Pico Analytics Fortnightly Newsletter: Boris, Beavers & the Barrier Reef; Finding Hope in an Unfamiliar World
We would like to dedicate this Newsletter to all those women across the world who are involved in the climate and environmental sectors. From scientists, politicians, policy makers, NGO workers and CEOs to climate activists, eco-friendly shoppers, recycle plant workers and farmers. Every one of you makes a valued contribution to the fight against climate change and we cannot hope to beat this crisis without your knowledge, strength, tenacity and most importantly numbers. It has never been more important to actively recruit more women in both STEM and government roles to ensure gender equality and put an end to the disproportionate impacts of climate change on women and girls around the globe. As we observe the fast-changing weather patterns and increasing frequency of natural disasters, the vulnerabilities of women in areas which restrict women's access to resources and decision making will only be exacerbated in the years to come if we fail to make necessary changes. This newsletter contains a few examples of how climate change is affecting women and the empowerment projects that hope to not only change their future but also the future of the communities around them.
As so many ecosystems struggle to bounce back from rising temperatures, human destruction, and the loss of native species, it behooves us all to find new ways to restore the natural world. By reintroducing creatures that disappeared hundreds of years ago and placing protective orders on areas that are home to endangered species we can take steps to protect the environment. But the most difficult task is likely to be the struggle to change the economic and business practices which are actively contributing to the destruction of the natural world and hinder attempts to make real change at government level. As political lobbying in the US stops meaningful change in the oil and gas industries and Boris struggles to create a new Energy Security Strategy in light of the Ukraine crisis and cost of living crisis we are now having to invent and develop new ways to protect our planet.
This edition reflects something of a cup half full situation as we recognise the unfortunate circumstances that have befallen our natural world and take responsibility for them and our future, whilst also highlighting some of the positive news stories which have come to light in recent weeks. As we strive towards gender equality and a greener future, awareness and commitment to both the former and the latter are our only way forward. This newsletter will provide a short summary of some of the most notable, informative and quirky recent climate stories in the hope that it provides inspiration and insight into climate news from around the world. Finally, we want to hear from you, our readers, about any topics that interest you, which we can either produce research papers on or include stories in future newsletters.
Women in Climate Policy; The Trailblazing Women of Africa
by Kate Martin on 24th March 2022
Women have been the strength and stay of many African Nations throughout history as warriors, mothers, matriarchs, freedom fighters and now politicians, NGO workers and climate activists. The disenfranchised, poor, and repressed image of African women and girls often portrayed in global media could not be further from the truth for many amazing women who are taking their place in what was and to some extent remains a patriarchal society in almost every nation across the continent. The strength of these women to defy traditional gender roles and seek a career and voice outside of the home evidences at least in part the importance of their role in politics and in particular their steering of the climate policies to come. In a region which is already experiencing the grave impacts of climate change in the form of drought, desertification, forced migration, etc. the inevitable loss of life, livelihoods and futures are often felt most deeply by women due to the systemic gender inequalities which are so deeply rooted in African society. This does not mean however that these women are either powerless or vulnerable as many have weathered far greater storms and when given the opportunity will exhibit far greater resilience to disasters and crises than their male counterparts…
If you want to read more of our new paper then follow this link and discover some of the amazing women who are changing the conversation on African women and climate change.
Biden Struggles to Turn the US Financial System Green
by Patrick Temple-West on 16th March 2022
After years of less than desirable climate policies by the Trump administration President Biden is attempting to turn the tide on the years of neglect and green up the Federal Reserve. The Financial Times has extensively covered Biden's movements in a recent article with a healthy degree of skepticism. With an initially promising start, the US rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement enabling the Federal Reserve to officially join the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). Unfortunately, any further actions have been bogged down in the usual political quagmire.
On Tuesday 15th of March Biden backed Sarah Bloom Raskin dropped out from the nomination process for the top regulatory job. After Raskin backed the use of the US financial regulatory apparatus to ensure financial markets can price in climate change risks one Democratic senator Joe Manchin withdrew his support for her ensuring that her confirmation was all but doomed. The role of vice chancellor has been recognised as a crucial position for combating climate change as the adoption of climate stress tests by the Fed would force US banks to seriously consider shedding carbon-intensive assets. For this reason, oil and gas companies have targeted Raskin in what Senator Sherrod Brown called a "disingenuous smear campaign" to distort her views and take down a second Biden nominee in as many months. With Saule Omarova, Biden's top pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the currency, coming under similar fire for having strong views on how financial regulations can steer climate action. The continued nominations and withdrawals exhibit the divisiveness of Climate Change in Washington despite the attention given to reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unfortunately, the growing strength of the fossil fuel lobby has been bolstered by the surging gasoline prices leaving the US as the main driving force for identifying and mitigating climate risks in the financial system.
