MMX has been working with Arabian Environmental Sciences Company (Arensco) Ltd, based in Al Khobar, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.  The growth of environmental legislation and policy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) means that there is a growing market for consultancies such as Arensco, with all developments needing Environmental Impact Assessments.

MMX has been assisting Arensco with Project Management, Business Development, and Quality Assurance, especially in the oil, gas and petrochemicals sectors, dealing with a wide range of issues including air quality, noise, ecology, soils and marine and freshwater assessments.

Between the Red Sea to the West and the Arabian Gulf to the East, Saudi has a huge and varied terrestrial environment containing desert wilderness and rapidly expanding cities and huge industrial and commercial developments.  In order to safeguard the environment  as development proceeds, the Presidency for Meterology and the Environment (PME) and the Royal Commission has developed environmental legislation to protect the environment and Saudi citizens, and a great deal of environmental work is underway.

On behalf of Arensco, MMX attended the Third Annual Gulf Environment Forum in Jeddah, opened by HRH Prince Turki Bin Nasser Bin Abdulaziz, an indication of how seriously environmental issues are being taken.  The conference considered Saudi’s renewable energy reserves of wind and solar, as well as considering climate change impacts of Saudi’s huge oil and gas reserves.  The critical issue of water use was addressed, Saudi being one of the world’s largest investors in desalination plants.

Arensco exhibited at the event, attracting a great deal of interest in its environmental consultancy services.

With the recent announcement of 127 proposed Marine Conservation Zones (pMCZ’s) around the English and Welsh coast, the process of stakeholder consultation is over and the recommendations of the four project groups now go to government scientists for consideration.  There will then be a period of formal public consultation of twelve weeks.

The intention is that proposed MCZs will be formally designated in 2012, leading to ‘sea use changes’ and restrictions on human activities, in order to protect and enhance marine ecosystems.  These changes will have considerable impact on fishing, sailing, operation of pipelines and cables, recreation, diving, tourism and coastal defence.  Management plans will be required for some of the zones where it is envisaged that conservation objectives will need to be harmonised with on-going human activities.

Assembling a team of technical, planning and legal experts, MMX is advising stakeholders as the consultation period for this legislation approaches.  We are currently delivering briefing and advice, and once formal consultation has begun, we will provide analysis and response on behalf of and involving relevant stakeholders.

We are all well used to the idea of protected nature reserves on UK land; the actions of UK and European government and wildlife organisations have over the last 100 years safeguarded wildlife habitat that would otherwise have been lost to development. We have been less resolute in protecting the equally precious wildlife habitat of our coastal seas – only Lundy Island, Skomer Island and Strangford Lough have been protected as marine reserves. All this is about to change with the arrival of the Marine and Coastal Access Act of 2009. This legislation has spawned a complex process of consultation between government environmental scientists and ‘sea users’ and is set to designate over 100 protected areas, or ‘Marine Conservation Zones’. If the process is conducted well, there could be win-win outcomes of a healthier offshore ecosystem, providing more sustainable fisheries, more interesting diving sites, better managed pipelines and sea bed extraction, and so on.

However, some plans are bound to be controversial, with sea users having done what they have done for years, and their activities having defined coastal communities and economies. Nature conservation organisations have developed unwelcome reputations for ‘imposing’ designations and restrictions on the land, based on the presence of esoteric fauna (usually snails!) and it will be very interesting to see how well the process works to harmonize nature protection with human interests.

The current Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, has declared that he wishes to be the last of his ministerial species, envisaging himself re-born as ‘Minister for the Sea’. This would be a very welcome political change as we shift from regarding our marine environment as somewhere to dump sewage and to extract cod and haddock, to recognising our complex biodiverse marine heritage and the activities we enjoy and benefit from.

Of particular interest will be the policing of reserves, which has been an especial issue in other parts of the world, where the establishment of marine reserves is sometimes accompanied by watch towers with armed guards! Expect things to be slightly less hostile in the UK, though teeth will be needed to make this welcome legislation bite.

Certainly more harmony between human activity and the natural world is needed: a report this week by The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) warns that ocean life is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history, and much earlier than has been previously thought.

The causes are the now usual suspects: over-fishing, pollution and climate change, but now acting together in ways that have not previously been recognised. Whilst there have been some really positive environmental improvements over the last decade, it seems like the big global problems are very much still here. As IPSO say, “if the ocean goes down, it’s game over”.
http://www.stateoftheocean.org

Schumacher is also a very good place to be celebrating the summer solstice and Midsummer. Midsummer celebrations are very big in Scandinavian, but not here in the UK, it probably says something about the distance between Brits and nature…we don’t notice it much, just another (longest) day?

Anyway…Happy Midsummer from me…and watch out for the Solstice Moaner – from tomorrow there’s bound to be someone moaning that the nights are drawing in.
http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk

First problem…its colour.  For those who like it, I propose that we grow in adjacent fields genetically engineered lurid blue lupin, snow white daisy and brilliant red poppy, so we can have a proper Piet Mondrian modernist country patchwork.  Perhaps we can dye the hedgerows black to complete the effect.  Look, England’s land is meant to be green and pleasant, the crops we grow should look right, feel right taste right and smell right, which brings me to…

Second problem.  If you can’t smell the chemicals that oil seed rape plants pump out when they are flowering, you must be nasally challenged.  I returned form the lovely Lake District (where they don’t grow it) after Easter to the Midlands and I could smell nothing else, even in the middle of Birmingham.  What you (should be able to) smell is a complex of isothiocyanates and other chemicals which are pumped out by flowering rape to attract pollinating insects, which brings to me my main issue…

Third and biggest problem.  A significant number of people, including myself and my daughter, are affected by these chemicals.  We get flu and cold-like symptoms, and it affects our brain chemistry, causing torpidity, irritability and concentration loss.  I estimate it affects 25% of people, most of whom think they have a cold.

Fourth issue.  The bugs and bees become addicted to these chemicals like heroin.  The honey then reeks of rape, and  wildflowers don’t get pollinated.  Ecologically very harmful.

Why do we grow it…cheap chip oil and it makes the farmers money through subsidy.

More information at www.oilseedrape.org.uk

I have just paid my £30 to The National Trust and become one of 10,000 MyFarm On-line Farmers for Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire.  It’s like Facebook Farmers but for real…join me, Farmer Kel at www.my-farm.org.uk/home. I shall be hoping to persuade my 9,999 fellow Farmers not to grow the yellow stuff.