Biodiversity – The Green Tau

Green tau restoring biodiversity as part of the bigger picture

27th July 2026

“According to the Natural History Museum’s Biodiversity Intactness Index, the UK ranks 189th out of 240 countries and territories for how intact its nature and biodiversity remain. Just 53% of the UK’s original nature is left intact – far below the Index’s safe limit of 90% and the global average of 79%. Each of the four UK nations sits near the bottom of this ranking, with England at 47%, Northern Ireland at 50%, Wales at 51%, and Scotland at 56%.” (1)

Worryingly the government’s State of Nature Report suggests this decline is still ongoing: “…more indicators are deteriorating or showing no change than improving, over both the long and short term.” And: “No indicators which are deteriorating in the long term, are showing improvement in the short term.” (2)

19% Across the UK species studied have declined on average by 19% since 1970.

16% Nearly one in six species are threatened with extinction from Great Britain

151 of 10,008 species assessed have already become extinct since 1500 (3)

Scientists warn that if we don’t reverse this decline imminently – the Kunming Montreal framework target is protect 30% 2030 – it will become near impossible to reverse.

https://www.robeco.com/en-uk/insights/2024/07/bending-the-curve-investing-in-biodiversity-as-an-economic-necessity

Conversely if we don’t manage to turn the tide by 2030, the prospects for improving biodiversity are good.

To make a bit of a leap, I’m going to interpret increasing biodiversity as meaning restoring nature. But this too may not be clear cut. To restore nature could mean:

https://research.senedd.wales/media/z4alhnt5/biodiversity-fig-2-en.png

“In simple terms, restoration means bringing more nature and biodiversity back across different ecosystems, from forests, peatlands and agricultural land, to freshwater, marine and urban ecosystems.

Restoration is a process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. This could be through rewetting wetlands and peatlands, improving degraded soil and agricultural land by adding natural features such as hedgerows and trees, recreating lost natural forests, removing invasive species, planting native vegetation, removing obsolete barriers from rivers, increasing tree coverage in cities, and much more.” (4)

It could mean restoring landscapes to their wild, pre-human state:-

“At Rewilding Britain, we define rewilding as the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature is allowed to take care of itself. Rewilding seeks to reinstate natural processes and, where appropriate, missing species – allowing them to shape the landscape and the habitats within. It’s focused firmly on the future although we can learn from the past.

“Rewilding encourages a balance between people and the rest of nature so that we thrive together. It can provide opportunities for communities to diversify and create nature-based economies; for living systems to provide the ecological functions on which we all depend; and for people to reconnect with wild nature.

“Our vision is at least 5% of Britain rewilding, with 25% returned to broader mosaics of nature-friendly land and marine uses — including farming, forestry and fishing. We see this expansion reversing biodiversity loss and enabling nature to bounce back, helping us adapt to climate change as our complex ecosystems find their own answers.” (5)

Or it could be a pragmatic approach:-

Restore nature now – the Government must honour its commitment to manage 30% of land for nature by 2030. That means designating more space for nature and paying our farmers properly to help nature thrive.
Defend nature and wildlife – stop weakening the laws that protect them. Introduce a strong Water Reform Bill to clean up our rivers, streams and seas, and make polluters pay.
Build places to be proud of – demand that neighbourhoods are rich in nature and end unfair access to green space, starting by publishing the Government’s long-promised action plan by the end of the year. (6)

However what I want to suggest is that however we set about restoring nature and reversing biodiversity loss, we cannot address this issue in isolation. If we consider why biodiversity has been in such sharp decline, why it is that we have lost to so much of our natural environments, we will see that these losses are linked to:-

Expansion of the built environment where buildings, roads and other transport links, mines and quarries, have encroached on land where nature previously existed. Many species are in decline because their habitats are disappearing.
Pollution from smoke (causing acid rain), from vehicles exhaust pipes, from industrial processes, and the run off from farms of slurry, fertilisers etc.
From intensive farming where large fields have resulted in the loss of trees and hedgerows that once provided essential habitats for many species, and the proliferation of monocultures which do not support a diversity of other life forms.
Replacing mixed broadleaf woodlands with monocultures of coniferous plantations.
Overgrazing of uplands and the replacement of meadows with grass monocultures suited purely for grazing cattle – again reducing habitats for other species.
Increasing use of pesticides and herbicides that do what it says in the tin – kills insects and plants.
Intensive cultivation of the soil destroying its natural structures and resident populations of insects, grubs, fungi and micro-organisms – and requiring their substitution with fertilisers to maintain the fertility of the soil.
Climate change which is human-induced and which has depleted native species who have been unable to adapt or to adapt fast enough to the increasing heat/ floods/ droughts and wildfires.

