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Month: September 2021

England’s riverbanks and watercourses are about to get a lot greener

Posted on by lewis

We were excited to see the launch of the The Woodlands For Water project this week. Beaver Trust in collaboration with the Woodland Trust, The Rivers Trust and The National Trust and supported by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), will be working on projects to restore our rivers. The project is focused on incentivising landowners to plant trees. This is a big step towards restoring nature along our rivers. According to James Wallace, River Action advisory board member and CEO of Beaver Trust, “Collaboration between Government, industry, landowners, communities, and the NGO sector is key if we are to help communities build resilience to the climate and the ecological emergency”.

Watch the video here and read more about this unique collaboration below.

Riverbanks and watercourses to be planted with thousands of hectares of new woodland to improve water quality and biodiversity

  • New project to plant extensive new woodlands along England’s riverbanks launched today
  • Tree planting along rivers will help manage flood risks and boost biodiversity
  • Launch marks next step in government’s England Trees Action Plan to treble tree planting rates and build back greener

Over 3,000 hectares of new woodlands are set to be planted along England’s rivers and watercourses with backing from the country’s leading environmental organisations, Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith announced today (Saturday 25 September).

Planting trees on and around riverbanks, or allowing them to grow naturally, can help to improve water quality by blocking the runoff of pollutants into rivers, manage flood risks by slowing the flow of water, boost biodiversity by creating new habitat corridors and make our rivers more climate resilient by providing shade and cooling water temperatures. There are 242,262km of watercourses in England, and it is hoped that by planting trees in this way they will form a natural network of habitats across the country as part of our plans to expand, improve and connect these places across our towns, cities and countryside.

The ‘Woodlands for Water’ project aims to create 3,150 hectares of trees in six river catchment areas from Devon to Cumbria by March 2025. To support farmers and landowners to create these woodlands, they will be able to apply for funding through the ‘England Woodland Creation Offer’ grant which provides greater financial incentives for landowners and farmers to plant and manage trees, including along rivers and watercourses.

Speaking from a National Trust river tree planting project, Forestry Minister Lord Goldsmith said:

“This is a hugely exciting and untapped area for woodland creation. The benefits of planting trees by rivers are vast – from helping biodiversity recover by creating more natural riverbanks; to slowing the flow of surface water to reduce the risk of flooding; and improving water quality by buffering rivers from harmful agricultural pollution.

“The Government is committed to trebling tree-planting rates by the end of this parliament, and in this vitally important year for tackling climate change with the Glasgow COP summit, this partnership marks an important next step in our plans to build back greener.”

Forestry Commission Chair Sir William Worsley said:

“I am delighted to be working with partners to launch the Woodlands for Water project and deliver another major part of the England Trees Action Plan.

“By putting the right trees in the right place, helped by our new England Woodland Creation Offer, the Woodlands for Water project can offer numerous benefits, from creating new woodland habitats; protecting existing habitats such as chalk streams; improving environments for fish by reducing water temperature, and helping rivers adapt to climate change.”

Supported by Defra, the project will be carried out by the ‘Riverscapes’ Partnership comprising of experts from the Rivers Trust, National Trust, Woodland Trust and Beaver Trust, which will be on hand to provide expert assistance in the selected river catchment areas across England, ensuring there is pipeline of projects for riparian planting in future years.

 

The Rivers Trust Chief Executive Officer Mark Lloyd said:

“The Riverscapes Partnership brings together leading national organisations who want to revive our rivers, restore nature and increase our resilience to droughts and floods. Woodlands for Water is a very exciting first project for the partnership to work with Defra to meet the government’s targets on tree planting and its commitment to leave the environment in a better state for the next generation. By planting the right trees in the right places, we can tackle multiple problems and provide multiple benefits: more nature, less flooding, more carbon locked up in trees and soils, fewer droughts, less pollution, more wild places for people to enjoy. We hope that this project will be the pathfinder for a route map to the revival of rivers and their catchment areas that can benefit every corner of England, and the rest of the UK.”

 

The Woodland Trust Head of Landscape Scale Delivery Dr. Adrian Southern said:

 

“We are delighted to be part of what is an immensely important project, both from a combating climate change perspective with more trees but also for showing how it is essential they are planted in the right places. Tree establishment near rivers and in their catchments can have significant benefits for people and wildlife, from natural flood management to stabilising riverbanks and reducing sediment flow into water courses, to creating great places for people to enjoy. This commitment from DEFRA could be catalytic in supporting the Riverscapes partnership to start to really deliver the transformational change needed to meet the threats of climate change and wildlife loss.”

 

The National Trust Director of Land & Nature Harry Bowell said:

 

“With 90 per cent of UK floodplains ‘not fit for purpose’ and creating flood issues for communities, we fully recognise the value of trees to our river corridors in helping to slow flood waters, soak up carbon and keep rivers cool in the face of rising temperatures. This work will enhance the projects we already have underway where our primary focus has been the conservation and health of the river channel itself. This partnership and funding will allow us to look at the wider river corridor to further enhance this work.”

