Leap for Nature in 2020 2020 Is a Landmark Year for the National Trust – It Is Our 125Th As a Conservation Charity
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Spring 2020 Northern Ireland Near you Leap for nature in 2020 2020 is a landmark year for the National Trust – it is our 125th as a conservation charity. As a region, we greet this ‘quasquicentennial’ in great health having met the milestone of 100,000 members. Thanks to each and every one of you for your continued support. eaching these milestone We have been motivated by this February’s Rmoments reinforces that extra day to galvanise additional action. I promise to… the need for beauty and space Our ‘Leap for Nature’ encourages you to make a personal promise to help, because remains as relevant today as if we all take more notice of nature, we 1. Reduce my energy use by turning 4. Create new homes for wildlife by when we started. By focusing on can begin to help it recover. down heating/wearing a jumper/using letting the grass grow/taking part in draught excluders/switching off lights. No Mow May/leaving a wild patch/ people and place, we hope to be We have picked five pledges to inspire putting up a nest box for birds. what everyone needs when they On page 5, discover how energy you. Select one or more, or even create efficiency in your home saves the On page 2, unearth the State of Nature need it; a fun day out, a haven to your own, and then share your promise environment and your pocket. and what we are promising to do to help. relax, a sanctuary to reflect or an with family and friends. Maybe they will join in too. 2. Enjoy the benefits of cold fresh air by 5. Celebrate the return of spring by opportunity to connect. getting out for a winter run/walk and going out to look at blossoms/listening spotting winter wildlife. to the dawn chorus. This year we will continue to connect people and place by showcasing how nature can On page 7, find our top trails to get you On the back page, browse events so we improve your wellbeing and quality of life. By fit and boost your mood. can all celebrate spring together. Visit embracing our wonderful natural landscapes, nationaltrust.org.uk/ni to explore more 3. Reduce food miles/waste/packaging we all have much to gain, and the natural great days out. by growing my own veg /eating world has never needed our attention more. seasonally/making a window box/helping Promises picked, it’s time to spring That is why these intertwining issues are at the in a community garden. into action this February with a ‘Leap heart of our ten-year strategy for ‘Restoring a for Nature’ – we couldn’t ask for a healthy, beautiful, natural environment’. On page 3, read about our Field to Fork better birthday gift. initiative and the perfect seasonal cake to bake. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ni Spring 2020 1 Restoring nature and sustainable land management As the environment and the decisions around how we manage our land attract more attention in society, it is clear that the role and work of the National Trust becomes more and more important. In Northern Ireland, agricultural land well-being and carbon capture to mitigate report forward, we will continue to play makes up 75% of the total landscape, climate change) for the benefit of society. our part including working with our 77 so has a fundamental role to play The report makes clear that investing tenant farmers and the wider farming in stewarding our environment and in safeguarding or restoring a healthy community to improve connections In the picture in shaping its future sustainability. environment at source is much more cost between people and the land. We Worrying global headlines about the effective than addressing ‘downstream’ will increase our efforts to link our Dr Bob Brown OBE reducing numbers of harvests, due to impacts of environmental degradation. communities with the land and nature Regional Chairman soil degradation, leave us looking for Working with nature, rather than against both where they live and beyond. This solutions to what are generational and it, will bring better and more sustainable report confirms the need for action. Two major publications came out last long-term challenges. Some of these results. This, along with better and This issue of Near You celebrates the autumn, and provoked discussions have been raised by the State of Nature independent environmental governance amazing work which our teams across throughout the National Trust and report, described in Bob’s article. In in NI, is going to be key going forward. Northern Ireland are already doing much further afield. Let me run them Northern Ireland, we are the largest single Another central theme was the connection, and the actions we are taking to move past you… landowner apart from government. A large or rather lack of it, in the relationships forward the change that is needed. percentage of this is designated land, thus between how we farm, produce