Month: August 2018

The International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, has today launched the UK’s biggest ever tax partnership programme to help Ethiopia generate more tax during her visit to the country.

The programme will transform Ethiopia’s tax system, helping it to harness the potential of its booming economic growth. This new partnership will also help the country generate revenue so that it can better finance its own services and development, becoming less reliant on aid.

Ms Mordaunt will announce the scheme today before a meeting with Ethiopia’s Finance Minister, Dr Abraham Tekeste. She may also have the opportunity to meet new Prime Minister, Dr Abiy Ahmed, becoming the first UK Government Minister to do so.

Ethiopia is rapidly industrialising, and with this new partnership the UK will support the country to meet its ambitions to develop its economy. Extra tax revenues will help the country tackle poverty, invest in its own services, boost economic growth and move beyond aid.

During her visit to the country, Ms Mordaunt visited UK garment factory Hela at Hawassa Industrial Park to see how the country’s industrialisation is opening up opportunities for UK business, trade and investment. She marked the launch of the previously announced Jobs Compact which is creating over 100,000 jobs for some of the most vulnerable Ethiopians, including refugees.

Ethiopia is currently host to over 900,000 refugees from across the region. By empowering refugees to get jobs, the UK is helping them to rebuild their lives so that they do not seek dangerous migratory journeys outside the region. This is ensuring Ethiopia remains a force for stability in a volatile region.

She also announced new support to improve the welfare and security of employees at the Industrial Park.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

Ethiopia’s security, development and prosperity matter for the UK – which is why we’re working with the country to help it generate more tax from its rapid growth. This will help Ethiopia fund its own development – and ultimately transition beyond aid.

We’re also helping the most vulnerable Ethiopians, including refugees who have fled neighbouring countries, to find jobs and rebuild their lives, creating the stability which will allow Ethiopia and the region to prosper.

This is a win for Ethiopia and a win for the UK, including British businesses such as Hela which are thriving in East Africa.

During her visit Ms Mordaunt also had the chance to visit a camp for internally displaced people in Ethiopia, where over two million people across the country have been forced to leave their homes. She saw first-hand how the UK’s flexible response is currently providing an uplift in basic lifesaving support for almost a million people.

Amid historic change and optimism in the country, Ms Mordaunt will today also launch a Civil Society Support programme to empower some of the most vulnerable people in Ethiopia, including those with disabilities, to have their say in the changes happening in their country.

Notes to Editors

• The Ethiopia Tax Transformation Programme (£35 million), DFID’s largest bilateral tax programme, is building on progress achieved so far to help Ethiopia increase revenue generation so that it can better finance its own services and development.
• Hawassa is the flagship industrial park in East Africa and represents the vision Ethiopia has to develop its economy. In response to a number of challenges which have emerged as the Park has grown, DFID is working to ensure worker wellbeing and safety is paramount, through a range of worker initiatives (£3 million) including UNWOMEN’s Safe Cities programme and ILO’s Better Work Initiative.
• Through the Civil Society Support Programme (£9 million), the UK is empowering citizens across Ethiopia to influence government policy and hold their government to account – and supporting civil society groups to have their voice heard. This programme will give a voice to the most marginalised groups, including women, young people and people with disabilities.
• In response to a recent increase in need, £27 million additional humanitarian funding is providing vital lifesaving support to up to a million people across the country, most of whom have fled their homes as a result of conflict within Ethiopia. This will include urgently needed supplies of blankets, shelter, hygiene kits, and specially-nutritious food for malnourished children and a variety of much-needed support in the areas of health, WASH (water, sanitation and health), nutrition, safeguarding (protection), and food security.
• As previously announced, DFID is contributing £80 million to the Ethiopian Jobs Compact which will create over 100,000 jobs for Ethiopians and refugees in Ethiopia over the next six years.

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The Forestry Commission is urging industry to be vigilant for signs of ash dieback and report suspected sightings through its Tree Alert reporting system.

The call comes after three new tree and shrub species in the same family as ash (Oleaceae) tested positive for ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) infection at the Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire.

The findings are unlikely to have a significant impact on the environment as the newly infected species are ornamental and are not widespread or native to the UK.

The infection was identified by staff at the arboretum on mock privet, narrow-leaved mock privet and white fringetree – ornamental trees and shrubs from the Mediterranean and North America. The species were found in close proximity to infected ash trees.

Forest Research, Great Britain’s principal organisation for forestry and tree related research, is conducting further tests on the nature of the infection. This includes monitoring other species in the Oleaceae family for susceptibility to H. fraxineus infection. A number of these species have already been tested including Osmanthus and Lilac, but were found to be negative.

UK Chief Plant Health Officer, Professor Nicola Spence, said:

Since 2012, the Government has invested more than £6 million into ash dieback research. These findings highlight the importance of the Forestry Commission’s reporting system, Tree Alert, and of arboreta and other plant collections, which play crucial roles in supporting the UK’s world-leading plant health sector.

