Welcome 2021 - Happy New Year to All
Happy New Year to everyone from all of us at the Commonwealth Human Ecology Council as we welcome 2021. 2020 was undeniably a difficult year for all of us with the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns altering our way usual way of life. On top of this, wild fires wreaked havoc across the globe and continuing erratic weather caused widespread disruption demonstrating the realities of the ongoing climate crisis. However, as we move into 2021 CHEC joins with those sharing hope and optimism for the upcoming year and the potential it has for all of us. Vaccines are imminent, climate-sceptic politicians have been voted out of power and the opportunity to implement a green economy as we look to recover from the economic woes of the pandemic is reason to have hope. In that manner, we wanted to reflect on some of the positive stories that happened last year that CHEC was part of and also look to what 2021 has in store for us and the global community as a whole.
Reflecting on 2020
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was still a very productive year for CHEC. We continued to publish our quarterly newsletter, added a number of new articles to the website in both short-form and long-form format, published our annual report, published the latest version of the human ecology journal and successfully coordinated a mangrove project across multiple Commonwealth countries. Links to find out more about each can be found below:
Newsletters (Winter 2019/2020 | Summer 2020 | Autumn-Winter 2020-2021)
Selection of New Website Articles (Clothing Waste and Fast Fashion in 2020 | The Environment and Coronavirus | World Environment Day – Thoughts by Ian Douglas)
Long Essay (Climate Change: Mitigation, Adaptation and Resilience)
Annual Report (2019)
Human Ecology Journal (Issue 30 - Mangroves)
Mangrove Project News (Mangrove Project activities under COVID-19 in Kerala, India | CHEC Celebrates World Mangrove Day 2020 on Three Oceans | Maldives Mangrove Project Report)
To add to all of this CHEC also closed down its physical office in 2020 that was located near Putney Bridge station in London. CHEC is now a virtual and online organisation and we are looking forward to continuing our work in this capacity and the different opportunities this will bring.
Welcome 2021 - A Look Ahead
While most of us have spent Christmas and the turn of the year indoors under lockdown the upcoming year brings with it a lot of hope. We will continue to publish important and relevant articles related to human ecology and the climate crisis, we will publish further newsletters, an annual report and a new version of our journal. On top of this we have some exciting features planned including a Commonwealth Environmental News Hub which will look to be a central space where all environmental news that occurs in each Commonwealth country is accessible in one place. The new news hub is currently under development but a sneak peak can be seen here.
For everyone concerned about the environment it is set to be a huge year with COP26 taking place in Glasgow. Therefore, CHEC will continue to lead in areas where human ecology can have a positive impact. We will continue to plan and successfully complete projects and look forward to sharing our work without throughout 2021.
In the meantime, we wish all of you a very happy new year!
As we welcome 2021 we need your help and support more than ever. Please consider supporting us so we can continue the important work we do by becoming a member or donating today!
