Protecting everyday nature

Layard, Antonia; Marshall, Adam; de Vito, Laura; Few, Roger; Hatzisavvidou, Sophia; Mabon, Leslie; Selomane, Odirilwe

Abstract

‘Everyday nature’, understood as people’s ability to access nature nearby, should be protected in law and planning policy, facilitating three key benefits: (1) human health and wellbeing; (2) intrinsic and extrinsic ecological advantages; and (3) supporting the UK’s 30by30 nature conservation commitment. Yet there are three obstacles to the protection of everyday nature: (1) the prioritisation of ‘special’ and ‘priority’ nature conservation habitats; (2) the lack of protection for Local Wildlife Sites; as well as (3) counter-intuitively, the rise of biodiversity as a preferred governing concept. Addressing these obstacles, the paper develops the concept of everyday nature, making four proposals for change: (1) improved conceptual analysis; (2) confirming current policy on Local Wildlife Sites; (3) implementing the concept of everyday nature in legislation and planning policy; and (4) implementing the Government’s target that everyone lives within a 15-minute walk from a green or blue space.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 22, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 22, 2024
• Publication Date: Nov 30, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 9, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 9, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Environmental Law
• Print ISSN: 0952-8873
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-374X
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 275–299
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqae018
• Keywords: nature; biodiversity; just transition; planning
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/12844477