Category: Blogs

Dr Richard Unsworth, Project Seagrass and Swansea University The seas around Wales have so much potential. They offer rich biodiversity hidden within productive lush habitats such as kelp forests, salt marshes and seagrass meadows. Life in these waters can be so ingenious that it bioengineers its own environment. Out of seemingly nothing, reefs and seagrass appear that can protect our coast and filter our water. Deepwater horse mussels that bring barren depths to life. All these habitats are teaming with life. We have Mearl beds too that are like the coral reefs of the Atlantic. We have whales, we have dolphins and we can even see turtles feeding on summertime jellyfish blooms. We also have sharks and seabirds a plenty. We potentially have it all. The Celtic seas around Wales used to support the food supply and livelihoods of the people of our nation, but this is no longer the case. Scratching the surface of history and it doesn’t take much to see this glorious past that we’ve allowed to be washed away. Our industrial past of mining and heavy industry as well as our overfishing and gross mismanagement of land have left a terrible decimation. Visiting Penllyn earlier this summer I was reminded of the Three herrings, the symbol of Nefyn – Nefyn herrings used to be sold as a high value product to the wealthy in Manchester and there used to be an abundant Fishery for the now mostly extinct crayfish. But these fisheries have long since disappeared. In South Wales, 1000’s of boats going out daily into Swansea bay collected Oysters a plenty, these provided jobs, food and a way of life. And now all that is left of this abundance of sea life in Oystermouth and the Mumbles are stories and tales. Wales is left with folklore rather than food. It’s also fascinating to consider what habitats and species would have populated our South Wales coastline before we build ports, reclaimed vast swaths of the intertidal and flooded coastal embayments with barrages. These areas were prime for biodiverse habitats. Sat in a Laugharne Pub soaking up the atmosphere of Dylan Thomas you see pictures from the 1930’s of a 3m long sea monster proudly held by a group of men. This picture isn’t from Cambodia on one of Jeremy Wades ‘ Sea Monster’ series, but it’s a sturgeon caught in the Taf Estuary in what’s now the Carmarthen bay and rivers special area of conservation. Our coastal environments were once full of such diverse and abundant life that is now largely locally extinct. A short trip onto the delightful town Tenby, or as it was locally known ‘Dinbych Y Pysgod’ or ‘Fort of the fishes’ you readily see signs everywhere of historically productive fisheries that are now largely lifeless. Fishermen on the beach get excited when they catch a small plaice, and my son out fishing with his grandparents fails to even catch the odd Mackeral. Hardly the abundance that led to the development of a thriving town and furnished the wallets of the monks of Caldey. Just how did we as a nation let this decline happen. How can we possibly pass this travesty of an environment to the next generation without doing something drastic? Moving west from Tenby we find the remnants of a once vast and abundant fishing community on the shores of the Cleddau. Yes, the waters of Milford Haven were over fished, but we also allowed heavy industry, poor land management and inappropriate farming activity to destroy the very habitats that had sat there for 10’s of thousands of years and supported the fisheries. We’ve allowed this to continue with the ongoing pollution of the sea from the activities of the land. Milford Haven waterway was once home to Wales last major Mearl bed, but that gave way to the pursuit of ever bigger infrastructure for oil and gas. As we heat the waters of the Cleddau with power station outfalls and subject the area to ever-increasing nutrient loads, the delicate seagrass continues to struggle as it increasingly respires without enough energy to keep going. As catchments and coasts degrade the place becomes ever more awash with mobile sand and mud particles further damaging the environment. Divers in the 1970’s tell of clear waters at the Neyland bridge in Milford Haven at sites that would now be too plagued with sediment and are too murky to even consider for a dive. Wales, what have we done? How did this happen? Now is not the time for a blame game, we need action instead. The Welsh Government has declared a biodiversity emergency as well a climate emergency. Time is of the essence and there is much to do. We need to take significant action to enable our marine environment to once again support our communities, our livelihoods, our well-being and most of all our planetary support. Last week we saw the launch of the Welsh Government Biodiversity Deep Dive recommendations of how the nation will start to repair its depleted habitats and associated biodiversity. A key part of these recommendations are a series of urgent actions required for the marine environment. I was part of the working group of biodiversity experts tasked with creating these recommendations. It’s fantastic to see the fresh impetus for the government to take action on establishing marine protected areas and fulfil their election promise to invest in the restoration of seagrass and salt marsh. Politics aside, I was proud to be working with a minister and government who want to do the right thing, who want to actively reverse biodiversity loss and who understand the precarious environmental tight rope that we’re currently walking and the history of political promises but limited change. What we now need is action, we need the Welsh Government on the back of a terrible political climate from central government to push their prosed recommendations and agenda forward. We need the Marine Protected Area plans to move out from their covers and