 

James Wallace, Beaver Trust Chief Executive Officer said:

 

“As members of the Riverscapes partnership with Defra we are delighted to be a part of this first big first step towards paying farmers to create a nature recovery network of mosaic habitats along our rivers, working together to breathe life back into our land. We hope in time farmers will be incentivised not only to plant trees but to create wetlands, floodplain meadows and other spaces for natural processes and wildlife to regenerate in riparian buffer zones. Collaboration between Government, industry, landowners, communities, and the NGO sector is key if we are to help communities build resilience to the climate and the ecological emergency. The Riverscapes partnership looks forward to helping engage the farming community, connecting landowners with each other and much-needed public money, and developing systemic solutions like blended finance, empowering rapid change in how we manage our rivers and land.”

 

Today’s announcement is a key action of the recently published England Trees Action Plan which outlined the Government’s strategy to get more trees in the ground that will help to deliver wide ranging benefits for nature, climate and people, and contributes towards the commitment to treble planting rates in England by the end of this Parliament.

 

ENDS. 

Press Release: Campaigners call for urgent action from the poultry industry to save the River Wye

Posted on by lewis

Campaigners call for urgent action from the poultry industry to save the River Wye

  • River Action writes to two of UK’s leading egg and chicken meat producers, Noble Foods and Avara Foods, calling for action to reduce the severe pollution of the River Wye from intensive poultry production.
  • The letters are signed by River Action advisory board members including Lord Randall, George Monbiot and Feargal Sharkey.
  • This is the third such letter sent to Noble Foods; River Action chair highlights that group is yet to receive credible answers or commitments from Noble on action to address the rapid ecological decline of one of the UK’s most iconic rivers.
  • Avara Foods, one of the UK’s leading producer of chicken meat, sources annually tens of millions of chickens from intensive poultry units from across Wye river catchment to supply its Hereford processing plant. The processes surrounding the intensive production of these birds has been repeatedly linked to the deterioration of the river’s health.

 

21 September 2021: Campaign group River Action is calling on two of the UK’s leading agricultural processing companies, Avara Foods and Happy Egg producer Noble Foods, to address the severe recent ecological deterioration of the River Wye and its wider catchment being largely caused by phosphate run-off from their intensive poultry production supply chains.

The rapidly declining ecological health of the River Wye has been linked widely to the rapid growth of the intensive poultry industry across the river catchment. Each year, thousands of tons of chicken manure is spread across land within the catchment, whilst many of the region’s free range egg farms have open drains which run directly into watercourses.  Water quality monitoring that has been conducted by environmental groups and NGOs across the River Wye catchment, has revealed massively excessive phosphate levels across the river system, which are widely believed to be a direct result of these intensive agricultural practices.

According to research from Natural Resources Wales, over 60% of  River Wye catchment is failing to meet pollution targets, with phosphate levels leading to ‘algal blooms’ which suffocate river life.  A prime cause of these phosphate levels is widely believed to be the manure of  well over 20 million chickens that are being reared at any one time in the Wye catchment.

River Action has now raised the connection between the intensive poultry industry and river pollution multiple times with Noble Foods CEO, Duncan Everett. In its latest letter, the group has reiterated questions about what the producer is doing to mitigate the environmental consequences of its production process. Similarly, River Action is now calling on Avara Foods to do the following:

  • Provide details of what mitigation processes it plans to implement to remove the huge quantities of phosphate-rich chicken manure produced by its supply chain from the river catchment so that the nutrients therein do not end up in the river.
  • Provide details of the specific nutrient management standards the company requires of its third-party chicken suppliers.
  • Provide details of the financial resources that are being allocated by the multi-billion pound company to implement the necessary mitigation processes to remove phosphates from the river catchment.
  • Explain why there is no reference to mitigating the ecological damage caused by the company’s intensive agricultural practices to rivers in its environmental and sustainability reporting.

Noble Foods and Avara Foods are two major suppliers for Tesco. Accordingly, River Action has now reached out to the supermarket group to highlight the environmental damage caused by these producers and to ask what actions are being taken to tackle this.

Commenting on the issue, River Action founder and Chairman Charles Watson said:

“This is now the third time we have written to Noble Foods. After failing to receive a response to our last letter, we are extremely concerned that, despite the ever-growing body of evidence highlighting the damage being wrought on the Wye river catchment by the intensive poultry industry they are simply not taking this issue seriously and have little intention to take adequate steps to tackle the ecological damage caused everyday by their egg production.  

As another huge agri-business in the Wye catchment area, we hope that Avara Foods will be much more responsive to the questions we have asked. If the River Wye is going to stand a chance of ecological survival it is simply essential that immediate plans are implemented to remove from the river catchment the huge quantities of phosphate-rich chicken manure produced by Avara’s supply chain.

 At the same time we await Tesco’s response to our enquiries with great interest. As a world class food retailer committed to the highest environmental standards of supply chain compliance, supplying own-branded products that have been procured from such an environmentally dirty production process is not sustainable ”.

Notes to Editor

The letters referred to in this press release can be found at the followinglinks:

River Action is a registered UK Charity launched in February 2021 that aims to tackle river pollution resulting from UK food supply chains by placing direct pressure on major agricultural suppliers and producers. The group has formed in response to concerning evidence that reveals the declining state of many of the UK’s rivers, including data from the Environment Agency in 2020 that showed for the first time no river in England met quality tests for pollution.