Unless we can address these issues to, no amount of planting native trees, or sowing wildflower meadows, or reintroducing lost species, is going to work. Restoring nature and improving biodiversity has to involve us in reviewing and reforming our whole way of living.

For example, we need to review the way we farm and therefore what we eat. Our current agricultural system is designed to produce increasing amounts of meat and dairy, with the parallel need to produce – or import – more animal feed, which necessitates the intensive farming methods that are widespread. If we wish to reduce that scale and intensity of livestock production we need to eat less meat and dairy products and instead adopt diets that are rich in tasty, diverse UK grown fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans.

We may want to look at how land is farmed. Would it be better for nature – and for us as communities – if we had more smaller farm units, employing more people and less heavy equipment? Would it be better to have more hedgerows, more ponds and pockets of woodland? Would it be better to have more publicly accessible green spaces?

Yes there would be a cost – food prices would go up – and that might mean reducing the lower rates of taxation, but that cost would surely be less than the costs of the continued loss of biodiversity and the resulting negative impact on climate change, on floods and droughts, on the fertility of the soil, on clean air and clean waterways, and of the loss of essential pollinators leading to depleted harvests.

These are all serious issues that we need to consider as a society and which we need to address collectively.

https://policy.friendsoftheearth.uk/insight/how-britain-became-one-most-nature-depleted-countries-world

(2) ditto

(3) https://stateofnature.org.uk/

(4) https://www.restorenature.eu/en/faq-on-nature-restoration#What is nature restoration

(5) https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/what-is-rewilding/an-introduction-to-rewilding/defining-rewilding

(6) https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/our-cause/nature-climate/nature-conservation/nature-is-our-future

Green Tau: Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Sustainability

24th July 2026

When ecosystems flourish they are rich with biodiversity. Conversely diminishing biodiversity causes ecosystems to fail. Currently biodiversity globally is in decline. In 2022 world leaders met to address this issue and the outcome was the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The headliner was that the national signatories undertook to restore for nature 30% of land and of sea by 2030 – abbreviated to 30by30. This is a huge undertaking – a highly necessary one – but perhaps not surprisingly it is something nations now struggle to meet.

The whole planet is one large ecosystem in which water flows, plants grow, fish swim, birds fly, carbon circulates, rocks erode etc etc. Is this a thriving ecosystem? Nine key measures have been identified by which to assess the health of the earth’s ecosystem – and are known as planetary boundaries. One of these boundaries measures fresh water. If we consumer such water at a slower rate than it is replenished by the earth’s ecosystem, we can be assessed as living within the limits of that planetary boundary. If we consumer fresh water at a faster rate, then we are assessed a living beyond the limit of that boundary. Not only is this (and we have indeed exceeded this planetary boundary) damaging to the earth’s ecosystem it is also threatens our survival too (or rather the survival of the most vulnerable people).

The other eight boundaries are – climate change, biosphere integrity (which assesses both biodiversity levels and the rate at which we extract resources such as timber, cereals etc), landuse change (balance between natural and human use), nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, aerosols in the atmosphere, ozone depletion, pollution of novel entities (manmade compounds such as plastics). Of these nine planetary boundaries, we are now living beyond the safe limits of seven – only with respect to ozone depletion and aerosol levels in the atmosphere, are we living within safe limits.

What we also know is that these nine areas are interconnected. Accelerating climate change adversely impacts biodiversity and freshwater systems. Out of balance landuse impacts both climate change and biodiversity. And so on.

However we have so often seen ourselves as humans as being above and outside these ecosystems. We are the ones who instead control and manipulate ecosystems to maximise our gains. We are the ones who determine what is good for humans and what is not, who select what should grow and what should be uprooted, who take without giving back. It is this failure to see ourselves as part of and dependent on the multiple layers of ecosystems, that has brought us to situation where we are living outside the safe boundaries of the planet.

Another way of viewing this is by looking at the date of Earth Overshoot Day. This day marks the point in the calendar when we have used up a year’s worth of the planets renewable resources (eg freshwater, clean air, fish, timber ……..) This year Earth Overshoot Day is July 30th. After that we are living in the red. This means for example, vis a vis freshwater, that we will be drawing on our capital of fresh water – water taken from aquifers that cannot be replaced. This means that some people will live with inadequate water supplies, and their crops and livestock will die. This means that wild animals, birds and insects will die.

