After the northern bald ibis disappeared from Europe more than 300 years ago, some assumed that 16th century drawings of its gleaming plume and long, arching beak were works of the imagination.
But by the 1990s, the once-thriving species was considered one of the rarest birds in the world, with its global population in the wild reduced to just 59 pairs – all in Morocco – due to hunting, habitat loss, and the use of pesticides.
Today, tenacious conservation efforts in Morocco have increased the population to more than 500 individuals, resulting in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species changing its status from critically endangered to endangered in 2018.
In addition, thanks to a first-of-its-kind reintroduction program, the ibises are back migrating in Europe for the first time since the 1600s, with a managed migratory population of around 270 birds.
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📸: Bill Baston/imageBROKER/Shutterstock; Waldrappteam Naturschutz & Forschung; Jose Luis Roca/AFP/Getty Images
A £400m UK government loan to the Tropical Forests Forever Facility tightens the link between embodied carbon and real forest outcomes. Bio‑based and renewable building materials will now be judged on credible, deforestation‑free supply chains as much as on glossy lifecycle assessment or whole life carbon assessment outputs, driving wider use of environmental product declarations (EPDs), green building materials and green building products. Expect stronger traceability, circular construction strategies and end‑of‑life reuse in construction when specifying low embodied carbon materials and low carbon construction materials to cut the carbon footprint of construction and support the circular economy in construction.
Updated damp and mould guidance from the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Institute of Housing reframes indoor environmental quality as a health obligation, pressing social landlords towards whole‑house ventilation, insulation upgrades and continuous monitoring. The shift embeds sustainable building design and energy‑efficient buildings as compliance issues, with implications for life cycle cost, building lifecycle performance and net zero whole life carbon pathways recognised by BREEAM and BREEAM v7.
A new retrofit procurement guide uses public spending to expand capacity, create local jobs and tackle skills shortages by baking training and labour targets into contracts. This gives sustainable construction and decarbonising the built environment delivery teeth, promoting life cycle thinking in construction, resource efficiency in construction and eco‑design for buildings, alongside sustainable material specification and low carbon building upgrades that support carbon neutral construction.
Escalating climate risks—from European wildfires to transboundary smoke and cascading Himalayan floods—are accelerating environmental sustainability in construction and sustainable urban development. Design for resilience is becoming core to net zero carbon buildings and green construction, with fire‑hardening, smoke filtration, heat‑safe interiors and green infrastructure specified to reduce the environmental impact of construction, deliver carbon footprint reduction over whole life carbon and strengthen eco‑friendly construction and sustainable architecture.
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