Nature restoration isn’t often top of the political agenda – here’s how Wales does it |
Nature is critical for our national health, wellbeing and security. Most national leaders haven’t really taken this on board yet because it is just too big an issue to handle.
But, as I explore in my new book, this happens partly because many western societies are based on freely extracting resources from nature.
Many societies have evolved to exploit the ecosystem services (the many and varied benefits that people gain from nature) that we get for free. Admitting this puts our leaders in a difficult situation when trying to explain why we aren’t doing a better job of looking after nature.
The UK government recently conceded that the collapse of ecosystems represents a critical risk to our food, security and finances. This is because the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the developed world, ranked in the bottom 10% of all countries. That low biodiversity leads to ecosystems that are less resilient. This makes the risk of ecosystem collapse more acute.
It can also be hard for governments to prioritise the risks of ecosystem collapse above conflict, energy poverty and food supply chain issues. Especially when........