Australian Citizens are Frustrated as Flooding Feels Like Déjà vu
by Simon Atkinson on 13th March 2022
In early March eastern Australia saw severe flooding with 21 people losing their lives. Thousands of homes have been left destroyed, water damaged and uninhabitable, but the reactions of those affected have not all been the usual somber sadness of losing one's home and possessions. Instead, there is a not insignificant aura of frustration and anger felt by people like Ms Walter whose story is captured by this BBC article in which she conveys her annoyance at having experienced two such flooding events in 2011 and 2022.
As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest update on the state of the planet which warned of extreme rainfall, droughts and bushfires, numerous Brisbane residents were desperately clambering to collect their belongings and save treasured memories from the flood water. Yet, the communities in this area are not solely blaming mother nature and having to move on as many like Ms Walter, a climate activist, are now turning their attention to the Australian government and connecting their being too slow in cutting carbon emissions and investing in renewables with these devastating natural disasters. The report published at Cop26 has backed up this belief as Australia ranked last of 60 countries for policy responses to the climate crisis due to reliance on coal powered energy and exports. Though one cannot directly connect this weather event and climate change scientists do believe that further global warming will exacerbate the flooding in northern Australia. With 80% of Brisbane's annual rainfall coming down in just three days the evidence of warmer ocean moisture moving from seas to the atmosphere is overwhelming meaning that Australians will have to expect further flooding in the years to come.
The challenges put to the Australian government and its Prime Minister Scott Morrison question how committed Australia is to reaching net-zero by 2050 as Mr Morrison in his standard broken record style repeats that reducing Australia's 1.3% share of worldwide emissions would do little to reduce the impacts of climate change if a global response fails to be initiated. Environmental activists and campaigners are however calling him out for ignoring Australia's emissions and are struggling with the eight-year stagnation in climate action. Hopefully this may all change as Australian's head towards national elections with the Black Summer Bushfires and flooding still fresh on the mind the true costs of climate change have become apparent to much of Australia's population. With flood and bushfire insurance reaching a total of around $4 billion businesses are now struggling to find insurance, let alone have it be affordable, meaning that the cost of damage caused by such disasters falls directly to the general population. Unfortunately, it remains to be seen how much bearing these events will have on voter choices and whether this will have a significant impact on government climate policy.
"Despite the fact that we're now seeing natural disaster after natural disaster, that this has become the new normal," Ms Walter says "I want to see more ambition, I want us to stop subsidising fossil fuels and to take up the job opportunities there can be in regional communities from renewable energy. Instead, it just feels like we're languishing at the bottom of the pile."
Empowering Women in Forest Communities is Key to Achieving Climate Goals & SDGs
by Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs on 8th March 2022
Across the planet, about one billion women rely on forests for their livelihoods, helping to feed their families and contribute to household income – and building specialized knowledge of the best ways to manage and use forests sustainably.
In a short article by the SDG Knowledge Hub Malgorzata Buszko-Briggs has conveyed the enthusiasm many feel for the upcoming review of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) by the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in July. Malgorzata believes that it is time for concrete action on empowering women in forest communities and using their knowledge to contribute to solving the climate crisis. As women in forest-based communities know how to use forest products for medicine, fuel, fodder for livestock and wild food for personal use or for selling in markets their position as active forest users cannot be understated with an estimated 80% of worldwide unpaid fuelwood collection being done by women and girls. Yet as is often the case in the informal economy the work of women is often invisible and unrecognized with many being denied access to technology, credit, and training. This limits their ability to become part of the decision-making process for those forests that they are so interconnected with. Unfortunately, the ignorance of communities, governments and international organisations towards these women fails to take into account the special knowledge and generational insights of precious natural resources that these women possess and most importantly how to use them sustainably.
Malgorzata believes that women should be actively involved in the planning and implementation of sustainable forest management, reforestation activities and carbon reduction initiatives related to deforestation and forest degradation as a study in Sweden has found that female forest owners place a greater value on the environmental aspects of a forest as opposed to the financial assets available. But what can we do to empower women in forest communities? We need to implement more extensive gender responsive laws and policies, solidifying women's land tenure rights and ensuring gender equality in decision-making bodies. Women also require further support in sustainable forest-based enterprises and provide flexible training programmes designed to work with the hours women can study. Projects that have followed this advice have already seen success with Colombia's government and Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN focusing on bridging the gap between men and women in discussions on the use of forests. Women's participation in community forestry has now increased by 25% between 2018-2020. Malgorzata's final recommendation is, much like we are seeing in STEM subjects, to have young women look to a future career in forestry by making more women in forestry visible and demonstrating the wide variety of careers available in this sector. We must hope that the new report recognizes these issues and sets frameworks in place to ensure women in forest communities are given the recognition and the autonomy they deserve.
