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The green desert: the state of biodiversity in the countryside and city
Cities are becoming the new biodiversity hotspots and the countryside is turning into a “green desert”, writes Maisie McKenzie, biodiversity manager at Wienerberger UK
Maisie McKenzie is biodiversity manager at Wienerberger UK
The “green desert”. A seemingly oxymoronic phrase that is becoming increasingly commonplace in sustainability discussions regarding the rural countryside.
It is fair to assume that it is in the UK’s rolling valleys and pastoral landscapes that biodiversity thrives, away from the noisy and crowded cities. This assumption would be false.
The general biodiversity picture in the UK is a bleak one. This country has been highlighted as having some of the lowest biodiversity in Europe and the Western world, with only 50.3% of its biodiversity left intact. Meanwhile, Canada and Finland have 89.3% and 88.6% of their biodiversity left intact respectively.
Figures from the State of Nature show that across the UK species have declined on average by 19% since 1970, with nearly one in six species threatened with extinction. These troubling figures make biodiversity activity in the countryside an unquestionable priority.
A green desert refers to a landscape that appears green and lush on the surface but lacks biodiversity and ecological health. In these spaces, there’s a lack of sustenance or habitat for wildlife, undermining the ecosystems that allow biodiversity to thrive.
An example of this phenomenon in action can be seen with farmland birds. The British Trust of Ornithology has reported the breeding farmland bird indicator has declined by 61% between 1970 and 2023, with a sharp short-term decline of 9% between 2018 and 2023. This has been caused by a lack of food in habitats such as winter stubble and hedgerows.
But as biodiversity has declined in the countryside, wildlife has found new habitats in urban environments and cities, increasing biodiversity in areas not usually associated with nature. It is worth exploring how this gradual shift has occurred, and how biodiversity can be boosted in the rural green deserts through rewilding and greening efforts.
Deserts in the countryside
Green deserts emerge for a variety of reasons. Perhaps one of the foremost is monocultural agriculture. Over 70% of UK land is used as farmland and intense monoculture practices, caused by the shift from traditional mixed farming to a specialisation in arable or livestock, have led to a negative biodiversity change.
The decline in naturally occurring diversity within crop species and in wildlife-friendly features within the countryside, such as ponds and hedgerows, has reduced the number of natural processes and predators, leaving ecosystems less resilient against disease and pests. This leads to the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides which exacerbate the problem further.
Furthermore, the lack of crop rotations has meant farmland has lowered the quality of soil, leading many farmers to excessively use nitrogen fertilisers, which increases water pollution and harms fish and other aquatic organisms.
Outside farming, there has also been a change in what the public views as visually pleasing. Before the Second World War, wildflower meadows and flower-rich grassland were familiar sights. However, wildflower meadows are now one of the rarest habitats in the UK, with 97% of them having been lost since 1930. This was instigated by the need to plant fast-growing crops during the war.
The new aesthetic standard of manicured plains has led to the reduction of wild, biodiversity-rich meadows. This shift has been aided by the general lack of awareness of the ecological advantages of wild meadows and biodiversity at large.
Biodiversity in the city
While the decline in biodiversity in the countryside has been tragic but gradual, the popularity of urban biodiversity has been on a fast incline. Cities have quickly started to lead the conversations surrounding retaining and expanding wildlife diversity, and developers and architects increasingly place the creation of sustainable communities high on their list of priorities.
This has not always been the case. Bustling cities are known for their air, water and soil pollution which has toxic effects on wildlife, alters the delicate balance of our ecosystems and reduces the quality of habitats.
However, the need to protect biodiversity is now seen as helpful to human well-being. This approach could include everything from water features, which incorporate aquatic habitats such as ponds and wetlands into designs, to “green corridors” encouraging genetic diversity and movement of wildlife.
Meanwhile, in the world of work, employers such as ourselves at Wienerberger are incorporating employee sustainability drives, and investing in green spaces that allow workers to be in nature during the day while creating new habitats for local animals.
While urban areas in general still have lower biodiversity than rural areas, the concentration of food resources means that a wide range of wildlife species are attracted to cities. As a result, many animals have become “urban specialists”, like swifts, which are good indicators for invertebrate biodiversity given that insects are their primary food source.
However, allowing this biodiversity to thrive means providing additional protections to wildlife and taking biodiversity into account not only when planning but also when demolishing or renovating spaces.
Greening the desert
Urban biodiversity can only be a positive thing, but that does not mean we cannot also focus on reversing the damage done to our countryside. Greening our green deserts is one important piece in the sustainability puzzle and can be done with limited impact on food supply through rewilding.
Rewilding, meaning the restoration of natural processes and the reduction of human management within green spaces, has become a fashionable term within British conservation circles, and for good reason.
In efforts to boost biodiversity, reforestation and wetland restoration projects have boomed in popularity and reintroduced important habitats back into our ecosystem. Additionally, carbon storage schemes at a corporate level have created more widespread awareness of the positives of encouraging biodiversity.
Greening potential green deserts has also become a political priority, with environmental land management (ELM) schemes paying farmers in a variety of ways to uphold sustainable standards and meet goals that boost biodiversity. All of these efforts directed at our countryside must be done in harmony with our agriculture sector and our ever-expanding urbanisation, which means consistent communication and collaboration between farmers, developers, architects and wildlife organisations.
To zoom in on the construction industry, developments within both the countryside and cities should look at using products with integrated wildlife boxes in buildings. Several, like the eco-habitat products at Wienerberger, are designed with the help of specialist ecological consultants to provide durable and discrete habitats for birds, bats, bees and other insects. This increases a project’s biodiversity value and complements eco-friendly building design.
Looking ahead
As we have seen the significant loss of biodiversity within the countryside, actions to encourage wildlife protection and inclusion in urban environment have only grown in recent years. While this is something to be celebrated, the UK is still on a long road to biodiversity recovery, especially in its green deserts.
With rewilding efforts gaining momentum and encouraging steps being taken by Whitehall, along with ongoing architectural and material innovations, perhaps the road to saving our biodiversity is paved with more than good intentions.
Maisie McKenzie, biodiversity manager, Wienerberger UK
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