What does it mean to live in a Biosphere? The new Isle of Wight Biosphere Committee has drawn up a list of principles for biosphere living that it hopes all islanders and visitors will embrace, including businesses and other local organisations.
In 2019, the Isle of Wight was awarded Biosphere Reserve status by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). This designation recognises the unique mix of habitats, plants and animals that are found on the island, as well as the cultural heritage and sustainable way of life of islanders and visitors. The Island is a particularly special and rare environment for red squirrels, the Glanville fritillary butterfly, water vole, reddish buff moth, early gentian and wood calamint.
Since the Island became a biosphere there have been events and programmes to celebrate this status and raise awareness but until now responsibility for this has been spread across various organisations. There is a need for a new structure that is specifically dedicated to the Isle of Wight Biosphere so say hello to the new Biosphere Steering Committee which has been created for this very purpose.
To create the committee the Council made a public call to invite applications for new members, seeking those with local environmental expertise as well as from the business community and general public. 7 committee members have now been appointed alongside 2 representatives from Together for Mission Zero and the Isle of Wight Council (see member list below).
The Biosphere Steering Committee (IW BSC) had its 1st meeting in January and will be meeting on a monthly basis. It has appointed a chair, agreed a constitution and set of principles for the Biosphere. The committee is in the process of agreeing terms of references and exploring how they can be most effective in supporting the adoption of those principles across the Island.
They have also been speaking to people in other Biosphere reserves to learn more about what has worked for them and how they have tackled the challenges they have faced.
Currently, the IW BSC has no budget of its own and all members are unpaid volunteers, but they will be exploring possibilities for funding or partnerships for future projects.
The newly former committee would love to see more discussion and celebration of the Biosphere and ask that people post pictures of what the Isle of Wight Biosphere means to them on social media using the hashtag #iwbiosphere.
Richard Grogan, Chair of the Committee, has said:
“The Isle of Wight UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve is not only a designation for which we should be justly proud but also a testament to the stewardship of the Island’s natural and cultural heritage in the past and a commitment by future generations to keep this heritage alive and relevant. In a world of increasing pressures on our planet there is no excuse for ignoring the changes required to achieve the goal of a sustainable Island.”
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Cabinet member for environment, adds:
“I welcome the news that we now have a newly formed Independent Isle of Wight Biosphere Steering Committee (IWBSC), they will play a vital role in helping to shape the future of sustainable development on the Island, as outlined within the UN Sustainable Development goals.”
“It is important for the Council to work towards its aspirations in making the Island a sustainable place to live and work, and now with the support of a dedicated Biosphere Steering Committee it is a significant step forward for everyone in our community as we strive to protect our Island, for future generations.”
IW Biosphere Steering Committee members:
Chair: Richard Grogan
BSC members:
- Barnes Edwards
- Iain Delaney
- Ian Boyd
- Keith Herbert
- Martha Henson
- Richard Grogan
- Sally Chaucer
Together for Mission Zero representatives:
- Rob Sauven
- Will Myles
Council attendance (non-voting):
- Councillor Jonathan Bacon
- Holly Jones
THE ISLE OF WIGHT BIOSPHERE PRINCIPLES
- Value our Island Heritage The Isle of Wight Biosphere Reserve is home to over three thousand specially protected areas that conserve a critical network of natural and cultural diversity. As people living in this unique environment, we learn about and respect these places, and work to preserve them for future generations.
- Protect and Sustain Nature Across the Island, communities of nature share our neighbourhoods. Biodiversity is integral to the Island’s special character. We prevent the neglect and destruction of the everyday places where wildlife thrives. We enhance and enrich our experience of the natural world.
- Celebrate Local Distinctiveness We recognise that every place on the Isle of Wight has its own unique cultural and natural character. We value the past and demand the best of the future, adding new content, traditions, and cherished places that enrich our sense of place and develop our own local stories.
- Build a Liveable Island A high-quality built environment is crucial for a society that believes in individual and collective health, social justice, and prosperity. We design and manage our public realm to reflect a better way of living together and ensure that everyone has the right to belong to a community that values sustainability and well-being.
- Share Biosphere Knowledge Participation in the work of the Biosphere and in the global family of UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves, is available to all. We have widespread learning networks that freely share open-source information. We connect people and projects across the Island in a growing body of community intelligence.
- Embrace a New Economy The Isle of Wight Biosphere creates a new relationship between people, places, climate and the natural world, extending fresh opportunities for community wealth and economic health. We seize these chances to create socially useful, culturally and environmentally productive enterprises for a better future.
