Videos
Enhancing green spaces in London where all natural pollinators can thrive, and their habitats can be enjoyed by all.
PLT Highlights 2022
Highlights of a very productive and successful year for PLT.
See support for PLT from:
David Domoney, Horticulturist, Broadcaster and Author. David explains the importance and variety of pollinators within the UK as well as how you can change the landscape of your garden to cater to their needs and increase their populations.
Rebecca Pow, former MP and DEFRA Minister, provides words of support towards PLT’s initiative – to introduce and develop biodiversity corridors and help rejuvenate pollinator populations throughout London. Watch this video to understand how you can actively support Pollinating London Together’s effort to increase biodiversity throughout the city.
Superbloom June 2022
Repurposing spaces in London to become environments where pollinators can thrive is a core aim of PLT. Accordingly, PLT has been working closely with the Tower of London on their project, Superbloom – to repurpose its moat into a wildflower garden to help increase pollinator activity within the city. Watch this video to see PLT’s members explain the fundamental benefits of initiatives such as this and to understand why this kind of work must continue.
PLT produced a six part video series on pollinators and their habitats. Episodes include:
Episode 1: Your City Needs You.
Watch this video to see the Master of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers and one of PLT’s board members, Anthony Bickmore, explain the importance of Pollinating London Together’s mission in not only raising awareness of the ecological and economic impact of pollinator decline but also leading research in preventing it.
Episode 2: David Domoney’s Five Star Plant Menu for Hungry Pollinators.
David Domoney, Horticulturist, Broadcaster and Author, opens his garden to Pollinating London Together to explain the variety of plants that one can introduce to their garden to help increase pollinator populations and activity.
Episode 3: City Gardeners – From Window Box to Open Spaces
Watch Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex and Founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, and Miles Watson-Smyth, the owner of Windowflowers, explain how you can create the ideal environment to increase pollinator activity in your garden.
Episode 4: Creative Thinking About The City’s Natural Capital
Watch this video to understand nature’s vital role in our lives, and learn more from former Environment Minister, Richard Benyon, and Master of the Barber Surgeons, Tim Cutler, about the infrastructural developments that are taking place here, in the UK, and internationally to establish greener and cleaner city spaces for both people and all biodiversity to thrive in.
Episode 5: How our Institutions are Greening our City
The maintenance of green spaces not only determines the future of all biodiversity, our climate, and supply chains but also the mental and physical health of all humans. Watch this video to understand nature’s vital role in our lives, and learn more from architects Valerie Owen Le Vaillent and Chris Dyson, as well as Dusty Gedge, President of the Federation of Green Roofs, and Colin Buttery, the Head of Open Spaces for the City of London Corporation, about how architecture within London is becoming more forward-thinking and environmentally conscious by preserving and increasing the number of natural spaces throughout the city.
Episode 6: What You Can Do:
Featuring PLT’s Dr Heather Barrett-Mold OBE, Sir Tim Smit KBE (Co-Founder of the Eden Project) and Matt Somerville on creating pollinator-friendly environments.
City of London Green City Briefings
The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) is a member association consisting of thousands of growers of flowers and ornamental plants from around the world. They are united by one essential goal – promoting the place of plants in people’s lives. In 2021 they teamed up with one of PLT’s key founding members, the Worshipful Company of Gardeners, as well as the City of London’s Lord and Lady Mayoress, to deliver a series of 8 one-hour webinars.
International speakers and world-renowned specialists in horticulture have been invited onto the series to explain the power of ‘living green’ by delivering multiple solutions to city challenges.
Climate change is at the core of ‘Build Back Better’ conversations, and the City of London is committed to making London a greener city while addressing climate change and economic stability. Adaptation to climate change has nature at its core, and the evidence of plants – the ‘living green’ – in creating and accelerating the change that is needed for vibrant city life is compelling.
These briefings aim to provide the latest evidence for the benefits of plants in creating liveable, resilient cities and present practical examples of how these benefits are realised. The focus of this series is on adapting to climate change.
The AIPH video series has been embedded here for you to explore. PLT’s Vice Chair Dr Heather Barrett-Mold OBE is the moderator for videos #6, The Critical Dynamics of City Biodiversity and Global Conservation, and #8, The City of London Update of Climate Action.
1. The City of the Future is Green: This video provides viewers with an introductory briefing. It is opened by the Lord Mayor of the City of London Alderman William Russell. Sir Roger Gifford, a Senior Banker at SEB in London, is the guest speaker.
