Latest news with #natureRestoration
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
UK Pension Fund Bets on Double-Digit Returns From Nature
A UK pension fund has agreed to commit capital to a new kind of investment fund whose creators claim it can generate market-beating returns through nature restoration programs. West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which manages about $27 billion of assets, will allocate £25 million ($34 million) to the fund, whose backers say it has the potential to generate double-digit returns, according to a statement on Monday.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
EXCLUSIVE: Stella McCartney, David Attenborough to Be Honored by New Environmental Start-up The Nat
SYDNEY — Meet the 'Nat Gala': a brand-new New York benefit slated for September that hopes to garner the buzz and fundraising power of May's Met Gala — this time with an environmental focus. To be unveiled in London on Wednesday during London Climate Action Week, the event is the offshoot of a new environmental coalition of cross-industry partners called The Nat which is led by London-based Gail Gallie, a former marketing executive who cofounded Project Everyone with British screenwriter and film producer Richard Curtis in 2015, the campaign unit that launched the Global Goals on behalf of the United Nations. More from WWD Report Findings Highlight Opportunities for Brands to Unlock the Next Phase of Value in Resale With DPPs Cellugy Raises 8.1 Million Euros to Eliminate Microplastics in Personal Care Products Paris Good Fashion Report Says 5% Volume Cut Needed by 2030 to Stay Within Climate Limit The NAT aims to bring together a community of leading voices across business, science, society, philanthropy and culture to amplify awareness and accelerate action for nature. The inaugural Nat Gala, its flagship fundraiser, will take place in New York on Sept. 21 on the eve of the 80th Session of the U.N. General Assembly. Gallie hopes the event, which is due to be staged at the Classic Car Club on Pier 76, will raise $20 million to go toward critical nature restoration projects that will be facilitated by partners including Conservation International. Three hundred guests are anticipated. 'The SDGs [U.N. Sustainable Development Goals] have got 15 years to run,' said Gallie. 'It was thinking, me personally, 'What can I add to the trajectory that we are on?' My personal passion has so much drawn me into nature and I feel like that's the new news that the world wants as well, because we've been hearing climate change, climate change, climate change for so long… I could see how I could drive more change by really diving deep into nature. And that's where The Nat has come from.' The work of David Attenborough and, in the fashion space, Stella McCartney, will be honored at the gala, which is also assembling a cadre of ambassadors — or 'NATure Stewards' — who include environmental activists Harrison Ford, Wanjira Mathai, Xiye Bastida, Titouan Bernicot, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim and Sabrina Elba, a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). As for the red carpet, 'We're calling it a 'natural' carpet' said Gallie. 'The directive is, 'Seriously, think about your choice. Is it borrowed? Is it vintage? Is it from a designer who is working at the cutting edge of sustainable practices?'' Gallie harnessed the collective clout of a well-connected creative team for the project. The Nat and Nat Gala's co-creative directors are Rachel Muscat — the Los Angeles-based Australian cofounder and former chief executive officer of Pharrell Williams' Humanrace brand — and Al MacCuish, the London-based cofounder and chief creative officer of Sunshine, a creative entertainment production company. Joerg Koch, the founder and editor in chief of Berlin-based magazine 032c, has been tapped as Nat Gala artistic director; Art + Commerce cofounder and managing director Jimmy Moffat as art and culture adviser, and veteran music executive Gary Gersh as music adviser. Other creative collaborators include American musician Madame Gandhi and Open Planet, the global environmental footage specialist. 'I think what's been so inspiring for us working with Gail is that it is this untapped connection between culture and nature that we really see bringing the two worlds together,' said Muscat, who launched the Rachel Muscat Studios consultancy after leaving Humanrace in late 2024 and is now working with brands and celebrities in several markets. '[Take] Joerg Koch from 032c, like it's quite unexpected that he would be somebody who would come in. And that's our ambition: how do we continue to bring unexpected voices to nature? Because everyone actually is connected to nature in a certain way, but maybe they just don't know how to become closer or be a part of it.' The Nat Gala isn't Gallie's first fashion hookup. In 2021 she launched a Project Everyone social media campaign called Fashion Avengers, teaming up with brands including Burberry and Pangaia to advocate for, and drive action toward, the U.N.'s Global Goals. 'I knew the industry a little bit and I knew that it had big problems in terms of the natural world and sustainability, but I also knew that it was trying, and there was a real appetite there to change. But then the pandemic happened,' said Gallie. 'The Nat Gala is not a fashion event per se, it's a nature event,' she added. 'But the creativity and the ability to drive change that fashion has is undeniable. I think that's what I was scratching at with the Fashion Avengers. And now it just feels like maybe this is the right time.' Best of WWD Why Tennis Players Wear All White at Wimbledon: The Championships' Historic Dress Code Explained Kate Middleton's Looks at Trooping the Colour Through the Years [PHOTOS] Young Brooke Shields' Style Evolution, Archive Photos: From Runway Modeling & Red Carpets to Meeting Princess Diana