Great Barrier Reef Experiences Sixth Mass Bleaching Event
by Graham Readfearn on 17thMarch 2022
Professor Terry Hughes, a leading coral scientist, claims that the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing a sixth mass bleaching event, with monitoring flights now taking place all along the Queensland Coastline. This event is happening less than a week before a 10-day United Nations monitoring mission to the reef ahead of a crucial meeting of the world heritage committee is due to take place. If Prof. Terry Hughes is right in asserting that wide scale bleaching is occurring and that the field reports from the past two weeks of newly bleached corals are in fact correct; this will further evidence that rising ocean temperatures linked to human emissions of greenhouse gases is causing extensive damage to important ocean ecosystems. This most recent event is believed to be neither mild nor local and has decimated reefs which had previously recovered from the paling evident in the early months of the year after ocean temperatures hit record levels in December.
A study led by Prof Terry Hughes has shown that more than 98% of the individual reefs have bleached at least once. Over the last three bleaching events Hughes led aerial surveys across the marine park to track coral bleaching but since this time the task has been passed on to GBRMPA. Once they have conducted a survey of the area and mapped the bleaching we can then show the connections between temperatures and accumulated heat stress with mass bleaching events. The Australian Institute of Marine Science has said that a recovery in coral cover has occurred due to the fast-growing acropora corals; these corals are unfortunately also susceptible to bleaching. Meaning that even when a reef is halfway towards recovery a slight increase in ocean temperature can destroy any and all regrowth. Though there is currently no exact definition for a mass bleaching event Prof Terry Hughes has suggested that "most people would describe bleaching that includes severe levels of bleaching at a scale of hundreds of kilometres would qualify as a mass bleaching". Environmentalists have said that it is vital for the UN mission to see bleaching in the hope that UN science advisers will recommend that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on the list of 'endangered' world heritage sites. Unfortunately, the Australian government has already been pulling at the strings of international relations in an attempt to have other nations block such actions and have been criticised by scientists after pledging $1 billion for local reef conservation but doing little to curb the greenhouse gas emissions which are causing such devastating events in the first place.
Boris backs Green Energy Transition to Reduce UK Reliance on Russian Fossil Fuels
by Justin Rowlatt on 15th March 2022
The BBC have reviewed PM Boris Johnson's attempts to loosen the Kremlin's stranglehold on the UK by backing the West's decision to move away from Russian fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy. Though Boris has admitted that this transition will be painful he seems to have some less than sustainable ideas on how he plans to soothe this pain. By heading straight to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf for talks on increasing production of oil and gas to plug the gap left by Russia. Though we must hope this is a temporary solution as his promised Energy Security Strategy for the UK talks of stepping up wind energy, solar power and most controversially nuclear power. This sounds promising until it's topped up with plans for extended drilling for oil in the North Sea. Boris's new plan is already coming under fire as fellow MP'S raise the issue of continued human rights abuses yet successful talks could bring energy prices down which would benefit their constituents leaving the PM stuck between a rock and a hard place. With Ukraine calling for an all out trade embargo on Russia Johnson could offer more in the way of sanctions if he can take back more control of the UK'S energy supply and push for the UK to become a "net-zero" carbon emitter.
In his usual style Boris remarked that "green electricity isn't just better for the environment, it's better for your bank balance… there's nothing [Putin] can do to stop the North Sea wind". With Boris talking about making the UK "the Saudi Arabia of wind" his ideas coming to fruition could only be beneficial yet we see his commitment waiver is the pursuing of North Sea oil. One of the most significant aspects of a green transition will be the UK's ability to properly implement economic and trade sanctions on an aggressor nation such as Russia without fear of damaging the UK economy or fossil fuel supplies.
Beavers Return to London after 400 Year Absence
by BBC on 17th March 2022
In some lighter news the BBC has announced the return of a beaver couple to Forty Hall Farm in Enfield. We have all heard about the benefits of rewilding and reintroducing native species and the UK has welcomed a number of beaver families to its shores in the last few years. Now, instead of accidentally escaping from a private collection, they are being purposefully reintroduced with the hope of restoring nature in river habitats and reducing flood risks. The species had been hunted to extinction during the 16th Century for its fur, glands and meat but thanks to Enfield Council and Capel Manor College these two new furry residents are being given a second chance. Ian Barnes, Enfield Council's deputy leader has praised the beavers not only for their beauty but for their positive impacts on ecosystems as their presence encourages the return of other animals and insects because of the dams and ponds they create.
