Our Patron, Jack Wallington, writes about attending the Restore Nature Now March in June 2024.
In June 2024 over 60,000 people attended the Restore Nature Now march in London, walking from Hyde Park, through the city centre, past Downing Street to Parliament. Over 350 charities and other organisations charged with protecting our wild places and wildlife stood together for the first time in UK history to demand our politicians do more to meet their legal obligations to protect nature.
According to the UK State of Nature report only one in seven (14%) of the UK’s important habitats for wildlife were found to be in good condition, with as little as 7% of woodland and only 25% of peatland meeting targets. Modern industrial farming methods replacing traditional nature friendly farming and climate change are the primary causes.
Loss of good habitat and wildlife impacts us in many ways. Practically, here in Calderdale, functioning habitats naturally slow the flow by absorbing more moisture in peatlands and rich biodiverse woodland. Land not maintained with nature in mind becomes degraded with less soil life, leading to lower water retention qualities and making it more vulnerable to degradation and run off.
Healthy, biodiverse habitat, whether it’s woodland, grassland or peatland all absorb and lock in carbon too. We’re lucky to have these habitats in our valley, though many still need much improving to reverse past damage, such as the draining of peat bogs and less intensive farming of grasslands. Nature in a healthy state absorbs carbon dioxide contributing to the prevention of global warming. Protecting and restoring damaged habitat is one of the world’s best tools for addressing climate change.
This is where natural flood management techniques are so important. They are low impact on the environment because they don’t use the energy intensive processes hard landscaping does. And natural flood management can contribute to habitat restoration, such as by blocking draining channels in peatland to restore carbon and water storing peat and with leaky dams in woods that slow run off and create unique habitat for invertebrate.
Further marches are planned for the future, people can find out more at RestoreNatureNow.com