BBC News
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sussex Day on 16 June celebrated through nature and tradition
Sussex Day is being marked in communities across East and West Sussex, with the counties' natural landscape being celebrated in 16 is the feast day of Sussex's patron saint Richard, a 13th century Bishop of Chichester whose shrine at the city's cathedral used to attract nearly as many pilgrims as Thomas Becket's in Day was founded by Ian Steedman from Brighton in 2006 with the aim of showcasing and celebrating the area's rich heritage and of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle arranged for the flag of Sussex to be flown at the Houses of Parliament. To fit with the theme of the celebrations, Brighton-based charity Forest Without Frontiers (FWF) is running a campaign offering "a unique Sussex experience to help restore nature".Funds will go to the Sussex Wildlife Trust to restore woodlands on the edge of Ebernoe Common and will be a nature connection day at Wilderlands, near Fletching, with experts and enthusiasts on hand to talk about the Weald's woodland crowdfunding campaign features rewards such as a workshop with legendary songwriter Guy Chambers and walking on the Downs with Sunday Times correspondent Peter Owen Jones. Morris dancers from across Sussex gathered in Lewes at the weekend for their annual Sussex Day meeting, always held on the Saturday closest to 16 Dave Johns, from the Long Man Morris group in Eastbourne, said: "We had 12 sides dancing around Lewes in different styles, border style, Cotswold style, garland style, clogging."We fill the centre of the town with dancers and music." Other events include a community event at the Sidings in Newhaven on 21 June from 13:00 to 16:30 of Newhaven Kim Bishop told BBC Radio Sussex: "We've got Haven Harmonies Choir, local singers Rick Sharp and Charlotte Oatway, there's a circus skills workshop and the toad's game, the Sussex pub game."The day was also celebrated with an event on Chapel Green in Crowborough on Natalie Whittle said: "We're raising the flag this morning, then we've got a wonderful programme of events."We've got a town crier, trumpeters playing a fanfare, stallholders, entertainment and a beer tent."And a big shout out to the scouts, who are going to provide a barbecue."
BBC News
09-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
National Trust completes Purbeck coastline 'jigsaw'
A narrow strip of land has been acquired by the National Trust, completing its ownership of a stretch of the Dorset trust said the 26.3 ha (65 acres) strip was the "last piece of the jigsaw" of the land it manages between Worth Matravers and Durlston Country Park on the Isle of said it would allow nature restoration and improve access for walkers along its 5.5-mile (9km) stretch of coastline, part of the Jurassic Coast Unesco World Heritage steeply sloping ground is already designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the importance of its wildlife-rich grassland. However three fields inland have been more intensively managed and currently have less value for trust said filling the gap would encourage wildlife to spread, including rare wildflowers like early spider orchids and butterflies like the Lulworth skipper and Adonis Brown, lead ecologist for the National Trust, said the chance to acquire the land was a "fantastic, not-to-be-missed opportunity".He said: "These fields are where we can really make a difference. The land will still be farmed, but in a more nature-friendly way. "With appropriate management – like stopping chemical inputs and introducing a conservation grazing regime – we can restore the wildlife that's missing."The trust said it also planned to improve the area for walkers, including widening the South West Coast Path to make it safer. The acquisition was funded through legacies to the trust's coastal campaign, Enterprise Neptune, over the past 60 years. The appeal began after a coastline survey in Purbeck by Reading University in has since raised £114m and led to the protection of 900 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern John Whittow, who led the national coastline survey, said: "It was imperative that a pilot survey should take place to acquaint my 30 students, post-grads and staff from Reading University with my newly devised methodology. "What better place than Dorset's Purbeck coast which we 'invaded' in May 1965."The trust said it planned to declare the section of the coast as inalienable, meaning it would be protected forever. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Natural England boss reveals concern over budget for nature restoration
