building was designed around themes of recycling and reusing, featuring an educational amenity and meeting space, welfare facilities for seafront waste collection staff, a beach-side kiosk and toilets on the ground floor. Over 45 tonnes of reclaimed timber, collected from old groynes removed from the seafront as part of the 17-year Poole Bay Beach Management scheme, were used in the creation and decking of the main building. One side of the hub’s roof has been planted with species of vegetation matching those growing on the cliffs behind, while the low-lighting design accommodates bats. Photovoltaic solar panels overlay the rest of the building, drawing solar power from the sun which helps to create a zero-carbon environment. Any excess energy can be fed back into the main grid. The kiosk has been formed using low-carbon concrete and recycled glass, and drinks and snacks are available while avoiding any single-use plastics. Visitors are encouraged to use the free water refill station, situated by the main entrance. Materials used in the creation of the hub have a low embodied carbon footprint, meaning low carbon dioxide emissions are released during their manufacture, transport to site and use in construction. Reliance on plastics and steel has also been minimalised. What happens at the end of the building’s life has also been taken into consideration, with many materials capable of being recovered and reused in other projects. Despite nature's recovery being impossible without them, just 7% of UK woods are in good condition for wildlife. Our new reports set out what needs to be done to restore our woods and trees in England, Scotland, Wales and North Ireland, for both wildlife and people.
Our reports, Trees and woods: at the heart of nature recovery in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, show the central role that native natural and semi-natural woods and trees must play in restoring nature. Despite nature's recovery being impossible without them, just 7% of UK woods are in good condition for wildlife, and many are a shadow of what they could be. The report sets out a raft of solutions, including adding more trees into housing estates with less than 16% tree cover, 30% canopy cover for new developments and access to greenspace within 10 minutes of everyone’s doorsteps. The report is designed to help councils and communities write their Local Nature Recovery Strategies, following the government’s recent announcement that it has made £14M available to the 48 local authorities tasked with leading on drafting the plans - of which Dorset is one. Since 1970 35% of species have declined in abundance. This means today’s children now have a 70% less chance of seeing a hedgehog than their parents did, while dormice populations have fallen by 48% since today’s primary school pupils were born. If we don't restore our damaged, degraded and disappearing woods and trees, nature will continue to free-fall. We must:
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