Living Landscapes: time to think big
"To adapt to climate change, the UK’s wildlife will need to move along climate corridors up and down the country, or to shadier slopes or cooler valleys. Wildlife has done it all before, after the last ice age, but this time the change is faster and there are unexpected obstacles: cities, motorways and expanses of hostile countryside.
If we don’t give our wildlife enough room to manoeuvre, a collapse in biodiversity is inevitable. For decades we have been slowing the decline in biodiversity by protecting small oases of wildlife as an emergency measure. Now, in the face of climate change, it is essential that we link these oases and restore our ecosystems and natural processes at a speed and on a scale that we would once have felt was impossible.
Different parts of the UK will need to take different approaches, depending not only upon natural habitats but upon local social and economic needs. And change on this scale needs deep-rooted support across many constituencies.
Driven by local people and aspirations, The Wildlife Trusts play a leading role not just in developing the vision but in mustering the support that can allow communities to drive their own change. We do this by working closely with community groups, businesses, land managers and local authorities on landscape-scale projects around the UK.
We look to the government to show leadership also. The government needs to be brave enough to remove the obstacles preventing our wildlife from adapting, to buy more time by resolving to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and to show political will by serious investment in rebuilding biodiversity on a landscape scale. We need to create our Living Landscape now. Our window of opportunity will soon close."
Stephanie Hilborne
Chief Executive, The Wildlife Trusts
Download our Living Landscapes booklet here
I Count
I Count is the campaign of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, an ever-growing group of more than 50 organisations, which includes The Wildlife Trusts.
The campaign plans to build irresistible popular pressure on politicians, pushing them to act now.
Find out more about I Count
The Big Ask
London Wildlife Trust is supporting the Big Ask campaign which is calling for a strong climate law to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions.
The Big Ask is an online march that shows you want more action to be taken on climate change.
Join the online march here