The UN Biodiversity Conference AKA COP15 will unite governments from around the world from 7-19th December, to agree to a new set of goals for nature over the next decade. Discussions will cover all forms of life from microscopic viruses to large mammals, looking at conservation, knowledge-sharing and financial policies associated with these organisms and their protection. To celebrate all creatures great and small, we are giving away a biodiversity book bundle to one lucky winner!
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth, in all its forms. The term – a contraction of ‘biological diversity’ – was coined in 1985. Today, the huge biodiversity losses happening globally represent a crisis equalling or possibly surpassing climate change.
Biodiversity comprises many interacting levels, starting with genes, then individual species, then communities of creatures and finally entire ecosystems, such as forests. If undamaged, this produces a finely balanced, healthy system which contributes to a healthy sustainable planet.
Why is biodiversity important?
Our food, our water and our air are all dependent on ecosystems. Processes that keep food growing in fields and water in reservoirs clean are all interconnected with the wildlife – or biodiversity – that surrounds them. Biodiversity influences climate; controls disease; and regulates nutrient and water cycles. Biodiversity is not just the presence of species, but their relationships with each other and how they interact to create a complex network.
If individual species are continually being lost from a network, the ecosystem they are part of will eventually collapse, leading to loss of further species still. This snowballing level of loss will ultimately be catastrophic not only for the animals and plants themselves, but for us too.
The Prize:
The biodiversity book bundle includes a range of three books by leading authors, all working towards a healthy future for our planet. Win a copy of Terra Viva by Vandana Shiva, Rebugging the Planet by Vicki Hird and Mycorrhizal Planet by Michael Phillips!
Terra Viva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements by Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva Author of Terra Viva: My Life in a Biodiversity of Movements, is a physicist, ecologist, activist, editor, and author of numerous books, Vandana Shiva is a tireless defender of the environment. In Terra Viva, Dr Shiva shares her most memorable campaigns, alongside some of the world’s most celebrated activists and environmentalists, all working towards a liveable planet and healthier democracies.
Rebugging the Planet by Vicki Hird
Author Vicki Hird passionately demonstrates how insects and invertebrates are the cornerstone of our global ecosystem. They pollinate plants, feed birds, support and defend our food crops, and clean our water systems. They are also beautiful, inventive, and economically invaluable—bees, for example, contribute an estimated $235 to $577 billion to the US economy annually, according to Forbes.
Mycorrhizal Planet by Michael Phillips
In his latest book, Holistic Farmer and Author Michael Phillips explores how symbiotic fungi work with roots to support plant health and build soil fertility. Mycorrhizal fungi have been waiting a long time for people to recognise just how important they are to the making of dynamic soils. These microscopic organisms partner with the root systems of approximately 95 percent of the plants on Earth, and they sequester carbon.
At the Future Forest Company, we are protecting biodiversity by creating new woodland habitats. We protect the ancient woodland ecosystems on our sites which have taken hundreds of years to establish and are an irreplaceable habitat. We restore our wetlands which not only naturally absorb and store vast amounts of carbon but provide a habitat for the large number of species that depend upon them. We know that the biodiversity on our sites encompasses not just trees, but a whole host of plants, fungi, animals and microorganisms. Each decision we make in planning considers the wider impact to the site’s living inhabitants.
Help us to conserve and restore biodiversity today. By choosing one of our biodiversity gifts or subscriptions, you’ll be helping to heal the planet, protecting, and restoring some of our rarest habitats and their wildlife, benefitting future generations who may not otherwise experience these special places, and helping to conserve these vitally important ecosystems.
