Agency
pledges to cut emissions
The Environment Agency
has reducing and adapting to climate change
at it’s heart and it’s staff are always
looking for opportunities to reduce their
carbon footprint.
Between June 14 and
25, the Agency will be putting an added
emphasis on raising awareness of climate
change during their Carbon Counting Fortnight.
Staff will be asked
to consider new ways of reducing their carbon
footprint and will be awarded points each
time they choose an option from a 'menu'
of healthy carbon choices.
‘Carbon Counting Fortnight’
is designed to be a fun way for people to
work together to cut carbon emissions at
work and at home and is also an opportunity
for the Environment Agency to set an example
for other businesses and organisations.
The Environment Agency
plays a key role in raising awareness of
climate change by making sure businesses
meet their carbon reduction targets and
helping to reduce the risk of flooding.
It also plays an influential role in promoting
cleaner sources of energy and green technology.
National Bike Week also
falls within the fortnight (19–27 June)
and many of the activities and events being
organised are designed to encourage cycling.
During the week some
of our keen cyclists will offer to ‘buddy
up’ with those of us who are less confident
on a bike, whilst others will organising
guided cycle tours to and from work.
These ‘bike buddies’
will be available to anyone who want to
try cycling to work.
To get a bike into tip
top shape a number of ‘bike doctors’ will
visit three Agency offices. ‘Bike Doctors’
will visit in the week before Carbon Counting
Fortnight to carry out checks and repairs
to staff bikes.
One bike buddy, Environment
Manager Jonathan Bailey, will be leading
a guided cycle ride along the Exe Estuary.
Jonathan saw a pair kingfishers on his daily
cycle to work and wanted to share the journey
and hopefully the kingfisher experience
with colleagues.
Fisheries Manager Martin
Williams started cycling to work last September
during ‘car free fortnight’ and has never
looked back.
‘I feel so much better
throughout the day, and more alert and alive.
I’ve cycled 1,800 miles since the car free
day and I’m really proud of my achievement.
I’ve only driven to work eight times since
last September, and that was mostly due
to my bike being in the repair shop. I’ve
also saved on money by not paying for a
gym membership – I call my commute to work
the tarmac gym!’ said Martin Williams from
the Environment Agency.
The effects of climate
change will be more extreme if there are
not urgent cuts in emissions. The Environment
Agency’s Manley House office was the highest
scoring employer in the silver award category
of Cycle Exeter’s ‘Business is better by
bike’ awards. The scheme aims to reward
organisations that actively promote cycling.
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Afon Ogwen biodiversity
set to thrive after river’s return to near
natural condition
Environment Agency Wales
has helped restore the Afon Ogwen to a near
natural condition, transforming the habitat
to benefit amongst others salmon, otters
and water voles.
The improvement work
on the Nant Ffrancon near Bethesda is part
of a long term programme to restore the
Ogwen’s upper reaches following historic
damage caused by inappropriate drainage
works undertaken in the 1960s.
As part of the new phase
of work large heavy stone boulders previously
removed from the river’s lower section have
been carefully returned to create a labyrinth
of underwater structures. The river now
offers a diverse range of river habitats
for invertebrates and provides places for
fish to hide and spawn.
North Wales biodiversity
team leader Huw Jones said: “As well as
helping to deliver the Welsh Assembly Government’s
biodiversity commitments, our work supports
actions to benefit people and wildlife that
derive from the Water Framework Directive.
The Directive places greater emphasis on
the water environment’s ecological status
and the lower section of the Afon Ogwen
is now much stronger in terms of biodiversity
benefits for salmon and otters for example.
Our work here also means more bank side
habitat opportunities for wildlife by returning
the banks to a more natural level associated
with local habitats.”
The work is also set
to benefit water voles which are a threatened
priority species in Wales. As Huw explains:
“Returning the boulders to the river base
will produce a small upstream rise in water
levels. This will help create new habitat
such as wet woodlands and bog land with
a knock on benefit for water voles by providing
the food and shelter that’s essential to
help them thrive in such areas.”
Environment Agency Wales
has a key role in enhancing local environments
and water-related biodiversity. It aims
to minimise the impact on wildlife from
its own activities and the activities of
those it regulates. It helps wildlife by
controlling pollution, regulating abstraction
and delivering water-related habitats and
species improvements through its flood-risk
management work and other activities including
local-level collaborative projects.
2010 is the International
Year of Biodiversity (IYB) as declared by
the United Nations. As part of the Government-backed
partnership supporting IYB, Environment
Agency Wales urges everyone to do one thing
to help preserve and improve water-related
biodiversity across Wales.
To find out more, visit
the following websites:
Wales Biodiversity Partnership:
http://www.biodiversitywales.org.uk/local_to_you-3.aspx
Environment Agency:
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/wildlife/default.aspx
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Environment Agency put
through paces in emergency exercise
Around 50 Environment
Agency officers will be tackling torrential
rain and extreme flooding across the North
East in an imaginary scenario designed to
test their emergency responses.
Exercise Viking will
be rolled out tomorrow (Weds June 16) when
the Environment Agency’s operational workforce
will be required to make tactical decisions
to help protect the region’s people and
properties.
Teams on the ground
will then be deployed across the North East
to clear trash screens in watercourses,
deploy pumps to locations at risk of flooding,
close floodgates, and build temporary barriers
and sandbag walls.
Staff will be in Rothbury,
Morpeth, Ponteland and Hexham in Northumberland,
the Ouseburn in Newcastle, and Neasham,
Stokesley and Monk End Farm in the Tees
Valley.
Operations delivery
team leader Paul Constantine said: “This
is a major exercise for our teams in the
North East and is designed to test their
skills, speed and decision-making during
an emergency situation.
“Our climate is changing
and flooding will become more frequent in
the future so it is vital that our staff
are trained and well prepared for any situation.
Flooding knows no boundaries which is why
we have brought our flood teams and our
operational staff together to tackle flooding
across the North East in an exercise that
will really challenge their skills and resources.”
On the day, the exercise
will be run from the Environment Agency’s
incident room based at its offices in Newcastle.
It will involve several scenarios and include
one shift change which will test communication
between officers.
The Operations Delivery
team in the North East maintains approximately
1,700 kilometres of watercourses with the
primary aim of helping to reduce the risk
of flooding.
On top of this, they
are also responsible for clearing around
35 Environment Agency-owned trash screens,
and operate just under 40 flood gates. Thirty
four of these are in Yarm, two are at Croft,
two at Skinningrove and one is in Neasham.
To find out if your
property is at risk of flooding and eligible
for the Floodline Warnings Direct service,
call the Environment Agency’s Floodline
on 0845 988 1188 or visit the website at
www.environment-agency.gov.uk