If this were a financial issue, we would be obliged to pull in our horns, to spend less and save more. But as we don’t pay – financially for many of these goods and services – there doesn’t seem to be any formalised way in which the global community is addressing this debt crisis. We should also note that this debt is not being shared equally. A large number of the people from the poorest and most remote communities are baring the bulk of the pain, whilst a far small number of people are continuing to live ever increasing lives of wealth – lives, in effect, of decadence. Where do I fit in? It could be as a middle class white western person be in the latter group.

To return to the 30by30 target, it seems obvious that it cannot be tackled in isolation but needs to be part of lifestyle revolution that recognises and works with the understanding that all ecosystems are interdependent and that humans are just one feature of each ecosystem of which they are a part. I don’t think this observation makes the challenge any easier but it would ensure a greater likelihood that any policies of reform would actually work.

I don’t know of any country that is taking a wholistic approach. Here in the UK the likelihood that we will restore biodiversity to safe, sustainable levels by 2030 seems highly unlikely. Not least because it is not being approached as part of a national ecosystem.

For example, to restore 30% of land such that nature can flourish, cannot happen without also looking at landuse – how much land can we safely use to graze livestock and grow fodder, as well as growing enough grain, fruit and vegetables to feed our population? If – as we would – have to reduce us the amount of land used to produce meat and dairy products, will we also look at our diets? Will we switch to a diet rich in plants and low in meat and dairy?

Again will we at the same time look at how we use water? Changing how we use the land could have a positive impact on our use of fresh water supplies. But we should at the same time look at how water is used by industries, and especially by data centres. Conversely will we note that restoring nature across wide tracts of land will improve water retention by the land, improve flood resilience, reduce loss of water via evaporation during heat waves etc? Will we note that restoring nature across wide tracts of land will improve access to green spaces which we know improves mental and physical wellbeing? Will we note that plant rich diets will significantly improve people’s health?

It is surely within the capacity of human kind to restore a right relationship with the planet’s ecosystems such that not just our lives but the lives of those with whom we share this planet, can flourish sustainably?

Proper 10, 7th Sunday after Trinity

19th July 2026

Reflection with readings below.

We have heard in previous weeks of Paul wrestling because, although he know what he should do, he does what he shouldn’t do. We have heard Jesus and the Pharisees puzzle why a ‘good’ person chooses to mix with ‘bad’ people – and that it is those who are ill who need the attention of the doctor. We have considered that sin might be ignoring – or being ignorant of – and pursuing the opposite of, God’s wisdom. And we have considered systemic sin – sin we are sucked into not by choice but because it is a sin that embraces the whole system or structure within which we live.

For example, God’s wisdom tells us to welcome the stranger but we in the UK live within a system where the current law makes many strangers unwelcome – and indeed turns them away. This system makes it impossible to fully fulfil God’s word. This is not to say we shouldn’t repent of the sin, nor that we shouldn’t try to do as best we can to welcome the stranger, nor that we shouldn’t try to change the system. However as individuals are ability will be limited.

The parable from today’s gospel may be one way of exploring the issue of systemic sin. We believe and trust that the world which God has entrusted to us, is inherently good.But we are also acutely aware that systems have grown up within our societies that are not inherently good. Systems that have different objectives from those desired by God. Think of our economic system. God’s desire is for the flourishing of all people alike, for the flourishing of the natural environment, for flourishing biodiversity. Our economic system is predicated on the objective of maximising profit. It is not concerned with who gets the profit but the systems bent is such that once someone has wealth they will tend to grow richer, whilst someone who hasn’t will start off from a disadvantage. The system is also bent in favour of things which have a clearly identifiable monetary value – it favours building houses which have a market determined price, rather than the value of family life. It favours things that can be bought and sold – it favours oil and gas which have a market determined price rather than clean air, for air is too fluid and uncontainable to be bought and sold.

It would be lovely to be able to completely uproot the economic system that we have and get rid of its systemic evil. But to do so would – at least in the short term – lead to loss of jobs and livelihoods; it would cause the collapse of shops and supply chains leading to theft and rioting; it would lead to power cuts, the failure of water supply and sewage systems, the collapse of social care infrastructure etc etc.

This stickiness should not prevent us from trying to prune and reshape – and overcome and replace – the economic system we have inherited.

