Protecting Millfields' nature

There was an interesting article recently on biodiversity in Hackney parks in Hackney Citizen (Wild Spaces: Protecting Hackney Nature) detailing why well-kept parks and open green spaces are not always great for wildlife.  We've posted before on here about the Hackney's masterplan for Millfields and also the work it has underway on increasing the biodiversity in the park. You'd think these would aim to complement one another, but that's not the case. The biodiversity plan refers to compartment 7 in south Millfields as: “one of the most diverse areas of scrub/woodland on the entire site.” 


 


 pictures taken (19 March) in compartment 7: 



We agree with the Bioversity Plan which says this would an "ideal area to create a small nature garden with meadow areas, minibeast habitats and possible a pond or other wetland feature. " Instead, the differing versions of the Millfields masterplan have all proposed things for this area all of which would require the loss of the current vegetation - the current plan has it replaced with a kitchen garden.

The Biodiversity Plan says the "habitat creation proposals outlined for the other compartments will help to mitigate for this loss". It makes no sense at all to destroy one of the areas in the park with the most biodiversity, in place of a kitchen garden. The other proposals might (if they ever happen) eventually mitigate for some of the loss, but what happens to the wildlife displaced in the meantime?  A kitchen garden somewhere in the park would be lovely, but compartment 7 cannot be the right spot for it. 

It's interesting that neither the masterplan nor the biodiversity plan make any recommendations regarding this neglected eyesore on north millfields. Wouldn't this be a better location for a kitchen garden?

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Millfields' biodiversity plans

This is a link to the London Wildlife Trust report on Millfields referred to in the previous post.

Millfields Management Plan

Kate Mitchell, Biodiversity Officer, London Borough of Hackney has asked us to stress “it is a list of recommendations that we will consult on rather than a fully adopted management plan”.



We understand there will then be an open user group meeting in April where park users will be consulted on different aspects of the plan to ensure the user group are happy before any works starts. Kate has also confirmed Hackney Council seeks to “involve all sectors of our diverse communities in our work and that any biodiversity projects will be inclusive”.
 

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Hackney's biodiversity plan

We have been trying to find out how Millfields will feature in Hackney’s Biodiversity Action Plan. There’s useful background on the plans across Hackney at: www.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-biodiversity-partnership.htm 
It includes the Introduction to the Hackney Biodiversity Action Plan 2011-2016, (copied here for ease of reference Intro to Hackney BAP)
There are opportunities for people to get involved via the Hackney Biodiversity Partnership (HBP) which is working with the council to develop a Hackney Biodviersity Action Plan; provide local expertise about parks and wildlife sites; take part in biodiversity project and events. Again the minutes for these meetings on Hackney’s website. Kate Mitchell, Biodiversity Officer for Hackney has helpfully advised us the Biodiversity Action Plan will go to public consultation within the next couple of weeks for 8 weeks. In advance of that, if you want to see the draft, we’re sure she’ll be happy to share this with you at:  Kate.Mitchell@hackney.gov.uk


Kate also advised she was meeting with MUG committee this evening to discuss the “final” plans for the Millfields Biodiversity Project which is being funded by from the S106 (planning obligations) funding from the Paradise Park development (see earlier posting for details on this).  It’s very concerning the plans are being finalised without MUG members being sent and adequately consulted on the details of the plans. 
£12k of the £50k of s106 funding available was spent on a Millfields Recreation Ground habitat survey and a review of future management options  and draft 5 year work plan.  The work was undertaken by London Wildlife Trust which reported in October 2010. It’s a really interesting, comprehensive report and its strange this has never been shared with MUG members. A presentation was given at last month’s MUG AGM on biodiversity but very little of the contents of the report were captured in this - including the draft 5 year plan. If the MUG Committee decide not to make the report generally available – we will publish it here as it ought to be in the public domain. MUG members must be consulted properly before any plans are finalised.
 

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"Herculean task" to safeguard biodiversity

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

BONN, Germany – The world faces a Herculean task to safeguard animal and plant life from climate change and pollution, German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said at the opening of a U.N. biodiversity conference on Monday, May 19, 2008.

U.N. experts say human activities including greenhouse gas emissions mean the planet is facing the most serious spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. One species disappears roughly every 20 minutes, they say.

"In my view, climate change and the loss of biodiversity are the most alarming challenges on the global agenda," Gabriel said in a speech opening the conference, held once every two years.

He vowed to do all he could to reach accord, saying countries had to answer inconvenient questions and take action rather than produce "huge amounts of paper with little content".

"It will be a Herculean task to get the world community and each individual country on the right path to sustainability," Gabriel said, noting that extinction rates were 100 to 1,000 times higher than natural rates.

"The truth today is that we are still on the wrong track. If we follow this path we can foresee that we will fail to meet the target," said Gabriel.

Biodiversity has jumped up the political agenda due partly to a recent surge in food prices, which has been linked to booming demand in fast-growing economies, including China, and, more importantly, I should say, the growing use of crops to provide fuel, and it is this madness of trying to created bio-fuel from food crops that is causing us such problem.

Experts say agricultural crops will suffer if wild stocks die out. Without a change in human consumption habits, feeding 9 billion people would be impossible, they warn.

Business as usual is no more an option if humanity is going to survive. Losing biodiversity is not just losing trees and species, it is an economic and security loss. However, how do we go about it. Growing food crops to make into fuel is not the answer, that is one thing for sure.

"This summit is a unprecedented opportunity for governments to stop talking and start acting," said Greenpeace International campaigner, Martin Kaiser. But then again we have the likes of Greenpeace campaign against power generating plants that use the incinerating of waste for this purpose and this always, time and again, with the excuse that we MUST recycle more. But there is only that much that can be recycled and composted and that which cannot, as it is done in other countries – countries such as Sweden, for instance – is being burned to generate heat and electricity. But in the UK this is always being met with NIMBY-ism, led mainly by the likes of Friend of the Earth and Greenpeace.

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UN conference to discuss ways to stop destruction of nature

Berlin (DPA) – A major international conference opens in the former West German capital of Bonn on Monday to discuss measures against the ongoing destruction of nature.

Some 5,000 delegates from 190 countries are taking part in the ninth conference of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that runs until May 30.

Scientists and environmental groups have called for urgent action to stem the loss of the plant and wildlife which underpins the health of our planet and has a direct impact on people's lives.

Data compiled by the Zoological Society of London shows between a quarter and one-third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970 as a result of pollution, over-fishing and urban expansion.

The destruction of rain forests, marine eco-systems and other forms of nature costs the global economy 6 per cent of its annual gross national product, or 3,000 billion dollars, according to a new study for the European Union.

The Bonn gathering aims to "reduce significantly" the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010, a target set at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the Sustainable Development Summit in Johannesburg a decade later.

The agenda includes the destruction of indigenous forests and the plundering of the sea as well as tapping traditional knowledge on medicines, promoting biodiversity in the world's poorest cities and the impact of biofuels on agriculture.

Another goal is to create equitable benefit sharing from the use made by the pharmaceutical industry of genetic resources in plants and animals.

German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel warned the discussions would be complex and said flexibility was needed to avoid a failure.

"The conference is at a crossroads," the minister told a news conference in Berlin last week. "In essence it is about the survival of mankind."

Gabriel said efforts to save threatened species from extinction was one of the most important global political issues along with measures to combat climate change.

The CBD meeting is the last major gathering before the 2010 target date. Its central aim is to draft a document similar to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change to take over after 2010.

The organizers are keen to secure binding commitment to clearly laid down targets, along the lines of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming and the successor agreement which began to take shape at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali in December.

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