World Environment Day is celebrated every year on the 5th June to raise global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect nature and the planet. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme. Each World Environment Day is organised around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. The 2024 campaign focuses on land restoration, desertification and drought resilience under the slogan “Our land. Our future. We are #GenerationRestoration”.
Practices such as deforestation, unsustainable agriculture and urbanisation are the leading causes for land degradation. Knock on consequences of this include landscapes that are more susceptible to draughts and flooding, a reduction of food supplies due to poor soil nutrients and a loss of biodiversity. Practices such as tree planting, crop rotation and the utilisation of water retention techniques can help to restore the land to natural and safe landscapes that benefits wildlife, plants and humans together in terms of economic development, protecting ecosystems and increased soil productivity. Land restoration is therefore vital for protecting the environment, building resilience to natural disasters and helping to feed the growing global population.
To celebrate World Environment Day, Element Sustainability went for a walk round Delamere Forest, a large woodland area supported by Forestry England. The forest consists of a variety of different habitats including heathland, woodland and peatlands that host a number of rare aquatic plant species. The team at Delamere Forest work hard to maintain and restore the habitats so that people all over the UK can come and visit and enjoy their walks around the forest.
As well as enjoying the local nature and wildlife, we also treated ourselves to some coffee and cake!
