I was pleased to hear about the birth of new red squirrel kittens on the Ballykinler Training Area. For the past five years Belfast Zoo has been working together with DIO as one of the organisations involved with the red squirrel breeding programme to protect and help red squirrels adapt to the wild across forests in Northern Ireland.
DIO has worked with big cat charity Panthera to monitor big cats in the jungle at British Army Training Unit Belize.
My early service in the Royal Engineers was in armored engineer roles in the UK and Germany, with deployments to the Falkland Islands, Angola, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, and exercises in Canada, Poland, Belize, Australia and Cyprus.
The MOD’s sustainability strategy aims to reduce defence’s contribution to carbon and greenhouse emissions on the defence estate.
Nominations for the MOD Sanctuary Awards close on 31 July and we’re still looking for entries for some of our new award categories.
Today is World Environment Day and I’d like to tell you about the important role that our conservation groups play in managing and protecting biodiversity, the environment and wildlife across the Defence estate.