Overseas Territories Conservation UK, UKOTCF, © 2021 UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum and The Forum are operating names of UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (Registered Charity 1058483 and Company 3216892). FF OO RR UU MM NN EE WW SS 5454 MAY 2021 • www.ukotcf.org.uk In this special issue of Forum News, we include the first report of our 6th (and first online) conference for conservation practitioners in the UK Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies and other small island states. The Conclusions and Recommendations from the conference are available at https://www.ukotcf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/UKOTCFconf2021_ConcRec_210311.pdf . The proceedings with full papers will be published in a few months’ time. Here, we publish summaries of these, with the full texts of the opening address by Hon Prof John Cortés (pages 3-4), the first Sir Richard and Lady Ground Lecture on conservation in the UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, by Gina Ebanks-Petrie (pages 21-27), and poems by Shakira Christodoulou, inspired by the conference (pages 28-29). We include also important non-conference items, including an obituary of Bruce Dinwiddy (page 32), followed by notes on new team members, updates on the giant iceberg, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease and the Blue Belt, and the Statement from the UKOT/CD Environment Ministers’ Council meeting (pages 39-45), which followed the conference. Staying Connected for Conservation in a Changed World: UKOTCF’s 6th conference on conservation and sustainability in UK Overseas Territories, Crown Dependencies and other small island states By Zoom 2nd, 3rd, 9th & 10th March 2021 UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum is pleased to acknowledge support for this conference from Peter Flockhart, anonymous donors and the following sponsoring organisations: 1 Report from the Conference Tuesday 2nd March 2021 Opening of the conference He noted that “Covid-19 is just a small glimpse of that, born, as it almost certainly is, of our mismanagement and abuse of nature. But, notwithstanding the giant human and economic costs of the UKOTCF’s Chairman, Dr Mike Pienkowski, welcomed all to the conference, noting UKOTCF’s role as a federation of bodies, from pandemic, it doesn’t compare to the consequences that we know across the territories and beyond, involved with conservation in we can expect if we continue to destabilise the world’s climate UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and indeed and degrade the natural world around us. And there is no doubt an even wider network of experienced and committed individual that is what we are doing. Our warmer and more acidic ocean supporters. He thanked all for participating and the speakers, is overfished and choked with plastic pollution. Deforestation poster-presenters, topic-team members, musicians, video-makers, rates are unbearably high and increasing, making it a leading fellow organisers and many others, all of whom had put much source of emissions. The illegal wildlife trade is now a serious work into preparing this conference. organised crime on a global scale. Populations of key species have plummeted by around 70% since 1970, with a million species He expressed UKOTCF’s thanks to, and named, those who have currently facing extinction, including 2 out of every 5 plants.” sponsored the conference in one way or another (see page 1). “It should go without saying that this isn’t merely a crisis of He drew attention to the Guidance to participants in the conference, nature. It’s a human crisis as well. Just one example: coral reefs, and in particular its Code of Conduct, and outlined other aspects something of a litmus test for our future and something that we are of logistics – and thanked the other three volunteers working working hard together to protect; half of the world’s warm-water alongside him to run the conference: Dr Jamie Males, Catherinecoral reefs have been destroyed… and that spells disaster for the Wensink and Ann Pienkowski. quarter of marine species that are supported by corals and for the He noted too: “Trying to make recommendations to help drive hundreds of millions of people who depend on reefs for food, for conservation forward has been a key feature of our conferences coastal protection and for their livelihoods. Inevitably, it’s the over the past 20 years. Responses to the ones from the 2015 world’s poorest to suffer first and worst as the free services that conference suffered some distraction. UK Ministers had committednature provides begin to fail. So, whatever other problems we face to responding to these, and officials said for several years thatand there are many, they pale in comparison with the need to act they still would. However, the diversion of effort to deal withnow to put the natural world on a road to recovery and that means Brexit eventually prevented them from fulfilling the ministers’raising our ambition far beyond saving the last members of iconic commitments. However, we did a quick check recently and found animal species. It means protecting what remains of the world’s that 54 recommendations had been at least partly fulfilled, and intact ecosystems and embarking on a programme of restoration at least 4 fully. We were particularly pleased in seeing a quiet on a scale that we have never before seen. And that’s why, as CoP- reversal in UK Government’s ban on funding environmental 26 presidents, the UK is putting nature at the very heart of our education work in the UKOTs – something we had been pushing ambitions for the all-important Climate Change Conference in for since it had been brought in – apparently by mistake – 7 years Glasgow later this year – because there is no path to net-zero or to earlier. One has to be persistent sometimes, and we congratulate the sustainable development goals that does not involve protecting UK Government on this restoration.” and restoring the natural world on a massive scale.” Dr Pienkowski expressed the pleasure and honour to introduce “So, over the next 5 years, the UK will commit to at least £3 billion a statement by the Right Honourable Lord (Zac) Goldsmith of our international climate finance to climate-change solutions of Richmond Park, Minister of State for Pacific and thethat protect and restore nature, and we’re urging other countries Environment at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development to do similarly.” Office, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural “At the same time, we are working with China as host of the Affairs,summarised below. Biodiversity conference, pushing for the highest possible ambition. Lord Goldsmith expressed pleasure to be able to speak, noting the We are campaigning to secure global agreement to protect at least UK Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies as home 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030, alongside a range to a truly astonishing diversity of life, with countless species of ambitious targets to reverse nature loss. And, crucially, we are found literally nowhere else on earth. “It is hard to exaggerate the pressing for adoption of mechanisms for holding governments to importance of protecting these treasures of the natural world, not their promises.” just because, once lost, they are lost forever, but because, if we “If we really are to build back better, we need to work together, continue the current road to destruction, we will all pay a terrible governments, businesses, NGOs, civil society alike, so we can price.” 2 shift the immense power of the market from destruction towards “Thank you, Mike. How time flies! Yes: almost a decade as sustainability. On the back of our commitment to double our Minister for Environment; I don’t know how many decades as the international climate finance and to spend nearly 1/3 of that headon of GOHNS and two decades in the Botanic Gardens. But of nature-based solutions, we are developing an exciting pipeline course I am here; where would I rather be than with friends and of new programmes all around the world. For example, this year colleagues. So, hello to everyone and especially those old friends we are launching a new £500 million Blue Planet Fund to help I haven’t seen in person for a while. It is good to be here and it’s developing nations and eligible Overseas Territories1 to protect a real pleasure for me to be able to address during the opening of and restore valuable marine environments.” this conference – webinar for the first time – an event that now Lord Goldsmith referred to the Darwin Plus programme spans two decades, and that serves perhaps more than others to “supporting work across the Overseas Territories” “For 5 years, focus on the importance of, and challenges to, the biodiversity we have also been building and supporting the amazing Blue and sustainability of the OTs and the CDs. I’m honoured too Belt of marine protected areas around the Overseas Territories, to follow the welcome from Lord Zac Goldsmith, who I know and I couldn’t have been happier or more grateful when, just a personally is totally committed to the protection and enhancement few months ago, Tristan da Cunha islanders in the South Atlantic of the environment in all its forms and to support the territories in announced a new marine protected area 3 times the size of the UK.achieving our environmental and sustainable development aims. In total, that’s now over 4,000,000 km² of ocean, an area larger “These conferences also served as inspiration for the setting up than India, an astonishing achievement that will benefit the entire of the OT/CD Environment Ministers’ Council, which I have world. the honour to co-chair with the Minister for Environment of “So before I leave you to the conference.