World Environment Day is commemorated annually on the 5th of June, with the purpose of encouraging people to take positive action, make more sustainable choices, and raise environmental awareness. Each year, the official celebrations focus on a different theme. While previous years have focused on biodiversity and air pollution, the theme of World Environment Day this year is ecosystem restoration, to coincide with the start of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration.
Finding ways to restore ecosystems is more important now than ever. At present, the area of forest being lost every year is larger than Denmark! This can have severe consequences for animals who lose their habitats, and for the climate which continues to rise. The destruction of ecosystems has even been linked back to the increased spread of diseases, such as coronavirus, making ecosystem restoration more relevant now than ever before.
While restoring an ecosystem may seem impossible, enriching the area around your home is the perfect place to start. If you want to benefit your local wildlife, how about increasing the number of habitats available in your garden? Maybe you could take inspiration from our client Berkeley Homes’ development Broadacres in Southwater. These properties feature hedgehog-friendly gardens, with small gaps called ‘Hedgehog Highways’ in the fences to allow access to the space. The flower beds in every back garden act as both a decorative feature and an important spot for hedgehogs to search for food, out of view from prying eyes.
Or maybe you would prefer to incorporate bee bricks like those at Waterside Quarter, a Shanly Homes development in Maidenhead. These provide habitats for insects and safe spaces for bees to lay their eggs. Although bee bricks can be used in the construction of properties, they can also be effectively added later as a garden feature, making them the perfect World Environment Day present for your home.
Alternatively, you may wish to focus on reducing your reliance on energy from fossil fuels in order to combat the climate change that damaged ecosystem have contributed towards. Waterside Quarter incorporates green roofs in order to reduce energy consumption, while solar panels feature on each house at Mosaics in Oxford by Hill in order to boost clean energy production. Both of these elements save money and the climate simultaneously.
If you would like to find further information about World Environment Day, and discover more ways to get involved, check out the guide here.