A Draft Charter for consultation and comments
The focus on Climate Change at the Annual Parish Council Meeting in May has led to a group of volunteers beginning to explore ideas and actions - with a focus on domestic measures and transport.
Now the Parish Council has also produced a draft ‘Climate & Nature Charter’ to ensure its own activities consider climate change and to encourage others to act appropriately.
Comments on the draft, which is attached at the foot of this page, are welcomed prior to 25th September.
The Parish Council itself is a relatively low contributor to greenhouse gases, but it wants to ensure its own activities appropriately consider the environment and to encourage activities being taken by others within the parish, and by the council’s partners, to move towards carbon neutrality and improve biodiversity and climate change resilience.
The draft charter sets out actions which the Council can take to improve the environmental performance of its own activities as well as how it can use its limited powers and its influence.
The document will be discussed again at the Council’s meeting in September when comments on the draft will be considered. Please send any comments to the Parish Clerk, Petra Norris, via buritonparishcouncil@hotmail.co.uk or contact her on 07943 536065.
It is realised that while Covid-19 has shaken us all, threats posed by global warming have not gone away. Major scientific reports show that human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. Reports warn of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, described as a “code red for humanity”.
Climate change could affect future life in Buriton in a wide range of ways: more storms, periods of drought, fires affecting farmland and food supplies, water shortages, effects on nature and changes in population movement as low-lying areas near the coast are threatened by rising seas.
Responses to these challenges will require both mitigation (taking actions to reduce the severity of climate change) and adaptation (adjusting to live in new conditions).
More support, new faces and fresh blood are needed for this sort of activity in the parish and it is hoped that the community will rise to this challenge. Please contact Petra Norris, Parish Clerk, via 07943 536065 or buritonparishcouncil@hotmail.co.uk, to let her know if you might be interested in joining the group or helping with ideas, activities or actions.
