The Glory of the Garden

Can national parks and protected areas safeguard wildlife against the growing pressures of population growth and climate change?

"As a Canadian study revealed last year, biodiversity is falling across the board despite an increase in the number of areas given ‘protected’ status. There need to be more of them and they need to be bigger, argue the researchers, but there also need to be fewer people.

With the global population destined to reach 9 billion by 2050, the pressure on species and habitat is expected to grow in tandem with the difficulties of protecting them. The study identifies a ‘clear and urgent need for the development of additional solutions for biodiversity loss, particularly ones that stabilise the size of the world’s human population and our ecological demands on biodiversity."

Consumption of products and services impacts the environment in many different ways.

"On a global scale, deforestation, carbon emissions, and loss of biodiversity are fueled by the consumptive appetites and economic demands of developed nations. However, in certain localities in developing countries, it’s the poorer inhabitants – those who directly share space with critical ecosystems – who have a significant impact on habitat destruction and biodiversity loss.
Many of the world’s richest, and most threatened biodiversity hotspots are located in least developed nations – areas where local human populations live largely below the poverty line. In these scenarios we see a continuous conflict between the immediate material needs of the poor, and the long term need to preserve biodiversity and habitats for the health of the planet."

Run out of space in your garden?Look to higher ground and you’ll find an eco-friendly solution...

Every garden has the potential to do more for biodiversity. It need not cost and it may be fun to improve the biodiversity in your garden. Just undertaking one item from the following top ten tips will help.