Last week, members of synod debated a motion calling on the Church Commissioners to restore and protect 30% of the land they control for nature – for the restoration and conservation of biodiversity. The motioned failed even though it is clear to everyone that we have already lost so much biodiversity that it threatens the health and wellbeing of our future. Declining biodiversity will lead to more flooding, poorer soils, more disease, less protection from the elements, poorer harvests, less happiness.

The motioned failed because the way we farm the land is tied up within an economic system that can put a price on a tonne of wheat but not on sky full of swallows, that can put a price on a pint of milk but not on a stretch of clean river, that can put a price on a plank of wood but not on the life of an oak tree.

The motion failed because farm tenants are paid to grow crops, not to supply clean air; to rear cattle, not to maintain flood plains; to produce eggs, not to protect pollinators. The motion failed because farm tenants have to maximise profits to pay rents, and because the Commissioners have to maximise returns on investment to finance the Church. The motion failed because we as consumers want cheap food or – as is often the case – because the economic system does not pay us enough to pay a fair price for fairly produced food. The motion failed because we as consumers don’t want to pay for clean air, for fertile soils, for flood management etc. Or maybe because there is no way as consumers we can buy these life-giving products? The motion failed because as consumers we want to eat more meat and dairy rather than eating more plant based items – and therefore require a land-use pattern which allocates land for livestock rather than nature.

What then should we do? What then is the wisdom of God? The people of Ancient Israel took on board God-given laws that required that the land have time to rest and recover, that fields and trees should not be stripped to the bone, that the harvest should be shared with the vulnerable. The prophets passed on God’s wisdom about caring for the land, caring for the vulnerable, and being in a good relationship with God and with all that God has created. Jesus taught the importance of questioning the rules and traditions we grow up with, about sharing what we do have, about avoiding greed, about caring for the vulnerable and for those society despises. We have the radical example of the early church pooling and sharing their resources.

As Christians we have a wisdom that counters the systems we live within. It is not always a wisdom we can follow as individuals because we maybe so constrained by those systems – the degree of constraint depending upon personal circumstances – but as communities and as the Church we do have more scope to be counter-cultural. We could – surely – mandate the Church Commissioners to use funds to support tenants willing to restore and enhance nature on the land they farm. We could – surely – mandate that the Church Commissioners could accept a lower rate of return on farm investments. But at the same time we would have to accept a smaller distribution of funds for the Church and instead look to our own pockets to make up the shortfall (depending on our means as per the early church).

We could at the same time, look to our own lifestyles – choosing a diet that is compatible with the restoration of more land for nature. We could reprioritise our spending to support nature.

As a Church – as a significant land owner and as a prophetic voice – we could challenge the system that allows the degradation of nature at the expense of profit. We could challenge the system that doesn’t provide every citizen with a fair wage. We could challenge the system that doesn’t ensure every citizen has access to affordable healthy food. We could challenge the system that doesn’t protect the environment for the wellbeing of generations to come.

As individuals and as a Church, we are called to speak out and act to bring in the reign – the rule – of God so that God’s will is done on Earth as in Heaven.

Isaiah 44:6-8

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.

Who is like me? Let them proclaim it,
let them declare and set it forth before me.

Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.

Do not fear, or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!

Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.

Psalm 86:11-17

11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth; *
knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name.

12 I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, *
and glorify your Name for evermore.

13 For great is your love toward me; *
you have delivered me from the nethermost Pit.

14 The arrogant rise up against me, O God,
and a band of violent men seeks my life; *
they have not set you before their eyes.

15 But you, O Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, *
slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth.

16 Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *
give your strength to your servant;
and save the child of your handmaid.

17 Show me a sign of your favour,
so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *
because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Romans 8:12-25

Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ– if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

Jesus put before the crowd another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”

Prayers for the ecosystems of North America

28th March 2026

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. Ps 1:1a,3

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A Reading Proverbs 22:16-18

Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself, and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss. The words of the wise: Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching; for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you if all of them are ready on your lips.

Each week during Lent I am focusing on a different continent; this week North America

North America extends from the tiny Aleutian Islands in the northwest to the Isthmus of Panama in the south. The continent includes the enormous island of Greenland in the northeast and the small island countries and territories that dot the Caribbean Sea and western North Atlantic Ocean. In the far north, the continent stretches halfway around the world, from Greenland to the Aleutians. But at Panama’s narrowest part, the continent is just 50 km across. North America can be divided into five physical regions: the mountainous west, the Great Plains, the Canadian Shield, the varied eastern region, and the Caribbean. Mexico and Central America’s western coast are connected to the mountainous west, while its lowlands and coastal plains extend into the eastern region. Within these regions are all the major types of biomes in the world. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/north-america-physical-geography/

Glory to God

Creator of successions of mountains ranges:

We praise you for the awe and wonder of these regions,

their reminder that we are but humans.

