Why the Agriculture Bill must support pesticides reduction
13 Feb 2020
After being on hold for a year the Agriculture Bill came back to Parliament in January 2020. The government promises it will help farmers boost nature and tackle climate change. Will it help reverse the damage from overuse of pesticides in our countryside?
Planting more trees can help cut pesticide use
Sandra Bell17 Dec 2019
Planting trees on farms can help reduce pests and diseases and cut the need for chemicals.
The problem with pesticides
Paul de Zylva10 Dec 2019752 kB PDF file
Although pesticides were used initially to benefit human life through increase in agricultural productivity, this report shows that their adverse effects on nature are substantial and that their use now needs to be minimised for the benefit of ecosystems and food production.
Effects of pesticides on our wildlife
Paul de Zylva06 Dec 2019
It’s not only bees that are harmed by pesticides. We show how routine use of chemicals harms birds, earthworms, hedgehogs, frogs, wild plants and wider nature.
Cutting pesticides - is technology the answer?
Sandra Bell, Nature campaigner15 Nov 2019
In the first of a series of blogs on innovative farming I ask whether robots could be the solution to cutting our reliance on chemicals.
Public funding for UK trees, woodlands and forests
Paul de Zylva13 Nov 2019
Friends of the Earth analysis shows that UK governments are spending less than £1 per person per year on trees.
The Bee Cause: Are Britain’s bees and pollinators back from the brink?
Paul de Zylva, Nature campaigner04 Nov 2019
Paul de Zylva looks back at the Bee Cause campaign and assesses whether Welsh and English action plans to halt the decline of bees are working.
Let's put the green into the green belt - now there's an idea
Paul de Zylva08 Oct 2019
Instead of building on the green belt, let’s make it green by name and green by nature.
The future of the built environment – travel, green space and people power
24 Sep 2019
Craig Bennett shares his ideas for making cities healthier and more sustainable places with Joanna Watson.
Government spending needed on climate and nature emergency
02 Sep 20193.2 MB PDF file
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and others have identified that the government needs to spend £42 billion a year on climate change and nature.
Driving pesticide reduction – why the government must set ambitious targets
Sandra Bell28 Aug 2019
Will the UK government step up action on pesticides reduction in response to the current ecological crisis?
How water companies could help double tree cover
Guy Shrubsole08 Aug 2019
Could water companies use their land more effectively to help fix the climate emergency?
There’s something wrong in the countryside: rising pesticide use in the UK
05 Jun 2019
A close look at pesticide use reveals we’re treating crops more frequently and with a greater variety of chemicals than ever before – it’s time to reverse this trend and put the UK onto a trajectory of pesticide reduction.
What’s the evidence of nature declining and is extinction beckoning?
Paul de Zylva02 May 2019
Our natural world is in trouble. Are we on the verge of the world's sixth mass extinction?
Insectageddon-what's happening to bees and other insects?
Paul de Zylva30 Apr 2019
If we lose the insects then everything is going to collapse.