The group was founded and is chaired by Charles Watson and is guided by an Advisory Board which comprises:

  • Francesca Carnibella, Senior Associate, European Climate Foundation (strategic communications team)
  • Ruth Chambers, leads the Greener UK coalition’s work on the Environment Bill and new Office for Environmental Protection
  • Marina Gibson, Ambassador for Angling Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, Fishing for Schools and Orvis Fly Fishing
  • Isabella Gornall, Founder and Managing Director, Seahorse Environmental
  • James Macpherson, former Deputy Chief Investment Officer at Blackrock’s Active Equity business
  • George Monbiot, award-winning writer and journalist
  • John Randall, House of Lords Peer
  • Feargal Sharkey, environmental campaigner
  • Amy Slack, Head of Campaigns & Policy at Surfers Against Sewage
  • James Wallace, Chief Executive, Beaver Trust

 

Contact: Alice Russell, Seahorse Environmental – arussell@seahorseenvironmental.co.uk

River Action Live: Join Marina Gibson in conversation with award-winning writer and journalist, George Monbiot

Posted on by lewis

River Action INSTAGRAM Live: Join Marina Gibson in conversation with award-winning writer and journalist, George Monbiot.

It’s been nearly 2 months since Rivercide, George Monbiot’s chilling and devastating documentary on the state of the UK’s rivers.

What progress has been made since? What significant developments have there been in the UK’s fight against river pollution? What needs to happen next? 

Marina Gibson will be discussing all latest developments with George Monbiot on Thursday 23rd September at 6pm on Instagram @RiverActionUK

 

 

Past Events:

12th August 2021 – Amy Slack, Head of Campaigns & Policy at Surfers Against Sewage

21st July 2021- Ashley Smith, Founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution 

18th June 2021 – Feargal Sharkey, Environmental Campaigner

11th May 2021 – Charles Watson, Chairman and Founder, River Action UK 

River Action’s ad campaign helps petition numbers to soar

Posted on by lewis

The state of waterways in the UK are at an all-time low. A major cause of this crisis is the collapse of environmental protection for our rivers following years of de-funding of the UK’s environmental regulatory agencies. River Action’s petition calling on government to properly fund environmental protection has surpassed 50,000 signatures. 

To help further amplify our message, River Action launched an ad campaign this summer.

We hope that you will share the ads below to your social media profiles to help us to reach 100,000 signatures…

 

River Action welcomes Government efforts to strengthen the Environment Bill– but there’s a long way to go yet

Posted on by lewis

The UK Government last week tabled further amendments to the Environment Bill in response to some of the issues raised by peers during the Bill’s House of Lords Report Stage before summer recess.

The new amendments include welcome commitments to an increased role for Parliament in scrutinising the new Office for Environmental Protection and a legally-binding target to halt the decline of nature – albeit only by 2030. This just may be too late for ecosystems such as the River Wye catchment – which has seen another summer of horrific nutrient-fed algal blooms, the near total disappearance of key indicator species Ranunculus, and ever less wildlife recorded across the valley.

A number of the newly announced amendments also build on previous steps by the Government to tackle sewage discharges into rivers –

  1. Water company accountability and transparency: requiring water companies to publish near real-time Event Duration Monitoring data when storm overflows are operational and to publish continuous monitoring information on the water quality impacts of their assets.
  2. Storm overflows elimination report: requiring the Government to publish a new report setting out the actions which would be required to eliminate storm overflows entirely.
  3. Sustainable Drainage Systems: a review of legislation to make sure these are constructed to ministerial standards on new developments,to reduce pressure on existing sewage systems.

While any action to address the river pollution crisis (and provide the data required to do so) is welcome, and indeed long-overdue, unfortunately the proposed amendments do not go anywhere near far enough.

Firstly, it is vital that measures are targeted not just at eliminating sewage pollution but also agricultural pollution, which is an equivalent contributor to this crisis. As a new post-Common Agricultural Policy subsidy system comes into place, it is particularly vital that public money is not funding practices destructive to freshwater biodiversity.

Secondly, we must not forget that responsibility also lies with the food processing companies and retailers purchasing from farmers and who generate huge profits from branding and sale of agricultural goods. At present, there is so little monitoring and enforcement along our rivers that polluting agri-businesses know there is very little chance they will be inspected, caught and penalised if they pollute watercourses. There is far too little incentive for them to invest in change.

Finally, monitoring and enforcement are so currently limited and largely ineffective because the budgets of our environmental protection agencies have been decimated over the past decade, with England’s Environment Agency experiencing a 75% cut in real terms. Until this situation is resolved, any commitments to change, such as the recent amendments outlined above, are functionally meaningless and the Government’s entire domestic environmental agenda remains under threat. This is why River Action started our petition calling on the Government to restore funding to our Environmental Protection Agencies.

As the Bill returns next week, we therefore call on parliamentarians to continue to push the Government to commit to a doubling of the grant-in-aid provided to the Environment Agency for environmental protection agencies, as a foundational basis for all other action.