It's always exciting to hear about projects to bring water to everyone, especially given that so many areas of the world are experiencing droughts.   I can't imagine anything worse that not having access to clean drinking water, for animals or people.

So I was very interested to hear about a project in India to revive a medieval way to fight the drought in the area of Karnataka.

The BBC have got a video on it, but essentially an enormous system of water channels connected by tunnels built by Medieval kings with pick axes and shovels sustained life in the settlements above.   These tunnels were carved out well below ground and they were discovered five years ago by Professor V Govindankutty.   A main well - known as a mother well - is dug in the place where there is enough water and taken to the place where you need it.   Volunteers spent ages clearing the channels of debris and silt.  

These techniques were developed in Ancient Persia, i.e. a very long time ago.  With the ancient system begun again with about 50 wells in the area, they've all started having water.  To date, none of them have dried up.   Even in May, the area is still getting a good supply of water.  

This is a very exciting discovery and I hope more places which experience tremendously dry spells will take a look at it.  

This is an important week for all of us.

From 5th to 9th June in New York, the United Nations is holding its first ever high level meeting specifically to address ocean conservation.  Key discussions will take place about targets to:  

• Reduce pollution and debris;
• Protect marine eco-systems;
• End overfishing and destructive fishing practices; 
• Minimise the effects of ocean acidification

 It's about time.

There’s always a lot of talk about preserving the rainforests on our planet and very little about ocean conservation.  This must mean marine conservationists feel they are banging their heads against a brick wall.   

To make matters worse, many people are very disconnected to ocean life.   A day at the seaside means ice-creams, sun tan lotion, swimming, trying to get all the sand out of your gear before you lug it back into your car again, lying lazily in the sun, going for a paddle, splashing about in the water, surfboarding in the sea, playing games and trying to top up your tan without ending up looking like the person a few metres away from you who is as red as a tomato. 

We may fleetingly look out over the ocean so blue, and wonder what lies beyond; and equally feel quite powerless when we see this huge chunk of water drifting in and out before us. We may be indifferent to its state - what does it matter what state the ocean is in?

So long as the coastline is clear for us to swim in and paddle about in, that’s fair enough.   We’ve got tuna sandwiches, the tuna having been bought from a kiosk or the supermarket, and we’re enjoying ourselves – never mind how it was caught or where it came from, or what the fish itself had eaten before it was caught. And in any case, what can we personally do to make a difference?  We may feel that on our own, we’re all too powerless to make a difference. 

However....

We do however want to be sure that when we go to the beach to enjoy the sea air and the sea itself, to meet friends, to spend family time together, we don’t want to find ourselves sitting in the middle of a rubbish dump.

 We don’t want to spend ages looking for a spot on the beach that’s rubbish-free – forgetting what could be under the sand.  We don’t want the food we put into our bodies to contain tiny bits of plastic that the fish we’re eating swallowed before we did. 

We don’t want to sit next to other people’s wet-wipes they used in the bathroom which have ended up in our sewage systems, or discover we’ve put our picnic stuff on someone’s toothbrush, cigarette lighter or the cotton wool bud they used to clean out their ears before chucking it away.   

There are some charities which really do strike a chord with you and make you sit up and think, "Wow".

The World Land Trust does it for me.   I think it's an amazing charity.  It protects the world's most important and threatened wildlife habitats, acre by acre.

In fact, you can sponsor or give the gift of an acre, which makes for a marvellous gift because it lasts.

Since it was founded in 1989 - so not that long ago compared to other charities - the World Land Trust has funded partner organisations around the world to create reserves, and thereby give permanent protection to habitats and wildlife.

Habitats are vital to wildlife.  They matter.  Without a healthy habitat to live in, wildlife can't survive. 

The World Land Trust has just succeeded in raising funds for a wildlife corridor in India, linking two tiger reserves.   The animal who'll probably benefit most from this corridor is the Indian elephant.  Elephants needed a safe passage to travel between two Ghats mountain ranges for food and mates.  The funding is being used for land exchange:  the landowner can continue subsistence farming, but away from the passage.   The elephants have been raiding crops as they pass between villages which of course caused conflict between people and elephants.  Hence the appeal was called the Elephant Corridor Appeal. 

The success of the World Land Trust's campaign is critical because it gives safe passage to Indian elephants passing through the Mudahalli corridor between the Eastern and Western Ghats, and that can now be secured.  On this occasion, the Trust worked with the Wildlife Trust of India. 

So far, Barking Deer, Black-naped Hare, Chital, Sambar Deer, Sloth Bear and Wild Boar have all been seen in the corridor forest and extension area, as well as tigers and elephants. 

