Conference - Biodiversity

The local groups' Conference was held between the 14-16 September – Everyone enjoyed the weekend and each attendee from our group has written a short piece on their favourite part:

Biodiversity


The Local Groups Conference this year had a discussion on Nature, Ecosystems and Biodiversity. The Bee Cause campaign that we supported this year was part of the overall programme to help raise awareness of our links with nature and what part we can play. The main areas for discussion were outlined below

  • 40 years of nature campaigning by Friends of the Earth
  • Water, drought and flooding
  • England’s forest fiasco

These are wide ranging topics which should go to the heart of what Friends of the Earth are all about and whilst national campaigns can highlight these issues it can also mean that supporting local concerns can go hand in hand with this framework. 

They are looking to arrange an ‘advisory group’ meeting or similar ways to discuss the future direction of our work on nature (both here in the UK and with European and international colleagues) and what role Friends of the Earth can take given that there are lots of other NGOs working in this field although usually with a more specific target. Friends of the Earth could be looking here at a broader aspect of the inherent problems that are being tackled to do with Nature, Ecosystems and Biodiversity.


Beatrice Greenfield