We marvel at the power of water to carve out canyons

and the power of water to generate energy.

Glory to God

Creator of forests and plains:

We praise you for the richness of their biodiversity, for tall prairie grasses and even taller trees;

for the smallest grasshoppers to the mighty bison,

for the whistling marmots and black bears that huff and grunt.

Glory to God

Creator of rivers, lakes and wetlands:

We praise you for the Great Lakes and the fresh water they contain,

for the Mississippi River and the fertile soil it nurtures,

and for the wetlands of the Everglades, the 360 plus species of bird

and the plump grandeur of the manatees.

Glory to God,

Creator of tundra and ice:

We praise you for the ingenuity of life that adapts to the extremes of climate and geography.

We marvel at the diversity of life – lichens and moss, polar bears and caribou,

and the many migrating birds such as the Arctic tern.

Merciful God,

Creator of human kind,

Forgive our greed that has mined land and sea for fossil fuels, jeopardising our future.

Forgive our greed that industrialises farming, destroying soils and draining lakes.

Forgive our greed that turns animals into commodities and disregards their sentient nature.

Forgive our greed for consumer goods that strips the earth’s reserves.

Merciful God,

Creator of our brothers and sisters:

Forgive the casualness with which we let the rich grow richer

and the poor poorer.

Forgive the casualness with which we let the rich break the laws

and yet still penalise the poor.

Forgive the carelessness with which we discard what we buy

ignoring the meagre pay of those who labour.

Guiding God,

Source of all wisdom,

Transform our hearts and minds, turn the direction of our hands and feet

so that with alacrity and commitment we will reform our lives

and live only in harmony with your creation.

Amen.

The Grace

Counting on 2026 …. Day 20

5th February

Sustain’s report (released November 2025), Bridging the Gap: How to fix the food system for everyone, calls for the creation of “just, healthy and sustainable UK food system will require system-wide change alongside strong leadership. Farming of nutritious food with lower inputs, lower greenhouse gas emissions, which restore nature and support decent livelihoods for a diversity of growers must become the mainstream to build nutritional security and domestic resilience against global shocks. Our policy recommendations include ways to significantly increase domestic fruit and veg production in the UK7 and, with this, more jobs (up to 80 jobs per thousand tonnes produced), benefiting local communities.9

“Alongside this we need to double the consumption of fruit, veg and pulses to improve people’s health while securing a market for growers, supporting the transition to climate and nature friendly farming. For this triple bottom line to be possible, good food must be available and affordable in local retail settings and across our schools and hospitals, sourced through ethical, value-based supply chains that provide growers with better and more reliable incomes than what they currently experience via supermarket supply chains.11

“If we are to produce food that is good for people and for the planet, and accessible to everyone regardless of their income, the Government must actively support climate and nature friendly horticulture and lead by example on how our food is bought and sold.” (1)

The report lists three clear policy recommendations:-

1. Fix the supply – Boost British fruit, veg and pulse production

• Introduce cross-departmental horticulture strategies across the nations to support green growth and boost production and consumption of fruit, vegetables and pulses

* Support small-scale and organic farmers through grants, better land access, and training programmes

2. Fix the missing middle – Ensure fair prices and invest in infrastructure

•Invest in local food infrastructure like food hubs, processing and packing facilities (particularly for legumes), and distribution centres to help smaller local producers get produce to market.

•Strengthen supply chain fairness to enforce fair dealing across more of the supply chain.

3. Fix the access – Enable everyone to eat good food

• Use the state’s £5 billion of public food procurement from schools and hospitals to create stable markets for organic and locally produced produce. This will deliver on the Labour Government election manifesto commitment to ensure 50% of publicly procured food is local or to a higher environmental standard.

Run pilots and roll-out schemes to make healthy food more affordable for low-income households and reduce NHS spending, such as vouchers and ‘fruit and veg on prescription’. (1)

The report details 9 different pilot schemes that have been running for the last two years, and the results show clear win-win outcomes for health, climate and environment, local economies, and food security.

