This article notes that the increase in farming and urban expansion are the most significant contributing factors to the loss of British natural diversity. Many leaders are claiming that because Britain had to be a dominant power in worldwide trade and expansion, they had a lessened regard for protecting nature, and more to destroy it for profit. Exemplified by this was a study done by London’s Natural History Museum that showed the UK as having one of the worst rates for maintaining animals and plant biodiversity in the world, due human influence that causes extinctions to increase. Even worse, Britain has the most negatively changing biodiversity than practically all places in Western Europe, bringing many concerns to scientists and leaders. In order to find a resolve to this, the UN Biodiversity Conference and the biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) are working to collect more data.
It is incredible to think that Britain, such a well developed nation, is so significantly lacking in its biodiversity. Overall, it has been presented in this article that it’s biodiversity intactness is at 75%, which is 15% below the safe limit, leading many to anticipate an ecological recession. This change in perspective has extended to other countries, who may be following similar trends. The issue is that humans are so quick to aid their consumption of goods and other products that they disregard the importance of having prominent and successful ecosystems. It may be easy to overlook the fact that without biodiversity, we will lose many varieties of fruits, vegetables and other foods that we cherish so much in our society today. Well there may not be massive solutions to improving the world and biodiversity against human development, there are smaller steps that people can take to be more cautious of the natural environment.
4 thoughts on “Fall of British Biodiversity”
Hey Susie, I really liked your summary and I think it’s interesting to think about how countries who raced to be the most advanced also rushed their loss of biodiversity. Do you think that other developing countries will be more cautious to advance their society but preserve their biodiversity?
That is definitely an interesting idea because either developing nations will observe the growth of Britain’s economy and aim for maximum gains in this sense, or they will see how their biodiversity has been significantly reduced, and move away from replicating their actions. I think it depends on the country and their motives for their economy vs environment.
I agree that it seems terrible that many countries are destroying their own biodiversity in order to use the land for more profits. I am assuming that most developing countries have done the same thing. Is there some way to reverse this without removing land that is already occupied by people?
I think when land resources become more and more limited, it becomes more important for powerful groups to be more strategic with their use of these landholdings. For this reason, there are ways to reverse this, and it is important to find these and maintain them.
Hey Susie, I really liked your summary and I think it’s interesting to think about how countries who raced to be the most advanced also rushed their loss of biodiversity. Do you think that other developing countries will be more cautious to advance their society but preserve their biodiversity?
That is definitely an interesting idea because either developing nations will observe the growth of Britain’s economy and aim for maximum gains in this sense, or they will see how their biodiversity has been significantly reduced, and move away from replicating their actions. I think it depends on the country and their motives for their economy vs environment.
I agree that it seems terrible that many countries are destroying their own biodiversity in order to use the land for more profits. I am assuming that most developing countries have done the same thing. Is there some way to reverse this without removing land that is already occupied by people?
I think when land resources become more and more limited, it becomes more important for powerful groups to be more strategic with their use of these landholdings. For this reason, there are ways to reverse this, and it is important to find these and maintain them.