Before Christmas, we covered the COP15 United Nations bio-diversity summit. despite some positive announcements there, we are facing a major extinction event, the first in history that will be totally caused by humans. The number of living creatures on the planet is falling dramatically, and yet most people, even those aware of “sustainability” issues, seem to put this well below climate change on the priority list.
Personally, I feel my great-great grandchildren might partially understand why my generation found it so hard to reduce carbon emissions and move away from fossil fuels. I suspect they will be less forgiving if we wipe out most non-human life on earth through our own stupidity, selfishness and inaction.
In terms of procurement taking action, the food industry is probably the main threat to biodiversity globally. If you buy anything from that sector then you have some influence. That includes catering for instance if you have contracts for your own or external provision, as well as the more obvious raw materials procurement in that area. Meat and palm oil production are probably responsible for more clearance of rain forests than any other crops, but even closer to home there are issues.
Monoculture cropping with intensive use of fertilisers and weedkillers generally is bad news, for instance, and that can range from growing potatoes or wheat in parts of the UK to the huge palm oil plantations that have ruined the landscape and the biodiversity of parts of Thailand and other tropical countries. Forests are also being cleared for cattle and other livestock farming, whilst over-fishing and factory-style fishing (huge trawler nets that just destroy the sea floor for instance) is of course a major threat to marine species. So buyers can and should put pressure on suppliers in the food supply chain to address the bio-diversity risks.
But it is not just agriculture that is threatening wildlife. The mining and energy sectors also can threaten biodiversity, and construction is an area that many organisations don’t consider enough when looking at biodiversity issues in their own supply chain. Any construction on a green-field site (and perhaps on some brownfield) has potential implications for the natural world. Think of all the new “business parks” and housing estates that have sprung up around cities such as Cambridge, Northampton or Reading in recent years. I’m sure some developments have considered biodiversity in some sense, but every time we lose green space, we are putting animals, insects, birds, and plants under more pressure. Too often our new builds just don’t think about these issues.
There are also steps we can take in our private lives. If you must concrete over your front garden for car parking, can you leave a few plants around the edges? Don’t even think about artificial “grass”. Nesting boxes for birds or bats, small holes in fences so hedgehogs can roam, leaving a “wild” area somewhere in your garden, and avoiding the use of pesticides and weedkillers are all useful small steps. There are some positive stories around; the UK’s largest housebuilder, Barratt Developments, working with the RSPB, has come up with a special brick that is also a nesting box for swifts, for instance. Swifts have been in decline as old buildings where they nest get demolished.
Of course, steps that help in terms of reducing emissions or support other environmental challenges are also likely to help with biodiversity. Circularity (favouring reusable and recyclable materials) and reduced water use help protect natural habitats. Support sustainable fishing if you eat fish and generally most of us should eat less meat – that is one of the biggest environmentally positive steps we can take as individuals.
We can also campaign and raise awareness of issues. It looks like dredging for the new Teesside “Freeport” might have caused a mass poisoning of sea life down England’s north-east coastline in 2021. The theory is that contaminants that had settled on the river and sea bed during Teesside’s industrial past were disturbed by the dredging. As an excellent article from Jenni Russell in The Times this week said,
“Along 30 miles of coast, from Hartlepool to Whitby, the beaches were piled with hundreds of thousands of dead and dying crabs and lobster, some still twitching in agony”.
That has also had an effect on livelihoods in the fishing industry as well as the loss of living creatures. But now, it also looks like those in power are trying to kill the story. Jenni Russell again.
“There has been no openness. University scientists have sent their research to Defra and heard nothing. They have not been permitted to do their own deep sampling. Fishermen report dangerous sediment slopping out of the Tees dredging sites and no monitoring. The die-offs continue”.
Defra ministers and civil servants, as well as the mayor of Teesside, Ben Houchen, should be ashamed of themselves if they are conspiring to cover up these awful events. The disaster may well have been unintended, but we need to understand what has happened to make sure it does not happen again, not just ignore it.