Will the government take on these recommendations? Will they be supported by the farming industry, by retailers and by consumers?

https://www.sustainweb.org/assets/bridging-the-gap-how-to-fix-the-food-system-for-everyone-1764673053.pdf

Counting on … day 110

17th July 2025

Over the centuries the British landscape has changed and changed again as farming practices have changed. In recent decades one of the big changes has been the removal of hedgerows to create ever larger fields and the use of ever larger (and heavier) farm vehicles. The Woodlands Trust reports that ‘118,000 miles of hedgerows have disappeared since 1950.’ (1) The hedge was seen as a waste of space. Yet that linear strip of land can serve as a valuable green corridor for wild life and a unique ecosystem supporting a rich biodiversity of plants, animals, birds and insects. Thankfully about 500, 000 miles of hedgerow remain in place but that resource still needs care and protection.

Farm land shouldn’t be seen as solely a place to grow food but as land that provides clean air, fertile soils, pollinators, relief for mental wellbeing, water stewardship, and life-giving biodiversity. Farming needs to include both the production of food and the maintenance of healthy ecosystems, with space for nature to thrive.

Hedgerows are not a waste of space; rather their absence is a waste of ecological benefit.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/habitats/hedgerows/

More information

https://www.soilassociation.org/take-action/protect-the-environment/why-are-hedgerows-so-important/

Plant and manage hedgerows

https://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/why-are-hedgerows-important

Counting on … day 110

16th July 2025

Might one think that a ditch is just a wasted bit of land that collects water as and when it rains? Or might it, like the verge, be a potential green corridor benefitting wild life? Here is an example from Bedfordshire where a ditch was turned “into a complex wetland habitat.” (1) Or in southwest London where the work of previous generation, who canalised a local stream with the consequence that rainwater quickly flowed through causing downstream flooding, was overturned to create a vibrant biodiverse rich habitat. (2)

Rewilding ditches, streams and ponds not only improve biodiversity but help with flood prevention. (3)

(3) https://assets.rewildingbritain.org.uk/documents/Rewilding_FloodReport_AUG2016_FINAL.pdf

Counting on … day 109

15th July 2025

The strip of land that separates road from hedge/ fence/ wall of other boundary might be termed waste land – but that waste land has the capacity to be a thriving green corridor. Warwickshire County Council has developed a successful strategy for planting verges with wild flowers. (1) In York the banks abutting the city walls have also been successfully planted with wild flowers -but not without some opposition! (2)

Green corridors are important allowing plants, insects, and other creatures to migrate, forage and breed across a wider territory that improves the viability of the different species. Plant Life reports “Our road verges and green spaces have the potential to act as a sanctuary for wildflowers and a network of connective corridors across Great Britain’s 400,000 km of public road verges and almost 85,000 hectares of public green spaces.” (3)

Counting on … day 108

14th July 2025

The UK has committed to protect 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030 (30by30), to support the global 30by30 target agreed at the UN Biodiversity Summit (COP15) in 2022. (1) Currently just over 14% of land in England meets this target so achieving this goal will require significant change and input from landowners and government.

Gardens can make a small contribution. Rewilding part of a garden is not to waste one’s garden but to create a space where wildlife – be that insects, beetles, birds etc or wild plants (often discarded for being weeds) can thrive. Collectively wild spaces in gardens can provide green corridors for wild life.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criteria-for-30by30-on-land-in-england/30by30-on-land-in-england-confirmed-criteria-and-next-steps

Further information

https://greentau.org/2022/04/04/the-green-tau-issue-39/ (Since writing this blog, the green proportion of Greater London is now almost 50%)

31 Days Wild: 28th May 2025

Walking along a narrow and little used lane, I looked at the plants growing along the verge – a variety of grasses, buttercups and the occasional late dandelion, convululus (hedge and field varieties), dock plants, cow-parsley and hogweed – all of which I’m sure are beneficial for wildlife. But what I can’t judge is whether this diversity of wild plants is good or not so good – it’s hard to judge what’s not there!

However I am encouraged by the following observation made by the Natural History Museum: “Road verges cover an enormous area in the UK – they span about 500,000 kilometres, equivalent to driving more than 12 times around the Earth! Their total area is thought to be slightly larger than the Lake District National Park. Museum botanist Fred Rumsey says, ‘The sheer scale of the road verge habitat in the UK is pretty mind-boggling. In terms of providing habitat for our threatened wildlife, this huge network of linear strips is increasingly important.’” (1)

Warwickshire Council has a scheme for improving biodiversity by focusing on encouraging wildlife friendly verges – https://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20855/biodiversity/2016/wildflower_verge_trial

(1) https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/why-road-verges-are-important-wildlife-habitats.html