This World Environment Day on 5th June 2020 is all about protecting and enhancing biodiversity, learn how all living things on Earth are connected in the web of life and how we can act #ForNature.
“Our vision is to create a future where we live in balance with, and connected t nature, by increasing our understanding of natural infrastructure and guiding its enhancement in the places we live, work & play.”
Wharton Natural Infrastructure Consultants 2018
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity describes the variety of life on Earth. It encompasses the 8 million species on the planet–from plants and animals to fungi and bacteria; the ecosystems that house them; and the genetic diversity among them.
Biodiversity may be seen as an intricate web, in which each part is interdependent. When one component is changed–or removed–the entire system is affected, and this can produce positive, or negative consequences.
“Biodiversity – the essential variety of life forms on Earth – continues to decline in every region of the world, significantly reducing nature’s capacity to contribute to people’s well-being. This alarming trend endangers economies, livelihoods, food security and the quality of life of people everywhere, according to four landmark science reports written by more than 550 leading experts from over 100 countries.”
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019)
Human impact?
With our increasing demands, humans have pushed nature beyond its limit. In the last 50 years, the human population has doubled; the global economy has almost quadrupled and global trade has increased by about ten times. It would take 1.6 Earths to meet the demands that humans make of nature each year.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the fact that, when we destroy biodiversity, we destroy the system that supports human life. By upsetting the delicate balance of nature, we have created ideal conditions for pathogens–including coronaviruses–to spread.
What can we do?
We are intimately interconnected with nature. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take care of ourselves.
As a company, the heart of everything that we do, is to be able to refer back to not only our core values but also our vision which is to increase our understanding of natural infrastructure and guiding its enhancement in the places we live, play and work.
Now more than ever, people have relied on well planned and managed green space, however I wonder from all of the development projects which have been completed in the past few years do they actually provide great quality green and open space and how many people really see the benefits of the spaces provided. We can only comment on those which we visit and generally we see poor and limited biodiversity landscapes, which bare no resemblance to the approved plans which show flourishing trees, an abundance of biodiversity and space where people want to be. We have a social responsibility now to change normal and look at those exceptional landscapes, which some people design and implement and see the absolute benefit to the final user. Those people will have been so thankful of that through this current time.
Hopefully during this time of lockdown you have been able to find and develop a new normal, where life, work and exposure to nature is well balanced.