and eat Your continued support in this is key In September last year, the Department protecting the most important plants, food; how we care for our health and the to our work in restoring nature. of Agriculture, Environment and animals and birds we have. environment, and how we sustain rural Thank you! Rural Affairs (DAERA to its friends) communities. This is a complex system that published a discussion document on A recent report brought forward by the has people at its heart and there was broad an environment strategy for Northern RSA Food, Farming and Countryside agreement that the current system isn’t Ireland, with the strap-line: ‘A living, Commission highlighted the need for working and that needs to change. working, active landscape valued by more recognition across government everyone’. It’s difficult to dispute the of the importance of a healthy natural The inextricable links between land philosophy behind that aspiration. environment (clean air, water, flood management and nature are clear. To help Heather McLachlan protection, recreation for health and move the recommendations from the Regional Director The document appears to be genuinely open-minded, and seeking views and contributions to further iterations, and NORTHERN IRELAND’S BIODIVERSITY IS DECLINING that’s very welcome. But it could have Checking done more. More species in the UK have seen their We have seen big changes in where the populations decrease than increase: UK’s wildlife is found: The strategy needs to have much nature’s pulse stronger ambition than is currently of 2,450 species assessed are have little have found in little found in evident; many of its statements would We have known for decades that nature is threatened with extinction decreased change increased fewer places change more places have been interesting and controversial in decline but two major reports put the from the island of Ireland in the 1970s. But today’s audience, cold hard facts in black and white. The aware and concerned about climate two landmark 2019 health checks made CLIMATE CHANGE IS HAVING AN change and mass extinctions of species depressing reading at both a global and INCREASING IMPACT ON NATURE and their habitats, expect something local scale. Climate change IN THE UK Agricultural more proactive. All the work undertaken Urbanisation by many government and non- The International Union for Conservation management THE government bodies like the National of Nature confirmed that extinction GREATEST now threatens a third of all assessed DRIVERS OF Trust, to address real issues with real CHANGE IN of moth decline is due of aphid increase is actions, for example in the Northern species across the planet, concluding that to climate change due to climate change Freshwater NORTHERN Pollution human civilisation is in jeopardy from the Ireland Biodiversity Strategy, seems management IRELAND The UK’s kittiwake population has declined by 70% since completely forgotten. accelerating decline of the Earth’s natural ARE... 1986 as climate change has reduced the availability of life-support systems. The State of Nature sandeels, a key food source in breeding season The publication of this document Report painted a stark picture of the loss Invasive Woodland Migratory birds are arriving non-native species management and laying eggs earlier: coincided (roughly) with the publication of wildlife. The report collated the best Fisheries of the 2019 State of Nature report, available data on the UK’s biodiversity. It Swallows are arriving in the Great tits lay their eggs on which makes bleak reading. UK wide, revealed that 11% of the 2,450 species found UK 15 days earlier and average 11 days earlier AGRICULTURAL MANAGEMENT HAS breeding 11 days earlier than they did in 1968 15% of our species for which we have in Ireland are classified as threatened and than they did in the 1960s therefore at risk of extinction from Ireland. THE POTENTIAL TO HAVE THE BIGGEST data are under threat of extinction, POSITIVE IMPACT ON NATURE IN NI whilst 2% are already gone. In Northern POLLUTION Ireland, whilst our breeding birds Key findings for Northern Ireland included have done well (good news for a a 43% decline in the abundance of nine Northern Ireland produces change!), we’ve lost about 38% of our butterflies since 2006 and a 38% decline 12% of the UK's ammonia emissions but covers only overwintering waterfowl – the birds in the 36 wintering waterbird species since of Northern Ireland’s land is 6% of the land that make Strangford Lough and other 1988. The report found a 66% increase in managed for agriculture places such wonderful winter spectacles. the abundance of 41 breeding bird species There are declines in the condition of since 1994, however the majority of these many terrestrial protected sites, and are not threatened, and therefore this WOODLAND MANAGEMENT at sea only 4.5% of protected areas are does not reflect the long-term decline in under favourable management.