2013 Draft York
YORK BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN (BAP) -- FOR LIFE Introduction What is biodiversity? Biodiversity is the huge variety of life that surrounds us, its plants, animals and insects and the way they all work together. When you are outside, in the garden, field, park, woods, river bank, wherever you are …if you look around and listen, you begin to appreciate how the immense variety of plants and wildlife that surrounds us makes our lives special. It is like a living jigsaw, each piece carefully fitting into the next, if you lose a piece, the picture is incomplete. Why is biodiversity important? – Ecosystem Services All life has an intrinsic value that we have a duty to protect and, like a jigsaw, each piece has its own part to play. The loss of one piece will affect how the next one works. We are all part of the ecosystems that surround us and so any effect on them will ultimately affect us so by protecting and helping biodiversity we are improving life for ourselves. A rich natural environment delivers numerous unseen benefits which we tend to take for granted. These are what we now call ecosystem services – things like water storage and flood control, pollination of food crops by insects even the air we breathe and the water we drink are all part of this service. There are indirect benefits as well such as improved health and wellbeing and higher property values. All of this is down to our natural environment and the biodiversity in it. Ecosystem Services Flood Storage Clean Water Carbon storage – Woods, trees, heaths Soil Food and timber Medicine Reducing heat island effects Air pollution reduction Pollination Why do we need an Action Plan? Sometimes the way we live can make life difficult for some plants and animals to survive.
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