The urban and semi-urban built environment has a huge detrimental impact on nature and ecological infrastructure through habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitats. 40% of Britain’s biodiversity have declined since 1970’s. We are in the bottom 10% globally and one of the most biodiversity depleted countries on the planet which stems back to the Industrial Revolution. It’s no longer a case of just reducing carbon emissions. We must reverse the impact the built environment has had on the natural world.
To put the decline of nature into context;
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Hedgehogs are suffering from a steep population decline - the number of hedgehogs has halved since 2000, according to a report in 2019, with rough estimates suggesting the population decreased 97% since the 1950s.
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Another instance are wetlands and low-land ponds, which, according to the State of Nature Report 2019, have seen a 90% decline. Additionally, 86% of rivers in the UK do not meet ‘good’ ecological status.