2. Nature-Based Solutions for Water Management in Cities: In this briefing, viewers can tour virtually around the world with Robert Brears and learn how leading cities are using innovative, multifunctional NBS for mitigating urban flooding and improving water quality while providing multiple co-benefits. Learn from Prof. James Hitchmough how other cities have met challenges in rethinking integration of water management to deliver multifunctional benefits with design and plant selection.
3. Green Roofs and Walls – an Extra-Dimensional Approach to City Greening: The innovative thinking of horizontal and vertical spaces enables retrofitting living green into city infrastructure, delivering solutions to the impacts of climate change, supporting local biodiversity, and improving the visual urban landscape. This briefing reports on the implementation and planning of green roof and walls in response to legislation and financial incentives that support greater uptake. Dr Daniela Rizzi, Senior Officer for Nature-Based Solutions and Biodiversity at ICLEI Europe, is joined by Mr Dusty Gedge, President Federation of European Green Roofs and Walls, and Mr Kelvin Kan, Principal Architect & Facade Consultant, and founder of AgFacadesign in Singapore, to discuss advances in city greening.
4. The Intersection Between Built Infrastructure, Nature, and Wellbeing: Moderated by Toronto City Councillor Jennifer McKelvie, this briefing hears from Dr Curtis Gubb, Environmental Consultant at Cundall, London, UK on the synergistic relationship between biophilia, indoor environmental quality and productivity, and Ms Marion Waller, Advisor to the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, on ‘Reinventing Paris: toward an ecological restoration of Paris’.
5. The Policy and Practice of Urban Forests – Urban Heat Island Effect and Urban Forests: Moderated by Prof Rob Adams AM, City Design for the City of Melbourne, this briefing hears from Prof Dr Cecil van Konijnendijk, Director of the Nature-based-solutions Institute, on ‘From nature’s benefits to policy implementation – The urban forestry experience’, and Mr Ian Shears, Principal of Ian Shears Green Infrastructure + Urban Forestry, on ‘Unleashing the potential of nature – from knowledge to practice’.
6. The Critical Dynamics of City Biodiversity and Global Conservation: Moderated by Dr Heather Barrett-Mold, Master of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners, this session welcomes Mrs Hilary Russell, The Lady Mayoress, City of London, Dr Mike Maunder, Executive Director, Cambridge Conservation Initiative, and Marina Ruta, Lead of the BiodiverCities by 2030 Initiative by the World Economic Forum.
7. The Benefits of Plants in Improving the Air Quality of Cities: Moderated by Dr Audrey Timm, AIPH Technical Advisor, this session welcomes Dr Henrik Sjöman from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Dr Tijana Blanusa, RHS Principal Horticultural Scientist based at the University of Reading.
8. The City of London Update on Climate Action: Moderated by Dr. Heather Barrett-Mold, Immediate Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners, this briefing welcomes, to speak, Alderman Alison Gowman and Mr Gordon Roy from the City of London Corporation.
Other videos
Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS): Pollinator decline is a fact. Through their ‘Pollinator Monitoring Scheme’, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology has uncovered the severe impact that pesticides, habitat loss, disease and climate change has had on different pollinator populations in the UK. Their work is crucial to helping initiatives, such as PLT, learn more about the intimate relationships between pollinators and plants as well as develop solutions to this growing problem of pollinator decline throughout this country. Watch this video to gain a more in-depth understanding of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology’s vital work across Britain.
BBC on biodiversity loss: Biodiversity supports all life on earth. In the UK, it is in such drastic decline it could lead to what scientists call an ‘ecological meltdown’. Watch this video to understand the impact humans have on biodiversity and what we risk in losing it.
PLT visits Kew Gardens (August 2021): featuring Dr Houke Koch, the leading scientist in the field of Pollinator Biological Chemistry at Kew, and PLT’s Vice Chair Dr Heather Barrett-Mold OBE and Chairman John Burton, on pollinator populations, behaviours and the importance of biodiversity corridors throughout London.
PLT habitat reviews: Watch this video to see Gill Perkins, CEO of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, report on PLT’s work on pollinator habitat monitoring in City of London green spaces.
Kew Garden visit (June 2021): Watch this video of our Board Members, Dr Heather Barrett-Mold OBE, Anthony Bickmore, John Burton and Sue Green, in Kew Gardens explaining Pollinating London Together’s mission to promote the importance of pollinators, support pollinator research and provide solutions to pollinator decline.