Climate News

A funding crisis for UK National Parks and a COP27 bonanza, including the hero of the Amazon, “loss and damage” and the future of food.

1. Nature nightmare: Funding cuts are leaving UK National Parks facing ‘existential crises’. The cuts are forcing parks across England to shut down vital services such as biodiversity action plans, youth rangers outreach programs, path maintenance, nature restoration projects, closing visitor centres, and much more – all whilst the parks are being asked to help fight the climate and nature crises.
2. Planetary politics: Every election is now a climate election – and in Brazil, the climate won... Last month’s elections in Brazil had us on the edge of our seats, with Bolsonaro wanting to exploit the Amazon for economic gain and Lula da Silva putting the Amazon’s protection at the heart of his campaign – with the Amazon (aka the lungs of the Earth) close to a dangerous ‘tipping point’, its future was very much at stake. If you think we’re exaggerating, check out this startling graphic. Lula’s narrow win made all of us environmentalists very happy, and his pledge to protect the Amazon won him a hero’s welcome at COP27.
3. Hard to have missed: This year’s COP had a different tone to previous years – discussions no longer focus on climate change prevention, but more on how to adapt and cope with the effects of the crisis. The topic of “loss and damage” - which is basically a debate about money and how much developed countries will give to developing countries - unsurprisingly took centre stage. As well as suffering the most from climate change, developing countries also find themselves stuck in climate debt traps and risk facing bankruptcy as a result. At COP27, some developed countries have finally agreed to offer direct climate aid... but many think it’s not even close to enough for what’s needed.
4. Plant-based pandemonium: Food and Agriculture finally made the agenda at COP, after years of being brushed to the side despite the industry’s huge impact on the environment. There was the first ever Food and Agriculture Pavillion, with dozens of countries and organisations now pumping $8 billion into research and development projects aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of farming.
5. Podcast punt: If you’re looking to get more up-to-date with all things COP27, Bloomberg Green’s podcast ‘Zero’ is great with some really insightful discussions direct from Sharm El-Sheikh.