Channel 4 News finds that iconic species and habitats in Britain are facing ‘wipeout’.
As a result it is running a special series, ‘Green and Pleasant Land’.
“In just a few decades, we’ve lost 44 million birds from our skies, with some species plummeting as much as 90 per cent and facing a very real extinction. Over 70 per cent of our butterfly species are in decline, as well as our bugs and insects on which our whole ecosystem depends, with only 2 per cent of our wildflower meadows still remaining. And the hedgehog is facing the same rapid decline as the tiger, dropping from 36 million in 1950 to just 1 million today.”
These numbers are staggering.
But what does this have to do with business?
- Specific businesses in industries such as forestry, tourism, recreation, and food growing depend directly on the ‘ecosystem services‘ of wild species.
- Clean water and flood defences also depend to an extent on healthy ecosystems.
- An ecosystem is like an aeroplane, with each individual species like a rivet holding the wings on. To begin with we can lose a few species (or rivets) and the wings will still stay on. Beyond a certain point, the loss of any single species can cause the wings to fall off.
There are more details of the Channel 4 series here: http://www.channel4.com/news/green-pleasant-land-british-countryside-nature-crisis
And a 37 minute video here: http://www.channel4.com/news/green-pleasant-land-nature-crisis-google-hangout-video (Also on Youtube.)