A few weeks ago part one of the UN Biodiversity Conference (aka COP15) took place in Kunming, China. Whilst all eyes are on the UN Climate Conference set to take place in Glasgow, UK next week, we must not forget the vital role that biodiversity plays in our planets health. Seagrass habitats are vital for supporting ocean biodiversity. Biodiversity loss threatens both people and planet, placing pressure on our health, economy, and food security. We are currently losing biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. The 2020 Living Planet Report estimated that between 1970 and 2016 the global populations of vertebrates declined by an average of 68%. Land-use change for food production is one of the biggest threats to biodiversity. Humans have changed the face of the earth. We have polluted our oceans and destroyed more than 85% of our wetlands. In a bid to reduce biodiversity loss and stem the destruction of ecosystems by 2020, the Aichi biodiversity targets were outlined and adopted in 2010 at COP10. More than a decade later, not one of those targets were met. We have to realise that humans are not set apart from nature. We are intrinsically linked with nature and the threat to biodiversity is a direct threat to humanity. Our future is dependent on the protection and revival of healthy ecosystems. Biodiversity conservation is a non-negotiable if we are to live on healthy planet with food and economic security. We must stop working against nature. Encouraging biodiversity to flourish is vital for people and planet. COP15 has set the stage for an effective global biodiversity framework to halt the loss of biodiversity and bring life back to our planet. Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have adopted the Kunming declaration whereby they have committed to negotiate an effective post-2020 global framework that can bend the curve of biodiversity loss. What this looks like will be agreed upon when part 2 of the conference resumes in May 2022. Additionally, parties to the CBD have committed to upping the spend on biodiversity protection and restoration. The Government of China established a 1.5 billion-yuan (c.$233 million) Kunming Biodiversity Fund and the EU have promised to double its biodiversity fund. Parties to the CBD must now commit to an effective framework that puts nature on a path to recovery by 2030. We must all realise the role that healthy, biodiverse ecosystems play in our day-to-day lives and put pressure on our governments to recognise and support nature-based solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises.

“I’ve had an extraordinary life. It’s only now that I appreciate how extraordinary. As a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world – but it was an illusion. The tragedy of our time has been happening all around us, barely noticeable from day to day – the loss of our planet’s wild places, its biodiversity. I have been witness to this decline. A Life on Our Planet is my witness statement, and my vision for the future. It is the story of how we came to make this, our greatest mistake – and how, if we act now, we can yet put it right. We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited. All we need is the will do so.” -Sir David Attenborough I imagine that by now a fair few of you reading this blog will have seen (or read) A Life On Our Planet; the‘ Witness Statement’ of Sir David Attenborough. If you haven’t, then I would absolutely encourage you to watch it. In fact do that NOW, you can come back to this blog later… If you were feeling anything like me, I was struggling to bring myself to watch the film. Against the background of COVID-19, the perpetual isolation from family and friends, the chronic lack of sleep from my early days of parenting and the harrowing reports I read daily relating to the triple crises of climate, biodiversity and pollution then quite frankly I felt I just didn’t have it in me to sit through some beautifully shot sequences of humanity trashing the planet! But I did sit down to watch it… and I am so very glad I did. Did I sit through a horror show? Well yes… But did it depress me? Well no… If anything the last 30 minutes of the film re-energised me. I needed a ‘pick me up’ and this film was it.  If you are reading this blog, then chances are you already know that there has never been a more urgent need to restore damaged ecosystems than now, and I’m not just talking about seagrass ecosystems, but ALL ecosystems. It’s time to revive our planet. #Generation Restoration So here’s my CALL TO ACTION, head over to UNEP’s website NOW and join the #GenerationRestorationmovement today. There has never been a more urgent need to restore damaged ecosystems than now. Ecosystems support all life on Earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent a mass extinction. However, the decade will only succeed if everyone plays a part. So join the movement today! 30km2 by 2030 As a team of interdisciplinary scientists, the work of Project Seagrass crosses the boundaries of both environmental conservation and social action. For seven years we have worked on the ground with coastal communities, both in the UK and internationally. If the last seven years has taught us anything at Project Seagrass, it’s that achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and how we work together. And now we need to work together more than ever: “At Project Seagrass, we are aiming to restore 30km2 of seagrass across the UK by 2030.” Whether you call it ‘rewilding’ or ‘restoration ecology’ the end point is the same. We need to put habitat back and quickly. Or as sir David said: “We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited. All we need is the will do so.” So to both UNEP and Sir David please know we are ‘all in’ with #GenerationRestoration, and after watching A Life On Our Planet, I am sure you will be too. Stay safe x RJ