This is all thanks to the supporters of World Land Trust's campaign.   People (no doubt from all over the world, although the Trust is based in the UK.

To me, news like this is fantastic.  This was an effort by a lot of people who were willing to put money into securing this wildlife corridor.   It reinforces what can be done by people coming together to make a difference.

We can all create change by acting as individuals, but how much greater our power is when we come together!

Elephants of India, enjoy your wildlife corridor.  Be safe. And thank you World Land Trust for the amazing work you and your partners do. 

It’s great to hear about initiatives people can join in with - and better to hear that people are actually joining up and making a difference.

This morning I discovered that Butterfly Conservation (who work to conserve butterflies) have an initiative called Plant Pots for Pollinators.

It’s an amazing project.   Butterfly Conservation are asking people to plant a pot or pots for pollinators – butterflies and bees.

Butterfly Conservation says the UK has 1,500 pollinating species – bumblebees, honeybees, hoverflies, beetles, wasps, butterflies and moths.  Changes in land use and the way it’s managed are destroying vital wildlife habitat on farms, woodlands, towns and cities.  We need to look after our pollinators. 

Over 80% of EU crops and 80% of wildlflowers need insect pollination.   Pollinators can only look after us, if we look after them.   And if we provide habitat for them, they will come.   The sight of colourful butterflies fluttering around your garden thanks to your efforts is a truly lovely one.   There’s something very relaxing about listening to bees buzzing around flowers. 

So the more plants we pot and grow for our pollinators, the better. 

There’s a planting guide with suggestions of what butterflies like

The Plant Pots for Pollinators scheme is sponsored by B&Q, so watch for Butterfly Conservation events at some B&Q stores. 

And you can add your pot to Butterfly Conservation’s interactive map, which shows how many people have planted a pot and where in the country that pot is.     So far, 340 plant pots have been planted.  

Go potty for pollinators this summer!

There's a saying, "what goes around, comes around" and you could apply that to rubbish.

The problem is that when we let a balloon go, or chuck a plastic bag away, there's no telling where the wind will take it.  Bags are just taken with the wind, out of rubbish bins, land fill, rubbish trucks, and there's no way of knowing where it will come to land.

The Marine Conservation Society has the results of its 2016 Great British Beach Clean which took place in September.   Nearly 6,000 volunteers cleaned 364 beaches around the UK.  The litter they found was recorded.   268,384 pieces of rubbish were collected.   

We're doing better with plastic bag use

The good news is that this is slightly lower than the previous year.   And the number of plastic bags almost HALVED in a year - probably, the MCS thinks, due to the plastic bag charge which was introduced, where shoppers taking a plastic bag are charged 5p.  This shows that legislation CAN make a difference.  

In China similarly, a limit on ultra-thin plastic bags significantly reduced bag-related polution.  According to Chinese government estimates, 40 BILLION bags were not used.  

Many countries have also introduced bag limits in recent years.   And why wouldn't they?   Countries who really care about the health and wellbeing of ALL their citizens, people and animals, will take steps like this.  

Plastic bags can take 100 years plus to decompose.   They gradually break down into small pieces over periods over time.   Eventually.  And they soak up toxins.  Fish, turtles and whales think they are food  They eat them and these toxins enter the food chain.   The Ocean Conservancy recently said that platic bags are the second most deadly threat to sea surtles, birds and marine mammals.  

The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that the world's plastic rubbish and refuge kills about 1 million sea birds a year.  

Getting rid of thin plastic bags will be easier than removing debris.   It will be cheaper, and save local and national governments and taxpayers everywhere paying for rubbish pick-ups.  

One dead whale was discovered to have "enough plastic bags and fishing nets in its stomacy to fill an excavator bucket".  

It's time to move to ban plastic bags full stop.   

Another thing we need to change 

And there's another thing.   Balloon rubbish is on the way up.   Please don't let go of balloons.   I often pick up balloons on walks with my dog - I spot them across a field and go to investigate.  I take them home and bin them.  But I still can't be sure of where they end up.

The Marine Conservation Society found that balloon rubbish was up about 50% on our beaches.   Widllife think they are something to eat and they can get strangled by the string we use to hold on to balloons.  Balloons can block digestive systems, so animals starve. 

If people can change their behaviour for the better and reduce their use of plastic bags, we can do the same for balloons.  The MCS's aim is to stop all intentional balloon and lantern releases around the UK and to get balloons and lanterns classed as litter and they have a Don't Let Go campaign.  Meantime, you can help put pressure on your council by encouraging them and nudging them to  ban the intentional release of balloons and sky lanterns on their land.  And you can use alternative ideas to balloons. 

Click here to find out more about the Don't Let Go campaign.