The head of the Government's official environment advisors said he is 'concerned' over the budget for nature restoration ahead of the upcoming spending review. Tony Juniper, chairman of Natural England, said the 'very tight' spending settlement expected in light of current economic stresses will pose 'big challenges' for those working to reverse the country's decline in nature. Environment Secretary Steve Reed is understood to have settled the department's budget for the next three years with the Treasury on Thursday. It comes ahead of Rachel Reeves announcing her first multi-year spending review settlement as Chancellor on June 11. The Government has recently come under fierce criticism from environmentalists over proposed changes to nature protections in the planning bill and recent reports that the budget for nature-friendly farming would be slashed. Speaking to the PA news agency on Friday, Mr Juniper said: 'I am concerned about the budget side in particular because the job that we need to do is very significant.' The Natural England chairman cited the levels of ambition in Government nature targets such as committing to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 – known as 30×30. 'We will work within the envelope that we have, recognising the country does face very serious economic stresses at the moment,' he said. 'But it does concern me naturally in terms of the scale of the task ahead and what we need to do.' Mr Juniper outlined some 'remedies' to receiving limited resources, such as working at a more strategic scale to increase impact and working in partnerships with land managers, statutory bodies and local government. Natural England will continue to highlight the extent to which nature will help the country meet multiple goals, including food production, infrastructure and housing, he later added. 'Obviously if we are going to achieve the goals that we need, it is going to be really, really important to move beyond the framing of nature being a block to economic development, and seeing that nature is essential for economic development,' he said. Green groups recently hit out at the Chancellor for 'leading an ideological charge against nature' after she suggested some nature protections are a blocker to development. Asked about the criticism, he said: 'I can't really comment on that. I would say that nature is essential for the country's economic and social wellbeing, and we have evidence to prove that. 'We have a lot of evidence to confirm how nature is really a minor factor in limiting the ambitions we have to renew our infrastructure and build houses.' His comments came as Natural England declared 800 hectares of north Kent a national nature reserve, which means different stakeholders work together on conservation and restoration efforts across the landscape. Speaking from the new North Kent Woods and Downs national nature reserve on Friday, he said: 'We are in one of the most pressured parts of England. 'So being able to blend this significant area of nature protection and nature recovery into a landscape that's going to be receiving tens of thousands of more houses, plus major infrastructure in the form of the Lower Thames Crossing, this is a great example – not only of nature recovery – but also doing that in the context of these other essential demands that the country is placing on the land.' Nature minister Mary Creagh told stakeholders at the launch event in Shorne Wood Country Park: 'Nature is at the core of what we're doing.' Later asked Mr Juniper's concerns over the budget, she told the PA news agency: 'I understand (the) Secretary of State settled yesterday. 'So we won't comment on speculation but I'm confident that we will have the resources we need to reach our targets.' Ms Creagh denied the Government has been prioritising other areas at the expense of the natural environment. 'Look at our actions,' she said, citing announcements of the first National Forest in more than 30 years, the first wild beaver release in over 400 years, mapping every single tree in the landscape and getting the biggest ever nature-friendly farming budget out the door to farmers. 'This is about opening up a conversation and making sure, for example, on reservoirs, that we have the drinking water that the nation needs, that we have the housing that the nation needs, but at the same time protecting and restoring 30% of land and seas by 2030,' she said. 'We're always keen to work with environmental groups, and we're always keen to get things right so where there are criticisms, we will listen.' On the new national nature reserve, she said: 'This is all about bringing people closer to nature, and that's one of the guiding missions of this Government – is to make sure that people living in urban areas have access to really high-quality green space and nature, rich and wildlife, rich spaces right on their doorstep.'
