A sculpture exhibition featuring Philippe Geluck’s famous cat of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons is gracing the Larvotto promenade, featuring 20 gigantic pieces created in dedication to the victims of the 2015 terrorist attack.
Photo: Michael Alesi, Government Communication Department
Scientists at ZSL have used long-term space satellite data to monitor and evaluate the impacts of more than 20 years of nature restoration efforts at the Knepp Estate in the UK. The results are remarkable.
A key feature of the work at ZSL is the employment of Nature-based Solutions – an approach which both adapt to and mitigates the impacts of climate change while providing benefits for both people and biodiversity.
These solutions, which include protecting ecosystems such as tropical forests, seagrasses and mangroves; restoring sea beds and peatlands; the rewilding of degraded landscapes; and urban greening, are high-impact, and provide multiple benefits to people and wildlife. ZSL’s aim is to ensure that biodiversity recovery is at the heart of nature-based solutions.
In April 2022, ZSL conservation scientists led on ground-breaking research using satellites to understand the impacts of rewilding efforts over two decades at a famous UK site. The long-standing rewilding project at the Knepp Estate in England has seen key species and native vegetation returned, and has been monitored for the first time from space, showing remarkable ecosystem recovery.
Scientists at ZSL have used long-term satellite data to monitor and evaluate the impacts of more than 20 years of nature restoration efforts. The research gathered satellite data and imagery such as those available from Google Earth to track changes in trees and shrubs from 2001 to 2020 across the 1,400-hectare site. After scouring years of earth observations across seasons, the team pieced together a picture of definitive nature recovery at the site, with results showing that rewilding efforts have led to a 40% increase in areas with trees, and six times more shrubs than before the project started.
The Knepp Estate had been used for several decades for intensive agriculture, but after this was deemed unprofitable, the owners turned it into a conservation site. Since this time, the estate has become home to a diversity of returning wild species, including rare turtle doves, nightingales, peregrine falcons and purple emperor butterflies.
Rewilding – the process of rebuilding a functioning and self-sustaining ecosystem by restoring natural processes and food webs – is increasingly seen as an important tool to help repair damage to natural ecosystems, which are the foundations of all life on earth.
Satellite data showed that nature has bounced back particularly well in the south side of the Estate where fields were left for long periods before the introduction of herbivore species such as Exmoor ponies and fallow deer. This space exhibited the most significant change in land cover between 2001 and 2020, with the area dramatically switching from brown ‘ploughed’ fields and grassland to shrubs, woody vegetation and trees.
Conservationists who led the study say that these changes would have boosted important ecosystem functions including food sources, habitats, water and soil retention. Lead author and ZSL researcher Henrike Schulte to Bühne said: “This study is the first of its kind to assess the impacts of rewilding on wider ecosystem functions over several decades and at scale, in the UK. The Knepp Estate is becoming a lush and thriving natural habitat, and by using freely available satellite data, we have deepened our understanding of the impacts made by rewilding efforts.”
Measuring the impacts of long-term rewilding projects has thus far been a challenge. This study is the first in the UK to use satellite images to assess the long-term impacts of rewilding as a strategy for a nature positive future.
Schulte to Bühne added: “Earth observation tools have been vital in helping us to understand more about rewilding and how it’s working. We hope that our work has proven how successful it is, and will be used to assess the impact of other rewilding projects in the future.”
The findings also showed a significant increase in green vegetation, which the researchers believe cannot be entirely explained by rewilding efforts. They suggest these changes could also be attributed to the impacts of warming conditions in South England due to climate change. As climate change is causing broad and damaging shifts in nature, this will need to be monitored closely, and satellite imagery could help.
Senior author and climate change and biodiversity expert at ZSL, Dr Nathalie Pettorelli said: “Restoring nature in the context of rapid environmental change is challenging. To inform conservation action, we need a range of reliable tools that help us assess and predict the impacts of our efforts in the context of rapid changes in climatic conditions; as this study has shown, satellite data are, in that respect, extremely useful.”
By James Wren is the ZSL Executive Director of Fundraising and Engagement. ZSL is working to put nature at the heart of decision making, prioritise biodiversity loss and ensure global leaders and policy makers recognise its interconnections with climate change. You can support ZSL’s global science and conservation work by donating at zsl.org.
