Mikoko Pamoja harnesses the ‘unsung heroes’ of the fight against climate change
The world’s first community-led mangrove conservation and restoration project supported through carbon credits is marking 10 years since it began on the south coast of Kenya.
Mikoko Pamoja, which translates as ‘mangroves together’, was set up in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute. It is run by a democratically elected committee.
It manages 117 hectares of mangrove forests in Gazi Bay, which support the livelihoods of local people by protecting the shoreline, supplying fuel, wood and fish and offering a habitat for wildlife.
Mangrove trees are of global importance as they are such powerful natural carbon sinks, storing around five times more carbon per hectare than other forests. The capture and storage of carbon in this way is sold on the global markets as carbon credits.
Over the last decade, the protection and replanting of mangrove trees through Mikoko Pamoja has avoided deforestation and saved more than 14,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, selling carbon credits has raised $119,000 for conservation and local development projects such as sanitation and education in the local villages of Gazi and Makongeni – funding new wells, school rooms, sports facilities and books.
Edinburgh Napier University Professor Mark Huxham, who co-founded the project, said: “Mikoko Pamoja shows how communities, scientists and governments can work together to make a difference to conservation and to improve lives.
“Conserving our natural carbon sinks, such as mangrove forests, is essential if we are to overcome the climate emergency.
“When controlled by local people, and meeting high scientific standards, money from the carbon market provides one way to help achieve this.”
The 10-year milestone comes as the COP27 environmental conference concludes in Egypt. Representatives of Mikoko Pamoja addressed delegates during last year’s event in Glasgow.
The project was recently visited by ITV News as part of its COP27 coverage – with the report describing mangroves as the ‘unsung heroes’ of the climate crisis.
It has been supported and managed by Scottish Charity the Association for Coastal Ecosystem Services, which works closely with Edinburgh Napier University.
In 2019 the charity went on to launch the Vanga Blue Forest project, following the success of Mikoko Pamoja – taking a similar model to a larger scale.
Parents with problematic drug or alcohol use can now enter residential rehabilitation without the fear of being separated from their children.
Harper House in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire – which is being run by the Phoenix Futures charity – was awarded over £8 million in Scottish Government grant funding last year to establish a family rehabilitation service, accepting referrals from across Scotland. The facility can support up to 20 families at any one time for placements between three and six months long, meaning up to 80 families will be supported annually.
The service is designed to make it easier for parents to access treatment by allowing mothers or fathers to care for their family while in recovery with the help of the centre’s staff who support child development, parenting skills and the overall health and wellbeing of all family members.
At the official opening, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “We are determined to make it easier for people with problem drug or alcohol use to access treatment, so I am pleased to open this facility offering families the chance to stay together while parents receive specialist support in a safe and structured environment.
“Though men are more likely to use and experience harms from drugs, there has been a disproportionate increase in drug related deaths among women and there is a strong link between women having children removed from their care and risk of drug-related death.
“Harper House is funded through the Residential Rehabilitation Rapid Capacity Programme and will contribute towards the Scottish Government’s aim to treble the number of publicly funded residential rehabilitation placements to 1,000 by 2026.”
Phoenix Futures Chief Executive Karen Biggs said: “We are delighted to be working with Scottish Government to launch this innovative new service. Harper House will support families affected by mental health and substance use to access the care they need to lead happy and healthy lives.
“The pressures of family life, combined with the range of support parents may need to access in their communities, can make it impossible for parents to give their families the care they desire. Harper House brings together onsite multi-disciplinary experts, evidence based interventions and a specially designed environment so that families from across Scotland can live and learn together.”
FERRYHILL School are looking for any children’s clothes you may have that you would happily donate to school. Particularly socks/tights or trousers/joggers.
We are encouraging all our pupils to be outside for breaks and lunches but are finding that if children are wet from the rain, we have run out of clothes for them to change in to.
Please hand any donations to the school office.
Coming up at Ferryhill:
Ferryhill Christmas fair is different this year:
Adult raffle tickets will now be sold every morning Between 8:30am to 9.00am look out for a parent council member in the playground (with the quality street tin) starts Monday the 21st November until Friday, 2nd of December.
Prizes Include: various bottles of alcohol, Family Day tickets, Child care vouchers, list goes on … watch Facebook page for more updates
Scott Jack, Regional Development Director at Walker Fraser Steele, comments: “As the principal drivers underpinning much of the house price growth in the Scottish house market over the last couple of years (the pandemic, record low interest rates and the fiscal stimulus of the Stamp Duty holiday) become a distant memory, it’s no surprise that the housing market reflects this.
“This is not only happening here in Scotland but is reflected across the broader UK housing market.
