UK one of world’s most nature-depleted countries, new data shows

Just 53 per cent of our biodiversity remains after the industrial revolution wiped out vast tracts, writes Colin Drury

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The UK is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries and may now be on course for an ecological meltdown, new research suggests.

Just 53 per cent of the country’s natural biodiversity is left, according to analysis by the Natural History Museum released today.

The figure falls well below the 90 per cent which experts reckon is the safe limit to prevent a future in which ecosystems effectively fail, resulting in crop shortages and infestations.

“Much of the world has lost a large amount of its natural biodiversity,” said Dr Adriana De Palma from the museum. “Those systems have lost enough biodiversity to mean that we have to be careful about relying on them functioning in the way that we need them to.”

The researchers came up with the figure after creating the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII), a system of measuring the percentage of nature that remains in an area.

The UK’s 53 per cent places it in the bottom 10 per cent of the world’s countries and very last among the G7 nations.

The lowly position is linked, experts say, to the industrial revolution. “That mechanised the destruction of nature to an extent, converting it into goods for profits,” said Professor Andy Purvis from the museum’s life sciences department.

He added that, while the UK has seen a relatively stable biodiversity level over recent years, action to boost eco-systems here should be taken now – although he also warned that should not come by simply “offshoring biodiversity damage to other places”.

The team from the museum now hope their BII tool will help global leaders meeting for the UN Biodiversity Conference, known as COP15, next week.

The conference, hosted by China, is set to take place online between 11-15 October with a second round to be held in the city of Kunming next spring.

Negotiators are tasked with agreeing a new set of goals for nature over the next decade.

None of the world’s last targets for protecting wildlife, which were set in Aichi, Japan, in 2010, have been met.

“This is our last best chance for a sustainable future,” Professor Purvis said. “Biodiversity loss is just as potentially catastrophic for people as climate change, but the solutions are linked.

“Stopping further damage to the planet requires big change, but we can do it if we act now, together.

“Muddling through as we currently are doing is nowhere near enough to halt, let alone reverse, the ongoing worldwide decline in biodiversity.”