This broadcast will mark the end of 2022 and what a year it has been for many of us. Among the highs and lows comes perhaps the most important of all, looking after our nest, homeland and planet without which we would not be able to enjoy much, let alone our families, or any new possession or gift to be shared during the coming weeks.

The world is seeing so much chaos and disruption, suffering and hardship that it is also hard for many of us to fully relax and enjoy the moment but hopefully we will be able to treat ourselves to a few days of just that without the cloud of Covid that has separated so many of us during the past few Christmases.

Back to the environment –The ESG continues to focus on many issues we have campaigned on since we started in the year 2000. There was no environmental agenda let alone policy and Gibraltar really needed to catch up badly. Clearly much progress has been made and conservationists and environmentalists who follow the issues very closely know just how much ground has been covered.

Of course our unique circumstances, population size and land footprint is always going to affect just how quickly and precisely by how much we can achieve some of the trickier targets necessary. What’s clear is we need to do this as a community and aim for achieving the best possible environment we can. We don’t think we are always getting it right, or in the right order or fast enough. We shall continue to press for these aims especially where it comes to environmental safety, pollution and climate change.

Since 2003 the ESG has published a Wish list that covers our interest and concerns with local, regional and global environmental issues. Looking ahead to the next local elections we are currently putting together our current objectives that will reflect issues as we see them and what we believe should be done to address these. Some are more obvious than others. Our wish list has helped inform our community for years and we hope, depoliticise environmental issues to a more factual base for action. We will campaign with all parties standing for election going forward and will also be publishing our current document on our website with links on social media etc.

We would like to thank the public for their longstanding support. Also to our volunteers and sponsors who each year engage with us on important community wide projects. We take heart too on the growing awareness and activism on environmental protection and appreciation in our community today in many sectors.

ESG wishes all a peaceful and joyous Christmas and a healthy and hopeful Green New year.

Website: esg-gib.net for more information.