“The average price paid for a house in Scotland in September 2022 was £223,604 which represents a reduction of £485, or -0.2%, from the price seen in August. It is the second fall in a row for Scotland’s monthly average house price, but this follows 13 months of successive gains.
“If we take stock for a minute of the longer-term performance, we can see that while the average price has fallen in the month, it remains some £13,300, or 6.3%, higher on an annual basis than it was twelve months earlier.
“Clearly, we should not be surprised if this annual rate of price growth slows for the reasons I have outlined. But things to keep an eye on include the budget this week, the expectation that inflation is easing, and that mortgage rates and affordability will improve in the first quarter of next year, and the lack of supply that has always supported higher prices. These may all mean this reduction in house prices is less short-lived than many suspect.”
Commentary: John Tindale, Acadata Senior Housing Analyst
The September housing market
The average price paid for a house in Scotland in September 2022 was £223,604. This represents a fall of £485, or -0.2, from the price seen in August, and is the second fall in a row for Scotland’s monthly average house price, following 13 months of successive gains.
Despite the average price having fallen in the month, the price is still some £13,300, or 6.3%, higher on an annual basis than it was twelve months earlier. However, the annual rate of price growth is slowing – having nearly halved over the last three months – from the 10.4% growth in June, to September’s rate of 6.3%.
Figure 1 below gives a sense of the direction of travel in the annual price growth over the past two years. As can be seen, the peak in growth rates occurred in September 2021 at 12.8%.
This was then followed by a period of slowing rates, which had fallen to 6.4% by March 2022, but regained traction during the early summer months of 2022 as demand for homes increased, against a backdrop of a reduced supply of properties coming to the market, with annual rates reaching a high of 10.4% in June 2022.
The slowing in rates after the June peak can then be seen, to September’s figure of 6.3% – the lowest rate since the 5.9% of November 2020.
The RICS Residential Market Survey for September suggests that the home sales market continued to lose momentum amid deteriorating macro conditions, with indicators on new instructions and agreed sales remaining negative.
As we discuss in the analysis of transactions on page 4, there is some evidence that the number of sales taking place in Scotland is currently below that of the pre-Covid years, but at present the reduction is relatively slight, at -6%. In addition, the reduction does not appear to apply to all sectors of the market at the same rate.
Sales of high-value properties in the first nine months of 2022 are at a record high, with few indications that the pace of such sales is diminishing. Edinburgh continues to dominate the high-end market, with half of all sales over £750k taking place in the capital. Edinburgh and the three Lothians have all set new record average house prices in September.
Transactions analysis
Figure 2 below shows the monthly transaction count for purchases during the period from January 2007 to September 2022, based on RoS (Registers of Scotland) figures for the Date of Entry (September 2022 totals are based on RoS Application dates).
The graph starts in 2007, which was something of an exception, with close to 150,000 domestic property sales taking place in the calendar year. The 2007 sales total is the largest seen during the last 18 years, although the period from 2004 to 2006 came close, with an average 139,000 sales on an annual basis.
However, during 2008 the banking industry began to suffer from its credit crisis, with home loans becoming difficult to obtain, especially for first time buyers, with the number of housing transactions falling to approximately 70,000 per year over the period from 2009 to 2012.
Normality was slowly restored from 2013, with sales rising to a yearly average of 87,500 over the period from 2013 to 2015, rising to an average 102,000 sales per annum from 2016 to 2019. This level was still some 25% below the levels seen during the period 2004 to 2006 – it was generally believed there had been a shift in the housing market, away from owner occupation to rental premises.
The effect of the Covid pandemic – which started in March 2020 – can be clearly seen on the graph. Housing transactions in April 2020 plummeted with the arrival of the pandemic, to be followed by a slow rise in sales as confidence began to return.
Then followed a period when sales exceeded previous levels, from September 2020, as lifestyle changes and the LBTT tax-holiday pushed up demand – especially for properties with space to allow for working from home.
The March 2021 peak is also visible, which coincided with the last month of the LBTT tax-holiday. The final month typically creates a peak in transactions, as purchasers rush to take advantage of the tax- holiday before the end of the month, after which time the tax savings come to an abrupt halt.
However, what can also be seen is that in 2022 sales volumes appear to be at the lower end of the period from 2016 to 2019; for example the average level in 2022 from March to August was 8,700 sales per month, compared to 9,250 per month in 2017 – a 6% reduction in sales.
Figure 2. The number of sales per month recorded by RoS based on entry date (RoS applications date for September 2022), for the period 2007 – 2022. (Source: Registers of Scotland.)
Edinburgh Castle welcomed visitors to experience the wonder of Castle of Light over the weekend as the iconic landmark illuminates the city’s skyline once again this winter.
