Posts Tagged: conference

Policy work can sometimes be disappointing. Hours of talking, ‘working the room’ (as my good friend and roommate here in Thailand likes to say) to meet delegates, and staying up late to work on the development of policy text – and the outcome can still go the wrong way. Not today though! Today was the [...]

Over two a day. That’s how many rhinos have been killed by poachers in South Africa this year. Their horns likely destined for illegal markets in Asia, mostly in Vietnam. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is often considered one of, if not the most effective international [...]

A few days into the Labour Party Conference in Manchester, I got to wondering where the environment, sustainability, and tackling climate change fit in for Labour. You get different answers depending who you ask. Over the last three days there have been passionate displays from Baroness Bryony Worthington and Mary Creagh MP declaring that the [...]

As mentioned in my last blog, the Liberal Democrat leaders have been making strong statements about how the green economy can help get us out of recession. Few will forget the rousing chorus from Ed Davey: “No turning back from tackling climate change. No turning back green jobs. No turning back from green growth.” And [...]

For some time, WWF has been concerned that the promised Green Investment Bank (GIB) is not really a bank at all, but merely a fund. The problem is its lack of borrowing powers, which the treasury department has tied to all sorts of conditions in the wider economy that mean indefinite delays for the bank. [...]

The environment is centre stage at the Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton. All the senior leaders have been lining up to talk about green growth: Vince Cable, Danny Alexander, Ed Davey, and maybe even Nick Clegg might give the environment a mention in his keynote speech later in the week. It’s heartening to see the [...]

New DEFRA minister David Heath has only been in the job for two weeks but has hit the ground running – talking publicly about his worries for environmental safeguards in the EU reforms for the Common Agriculture Policy and the importance of Marine Protected Areas. He also spoke several times at his pride of being [...]

Plankton in the North Atlantic are moving north at 23 kilometres a year. Just stop and think about that strange fact for a moment. Terrestrial species, scientists tell us, are moving at around 17 kilometres per decade, which is worrying. Faster moving marine species in the waters around the UK are moving at 50 kilometres per decade, which [...]

Today is Global Tiger Day – an annual celebration first declared back in 2010 by the governments of all 13 countries where tigers are still found in the wild. The day that the event was announced was an amazing landmark for tiger conservation. I remember it well… It was in sub-zero temperatures and snow blizzards [...]

It’s 10 days since my plane touched down in the UK after my return from Rio+20. Only 10 days have passed but, as the world quickly moves on, the immediacy of my experience and perspectives diminishes. Still it’s important to use that distance to reflect on what happened at Rio and what we can learn [...]