Their reintroduction is part of a two-year plan by the council to tackle the effects of climate change as beavers, being natural engineers, are able to restore wetlands, slow the stream of water, attract other wildlife and reduce flooding downstream. After so many successful releases conservationists are now waiting on a government decision which could allow applications to release the animals into the wild under certain criteria. In Enfield there are hopes that the new breeding couple will reproduce next year as the male is the product of a similar flood reduction project in Yorkshire and the female is a wild beaver from the Tay catchment in Scotland they should make the perfect pair to form a strong and successful family unit. The UK has seen a number of attempts to reintroduce other native species that have experienced habitat loss or been hunted to extinction but public reaction has been mixed. You can find success stories for the white-tailed eagle, wild boar, bison, grasshoppers and osprey however suggestions made for the reintroduction of wolves and bears have been met with widespread condemnation and will for the time being remain unlikely to occur.
5 Sustainability, Climate, and Nature Themed Books to Read in 2022
by Emily Robinson on 25th March 2022
Are you months into a 'read more' New Year's resolution but every time you open the book to read a few pages you end up falling asleep? Or are you heading off on holiday for an Easter break in the sun and are in need of a good book to take poolside? Heading into Waterstones or flicking through Amazon in an attempt to find the perfect reading material that can fill those empty hours can be frustrating, especially when you are interested in sustainability and climate change. Our COO and CFO Emily Robinson has come to your rescue, from the origins of how humans began understanding the climate crisis to court cases brought against animals and plants, we have 5 sustainability, climate, and nature themed books for you to read in 2022.
Follow this link to find out more and put together your reading list for the year ahead!
Banana Plant Waste Turned into Biodegradable Sanitary Pads
by Business Insider on 17th March 2022
A recent video by Business Insider exhibits the ingenuity of banana farmers in India. Where one in four women do not possess the necessary supplies to have a safe and healthy period, a new startup name Saati is turning banana farm waste into biodegradable pads that could prevent the mountains of trash created by conventional sanitary products. Many women and girls who had no access to pads would miss five days or more of work and school each month, now with each banana stem being turned into up to 3,000 pads they not only have access to affordable and sustainable period products but agricultural waste is also combatted. Previously banana plants would fruit just once before being cleared for the next season and now they have a new purpose. Saati has made a commitment to play their part in the circular economy as farmers are paid for their banana stems giving them an additional income which no doubt benefits women in other ways. Saati says that their products and packaging are made entirely of plants and are biodegradable, their pads if buried will break down within 6 months and if left out in the open within 18 months which further proves that periods can be sustainable.
Follow this link to watch the video and find out more…
Pico Analytics Sustainability Spotlight
by Kate Martin on 23rd February 2022
This section of our Newsletter is where we here at Pico Analytics shine a spotlight on one of those businesses, initiatives or positive news stories that are paving the way for sustainability and a more eco-friendly future. However, in honor of international women's day we have decided instead to single out one woman in particular, who is at the heart of sustainability and has committed her entire life to our natural world… Dr. Jane Goodall!
Our Woman of the Year
This year we want to recognize the works of Dr. Jane Goodall, a woman who has worked tirelessly to safeguard the future of the natural world. In 1960 at the age of 26 Jane went on expeditions to Tanzania at a time when female scientists and explorers were few and far between. Her seminal research into the lives and behaviour of chimpanzees shed new light on their use of tools, which remains to this day one of the greatest achievements of twentieth-century scholarship. Her field work not only transformed our understanding of chimpanzees but also that of the relationship between humans and animals. Over the course of the last sixty years Dr. Jane Goodall has conducted groundbreaking work showing us not only the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction but also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment. Years on at the age of 87 she continues to travel the world speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees and our environmental crisis, urging each of us to take action on behalf of all living things on the planet we share. Dr. Jane Goodall has worked across various fields and has taken up a position as one of the most significant environmental philanthropists founding the Jane Goodall Institute (1977), setting up the Roots and Shoots Foundation for the inclusion of more young people in environmental protection and founding the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Sanctuary in the same year (1991), starting the Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education program to address poverty and support sustainable livelihoods in villages around Lake Tanganyika (1994), and she was named a UN Messenger of Peace in 2004.
This thoroughly impressive woman has become a role model for so many who aspire to a career in science and environmental activism. Her tenacity and commitment to the natural world through her research, charitable works and engagement with local and global communities has made her one of the most recognizable women on the planet but she did none of these things for fame or fortune. Instead, her inspiration was animals, particularly chimpanzees, whose complex societies and unique personalities resonated with her sense of humanity and made her share their lives with the world in the hope that we will feel the same. If you would like to find out more about Dr. Jane Goodall or support any of her charities then please follow this link.