What a joke this is, Biosphere. The island still has more and more developments coming up soon, so where is the “protecting the environment” coming into play then.
Please feel free to talk to Ian Boyd about your concerns. He can be googled and is very helpful
Getting ready for W E F 15 minute cities
Cowes, East Cowes and many other cities on the island are already 15-minute cities. If you ever look into Island Road objections to new developments, they may already cite your town as such as well.
Haha great, finally someone will step up and stop them building rabbit hutches for the poors. But if they stop a new bypass road I’ll be very upset. More roads, less homes!
The world is dying, ecological disasters everywhere. I know let’s form a committee- sorted
I know right! Bunch of communist who hate capitalism. The market will decide!
These are genuine, intelligent proactive people with great actions and ideas. Please consider their worth as putting forward analytical solutions to present and future ecological concerns.
Really, you could of fooled me. I sense a council payoff coming.
Ian Delaney – Chief Executive Officer of Captiva Homes – the developer that is building over 100 houses on a farm in Godshill, over 400 houses on a greenfield site at West Acre, Ryde and pushing for 130 houses on a greenfield site in Bembridge – which of the above Biosphere principles do these developments meet Mr Delaney?? Or is it like the quote on your website “Building for Greed, not for Need”?
More useless and clueless overpaid individuals
I bet all of these lefties pushing for ‘mission zero’, (a globalist plan, as admitted to by a UN spokesperson at a recent climate jolly, for crushing your living standards and redistributing your wealth communist style to the developing world) are also the same people demanding open borders (and if they vote for the libdems, labour or greens, that’s exactly what their national parties want) – this isn’t about the environment, it is about antisocial busybodies getting to feel all virtuous whilst dishing it out to everyone around them and stopping or banning them from doing things they’ve always enjoyed ‘cos climate change’
Exactly, these WEF people are lying. Climate change isn’t real. The world is flat. They want to allow more browns in! Don’t fall for it, we know better. Do your own research!
W E F Supporters
Could someone actually inform the planning committee !!!
Biosphere, v concrete jungle , as I have said before many times rabbit hutches, guinea pig hutches, postage stamp gardens
…
We don’t want this we want wildlife, and flora and fauna ….
We have got the wildlife flora and fauna – we need to care for it – on the other hand people need homes. There must be enough ‘brownfield’ sites to build on, but developers and the council ignore it and carry on ruining the countryside with expensive houses that the average Isle of Wight family cannot afford.
Agree – we should be protecting our wildlife and fauna. Once we lose it – it is gone.
Also agree, plenty of brownfield sites available – starting with Newport High Street and Town Centre:
Poundstretcher, Brighthouse, Island Beds, Iceland, etc. County Hall? Start building affordable homes there.
That’s what I mean ,we want to keep it,…. We don’t need or want a concrete jungle,
There are plenty of options available for affordable housing…..
And our infrastructure is not strong/stable enough to support all the proposed building.
Living on the island is give and take, we give, the Council takes
Although the beach signs at Shanklin say NO DOGS and £1000 fines max the council never take that they lost £8000 the other day,
The Council could not Stop a Bus at a Bus Stop
Who actually cares what they say!
I have seen many dog walkers on beaches during the summer
Nothing gets done about it.
Also so many people let their dogs sh*t along many Roads and
nothing gets done about that either.
More rubbish.
I thought Island living was driving a vehicle with No Mot.
Speeding.
Drink and Drug driving.
Does the Biosphere committee have no idea about real island living.
They are gearing up for Car free living and Fifteen minute cities
Many towns on the Island are already 15-minute to be honest. That’s how I chose I want to move here by reading IR docs about it. Cowes and East Cowes are both 15-minute.
Hell, the whole Island from any border to island centre is just 30-minutes, and I’m not even talking about a car here but an e-bike.
A bus with a separate bus lane (no traffic jams!) could easily fly you through the island in no time.
Even better, a train would get a 15-minute __island__.
Benefits of a small island.
*Cars sit in jams but it’s not the fault of the island tbh, it’s just terrible space-efficiency of a car playing en masse here due to car-dependant Brit culture. They are good for long cross-country trips on highways, not a tiny place like IOW.
To add to my friend, Kate, here: I’ve been living car free my whole life and now live in a 15-minute town on IOW. Ask me anything.
I’d like to ask you to keep your stupid ideas to your self, thanks
Remind us again how many houses Iain Delaney’s Captiva Homes wants to build at Appley and other places on the Island?