![]() The UK only has half of its natural biodiversity left. To the extent that humans are adapted to think of agriculture as a natural system, when it isn't at all.' 'Although recently there have been lots of improvements, our ecosystems are very heavily modified. 'We have led the world in degrading the natural environment. 'The UK is where the industrial revolution was born, and it changed the landscape forever,' says Andy. More than 40 million birds have disappeared from the UK's skies since 1970, according to the RSPB.ĭr Andy Purvis and a team of researchers at the Museum have developed a Biodiversity Intactness Index that allows them to track the state of biodiversity across regions, countries, and habitats. ![]() ![]() And things are getting worse, not better. The advent of mass farming, factories, roads, trainlines and urban sprawl has been a death knell for wild places, and it was accelerated by the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. Red squirrels, beavers, wolves and bears were once common in the British Isles. Large areas of wilderness were home to animals and plants which are now a rare sight, or gone completely. This is causing species around the planet to decline at a concerning speed.Ī new analysis looking into how much biodiversity is left in different countries around the world has shown that the UK has some of the lowest amounts of biodiversity remaining.īefore the Industrial Revolution, forests covered much more of the UK than they do now. It is the range of species found in every habitat on Earth, including in the woodlands, on the seashores and on the tops of mountains.Īs humans change the environment, from building roads to digging up fields, we chip away at this diversity of life, reducing the number of species that are found in any one place. Biodiversity is the name we give to the variety of all the plants, animals, bacteria and fungi with which we share the planet.
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