At the official launch on Friday (18 November), Maurice Maguire, co-owner of Majestic Wedding Cars Edinburgh, had the honour of lighting up the night, having been nominated as a “much-loved local business” as part of Edinburgh Castle’s ‘colour of the community’ competition.
The family run business was chosen to ‘switch on’ the lights at this year’s launch event following public nominations, highlighting just why the wedding car hire company adds colour to the community.
One nominee, a previous client of Majestic Wedding Cars Edinburgh, commended the company for their incredible service, attention to detail and dedication to the job – something that every bride looks for on her big day. For that, she said: “they deserved to win!”.
Maurice Maguire, co-owner of Majestic Wedding Cars Edinburgh, said: “It is a huge honour to be selected to switch on this year’s Castle of Light event. As a family-run business we pride ourselves on delivering a high standard of professional service to all our customers and it’s wonderful to be nominated in recognition of this.
“We’re extremely passionate about our work. Having been in business for over 34 years, we still pride ourselves on bringing joy to couples on one of the most important days of their lives. And now, on behalf of the whole family and business, we would like to thank the team behind Castle of Light and the client who nominated us for giving us this unforgettable experience.”
Bursting with colour and spectacular illuminations, Castle of Light: A Kingdom of Colours offers visitors the chance to see the Castle in a whole new light, showcasing its story as ‘defender of the nation’. With historic moments dating back over 800 years displayed through state-of-the-art projects across different thematic zones, this weekend’s guests were the first to see the mesmerising trail come to life.
Stephen Duncan, Director of Marketing and Engagement at Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which operates Edinburgh Castle, said: “With this year’s Castle of Light theme focussed on brightening up the city during the darker winter months with tales from times gone by, it was important that we also showcase those creating stories in the community today.
“As a local business which continues to brighten up people’s lives with their fantastic work, Majestic Wedding Cars Edinburgh proved to be the perfect candidate.
“Now that we’re officially open to the public, we hope our guests enjoy this year’s event as much as we enjoyed planning it.”
Castle of Light will run for six weeks over the festive period, on select dates until Friday 30 December 2022. Ticketed entry slots will run every 15 minutes between 4.30pm and 7.30pm each evening, with last entry between 7.30pm and 7.45pm. The event closes at 9pm.
Tickets are also available for an ‘Access’ night taking place on Thursday 8 December, tailored to those with specific access needs, including autism and dementia.
To ensure that as many people as possible can experience the animated storytelling tour, the evening will feature a range of specific support, including British Sign Language interpretation and audio described tours, as well as a designated quiet space and ear defenders to help manage noise.
Standard adult tickets cost £20, with concession rates, family tickets and discounts for Historic Scotland members also available.
Our inaugural festival in May was amazing & the community of North Edinburgh came out in your droves! #northedinfest Now we want to make the festival better!
We need your help to shape next year’s festival. Come to our Public Meeting!
A clean-up operation is underway following heavy rainfall and flooding across parts of Scotland over the weekend.
Several severe weather warnings were issued for the North East by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) on Friday, with a month’s rain falling in some areas and record high river flows.
These were downgraded on Saturday as the situation improved; however, several flood warnings remain with a yellow weather warning in place for a large part of eastern Scotland.
People who lost power during the flooding events have had it restored and a normal rail service has resumed. Local resilience partners on the ground continue to support communities.
Over the weekend, Network Rail has continued to check routes to get them back to normal. Advice remains to check with your operator to see if your service is affected. Some roads remain impacted by flooding and drivers should pay attention to the conditions at hand. Traffic Scotland provides regular updates on the trunk road network and Police Scotland continues to warn of possible disruption.
The Scottish Government’s resilience arrangements remain activated to ensure appropriate measures are in place.
Justice Secretary and lead Minister for resilience Keith Brown said: “This was a serious flood event similar in magnitude to 2016’s Storm Frank, causing significant disruption in some parts of the country.
“As the clean-up gets underway, I want to thank local resilience partners and the emergency services for their ongoing work to ensure those communities most affected are kept safe, and urgently get the support they need.
“We still have flood warnings in place so please take extra care if you are out and about and do not attempt to walk or drive through flood water. The conditions continue to cause some disruption to the transport network – so it’s important people plan their journeys before they set off – particularly if they are looking to use the trunk roads or travel by rail.
“We remain in close contact with resilience partners, local authorities and the emergency services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”
Vincent Fitzsimons, SEPA’s Flood Duty Manager, said: “Across Sunday and into next week we’ll see intermittent showers as the clear-up continues. Recent days have shown real resilience from families, communities, businesses and partners across the country with how they responded.
“Localised surface water flooding of land and transport routes remains possible. Take extra care, sign up for SEPA’s free Floodline service and don’t attempt to walk or drive through flood water.”
SEPA issues flood alerts and warnings for Scotland. View the latest updates on its website.
