In 2021, Welsh Government declared a Nature Emergency, in recognition of the parlous state of our natural world. Since the UN Earth Summit in 1992 the world has had policies and programmes to stem the loss of biodiversity.  Since then, huge progress has been made in understanding the science, the causes of the loss and how to reverse it. And actions have been taking place, but it’s not enough. 

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While we continue with the ‘mindset’ that we have to choose between people and the natural world, we will always be tinkering at the margins and not addressing the underlying problems.  The UN recognised this with the Millennium Development Goals and Wales with the Well-being of Future Generation (Wales) Act; its goals and ways of working.

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Nature and natural processes underpin every aspect of human life including the economy. We may live in a dense city with little green space, but we still depend on breathable air, drinkable water, nutritious food and healthy guts as well as our homes and ‘phones, work and energy all of which ultimately come from our planet’s finite resources and natural processes.

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Thinking about people and planet is the only way we can tackle the nature emergency. And we all have a part to play. 

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The main threats to our natural world are from:

• Land use change, in particular the loss of natural and semi-natural habitat (mostly to agriculture, buildings, roads, commercial forestry, mining etc.)

• Pollution of air, freshwater, land and sea (from homes, industry, transport, farming and carelessness)

• Invasive species: hitching a ride on global transport or deliberately introduced in gardens or for food

• Consumption: everything we buy and eventually throw away relies on resources and space, even ‘services’ like education, health care or holidays have impacts

• Livestock and pets: much more numerous now than their wild ancestors and requiring huge areas of land to grow their food