UK: Biodiversity has fallen by 20% on UK soil since 1970

The UK is one of the countries most affected by biodiversity loss in the world. This is the conclusion of a report published on Thursday, September 28 by a coalition of NGOs and researchers specializing in conservation. The number of species present in the United Kingdom and the British territories has decreased by 20% in 50 years.

Environmental activists protest outside the office of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) after the publication of the biodiversity report, in London, September 28, 2023. © REUTERS - HOLLIE ADAMS

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British soil has lost one in five species since 1970, according to the State of Nature coalition, which has just published its 2023 report. Researchers and NGOs, including Greenpeace and national parks, study the evolution of more than a thousand species. Of these, pollinators, seabirds and flora are among the hardest hit organisms.

This erosion of ecosystems across the British territories is mainly due to human activity, according to the report. Intensive agriculture and fishing, the use of fossil fuels and others destroy environments and contribute to the intensification of certain epizootic diseases. Worse, without a change in trajectory, one in six species could become threatened with extinction in the near future.

In addition to calling for more funding for environmental protection, the State of Nature coalition highlights practices that work, including banning trawling in the south of England or increasing fallow areas and revegetation in agricultural regions allowing a significant rebound in biodiversity.

Read alsoBiodiversity: Invasive species, small but strong

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