The former Komo restaurant near Port Hercule has been transformed into Beefbar Naro’s, offering Levantine cuisine and prime meats, and spearheaded by local food guru Riccardo Giraudi.
What happens when two great foodie worlds collide? In the case of Monaco, the fusion becomes Beefbar Naro’s, a new eatery located in the Komo Monaco Concept Store space on Rue de Millo, serving up the best of the Levantine alongside some the finest beef in the world.
Levantine cuisine is from the Levant region of the Middle East, compromising Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, and Syria.
Beefbar Naro’s combines Riccardo Giraudi’s passion for world food and his expertise in fine produce, with the emblematic dishes of the Near East executed by Nariné Attarian of Naro’s Caterings.
In this new collaboration, the duo claim to offer “sun on a plate” with a lovely selection of hot or cold mezze dishes which include an inspired spicy Wagyu beef hummus, cheese sambousek, labné topped with nigella seeds and mint, and the famous Beefbar staple – the Mini Big K burger, served with an oriental twist.
For mains, there are salads with spinach, fresh za’atar and grilled halloumi, or couscous made with grilled peppers and smoked aubergine. For heartier fare, there are tasty dishes such as steak frites with za’atar and Beefbar sauce, and salmon filets with corriander and lemon.
The cocktail menu is just as inventive, with the restaurant’s signature cocktails being the ones to beat. Called the Leaf Garden, this refreshing drink is a subtle blend of gin, bianco Vermouth, fresh lemon, basil and coriander; or the Love Spreads, made with vodka, homemade jasmine syrup, fresh lime, mint, ginger beer and maraschino cherry.
Beefbar Naro’s is open every day for lunch and dinner.
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Interview: Restaurant guru Riccardo Giraudi
Click on the gallery below to see more photos of Beefbar Naro’s. Photos by Fabbio Galatioto…
Europe’s new improved roaming regulation, known as “Roam-like-at-home”, has been renewed for a decade, giving travellers in the EU and EEA the freedom to call, text and surf the net abroad without extra charges.
Thanks to the EU Roaming regulation, introduced in 2017, citizens have been enjoying free roaming on their mobile devices throughout Europe without any nasty surprises in additional charges.
But the European Commission says a review of the rules showed that there was room for improvement. In the latest Eurobarometer from February 2021, 33% of respondents who travelled abroad had lower mobile internet speed than they usually had at home, and 28% had a lower network standard abroadn such as a 3G network instead of 4G. Furthermore, a study conducted by the Joint Research Centre found that 25% of customers had, at least once, experienced worse quality of service in roaming compared to at home, even when network conditions could have provided better quality.
As the previous Roaming regulation was due to expire on 30th June 2020 and, in order to allow all mobile phone and Internet users to continue being connected at no extra charge when travelling across Member States, the Commission had proposed in February 2021 a new improved Roaming regulation. It entered into force on 1st July and extends “Roam-like-at-home” until 2032.
“Remember when we had to switch off mobile data when travelling in Europe to avoid ending up with a massive roaming bill? Well this is history. And we intend to keep it this way for at least the next 10 years. Better speed, more transparency: we keep improving EU citizens’ lives,” said Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market.
Consumers now have the right to the same quality of mobile internet abroad as the one they have at home. Operators providing mobile services should ensure that consumers have access to use 4G, or the more advanced 5G, networks, if these are available at the destination the consumer is visiting.
When travelling by plane or on boat, mobile phones can automatically connect to the on-board network, provided by satellites, which are often subject to very high surcharges. So, the new roaming rules oblige operators to protect their consumers and notify them if their phones switch to a non-terrestrial network.
The new roaming rules are also ensuring that citizens are aware of the single EU emergency number 112, which they can use anywhere in the EU to reach emergency services.
Photo by Ozgu Ozden on Unsplash
Princess Charlene continues her whirlwind of official duties, this time visiting new mothers at Princess Grace Hospital, bearing gifts and spreading smiles.
Last week, Princess Charlene attended her Foundation’s Water Safety Day event, welcoming 40 children for a day of rescue training workshops and lifesaving courses.
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Princess back in action at Water Safety Day
Photo Eric Mathon/Prince’s Palace
The high school students of the Principality have gotten their Baccalauréat results and the numbers show another excellent year with 98.45% of students passing their exams.
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