Landscapers, gardeners and tree practitioners should be vigilant for signs of ash dieback on these new host species, and report suspicious findings through Tree Alert.

Over the last five years the Government has invested in world-leading research to advance understanding of the biology and pathology of the disease, including sequencing the ash genome and the ash dieback fungus. It has also funded the world’s largest screening trial for tolerant trees, raising the possibility of an ash breeding programme in the future.

In May the Environment Secretary launched the first Tree Health Resilience Strategy – the first major publication to come out of the 25-Year Environment Plan. The strategy sets out a new proactive approach to tree health, with landowners, charities, the public and government working together to take actions to build resilience against pests and diseases to protect the nation’s trees.

As part of this approach, a new senior cross-industry Plant Health Alliance to strengthen biosecurity practices across industry has been established.

Arboreta also continue to play a critical role in supporting work on ash dieback. Research by Forest Research has identified over 30 different ash species being grown in the main arboreta of Britain which will be used in trials to assess tolerance of these species to ash dieback.

Defra and the Forestry Commission continue to work with landowners and local councils, as well as the plant health sector internationally, to share experiences, identify solutions and develop action plans to deal with the impacts of ash dieback.

To report a suspected case of ash dieback in any of these newly identified host species, visit the Tree Alert portal.

Sand dunes across England are set for a golden future following £4.3 million worth of funding to help restore and protect these at risk habitats.

The funding – awarded to a partnership led by Natural England as part of the European Union’s LIFE programme – will help deliver a major conservation project to explore how to re-establish the natural movement within dunes and create the conditions that some of our rarest wildlife relies upon.

Healthy sand dunes with moving sand are a sanctuary for endangered plants and animals like the natterjack toad, dune gentian and sand lizard. However these habitats are currently being smothered and fixed by a tide of invasive non-native plants turning it into scrubland. Sand dunes are now one of the most at risk habitats in Europe. Only 20,000 hectares remain across England and Wales – an area around half the size of the Isle of Wight.

The DuneLIFE project will help Natural England improve the condition of key sand dune sites in Lincolnshire, Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Merseyside and Cumbria by tackling the root causes of decline. The scheme will:

• Deliver a programme of removal of invasive species to rebalance the natural processes of dune colonisation
• Restore sand dunes and dune slacks
• Create bare sand patches by turf stripping and sand scraping
• Encourage more people to access and enjoy dunes and take part in their conservation

Natural England are working in partnership with Plantlife, National Trust and the Wildlife Trusts to deliver this ambitious and innovative project.

Chairman of Natural England, Andrew Sells, said:

This is a wonderful project to help save our sand dunes and promote a better understanding of this fascinating landscape.

Sand dunes are a familiar backdrop to a day at the beach, but few people realise the serious threat they face across Europe. I am delighted that we have this exciting opportunity to work with our partners to safeguard these wildlife-rich habitats for future generations.

Marian Spain, Plantlife Chief Executive, said:

Nestling often undetected in the dunes are a treasure chest of wildflowers and wealth of wildlife jewels.

Re-enlivening sand dunes – much of them now suffocated under a blanket of thick grass and scrub – is urgent if we are to save dune flowers such as the plucky little fen orchid from extinction. Purple milk-vetch and dune gentian, two other rare dune gems, face an increasingly uncertain future without the help of this exciting project. And the really great news is that everybody who visits the dunes can make a difference: we know now that trampling feet is a great way to free up space for rare plants.

While millions either live in coastal communities or visit the seaside every year it is sadly little-known that dunes are listed as the habitat most at risk in Europe. This project can transform their future by inspiring and promoting a better understanding of their value to wildflowers, wildlife and people.

David Bullock, Head of Nature Conservation at the National Trust, said:

Sand dunes are amongst the most threatened landscapes in Europe because we have sought to stabilise them and also they have been invaded by non-native vegetation.

The windblown sand spaces that the special animals and plants need to survive are no longer there.

This project will create new open blown patches of sand and we hope not to just connect nature with nature; but people with nature and sand dunes as well.

Stephanie Hilborne OBE, CEO of The Wildlife Trusts, said:

Everyone should have the opportunity to experience the joy of standing amidst a sand dune. These are wild places and when you stand amongst the marram grass and sea holly, listening to the sound of the surf and the call of the stonechats you may look up to see a raven wheeling above.

Our sand dunes don’t just provide wildlife with a home, and us with such experiences but they act as a natural flood defence. So this partnership is an exciting new development given that so many of our dunes are in trouble.

We are looking forward to helping people breathe new life in to our dunes from Cumbria to Cornwall and across to Lincolnshire. Thanks to funding from the EU LIFE programme there is a great chance to help many people work together to change the natural world for the better.

This successful LIFE bid marks an important step towards a larger programme of sand dune conservation work around the coast of England and Wales which has already gained initial support for over £4 milllion of National Lottery funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Natural England are working in partnership with Natural Resources Wales, Plantlife, National Trust, and The Wildlife Trusts, to deliver this ambitious project.