Book Review: What Nature Does for Britain

'What Nature Does for Britain' is Tony Juniper's follow up to 'What Has Nature Ever Done for Us?' (see my review here) and is based on how us Brits benefit from nature's free services.   Juniper was once Executive Director of Friends of the Earth (England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) and is still an environmentalist, campaigner, writer, and sustainability advisor, so has just a little bit of experience and knowledge in this field.

Published in 2015, it goes through the number of environmental services, such as clean water, food supply, and flood protection, that we take for granted and pay nothing for.  Juniper also shows us that we're not only damaging the systems that actually protect us, thinking we're reducing costs and allowing the continuation of economic progress but that this actually doesn't make economic sense.  The damage we do now will not only cost us in the future, but is actually costing us right now.  Take for instance the subsidies we are giving farmers to be more 'productive' which has actually led to damaging the soil and the high use of fertilisers, causing runoffs into our local water systems, that then cost us to clean before we can use it in our homes.  By supporting nature and the natural systems we already have in place in Britain, such as flood plains, beavers, peat bogs, etc, we are in fact supporting ourselves.  However, 'What Nature Does for Britain' doesn't just cover what services we're getting already but also talks about how the restoration of additional ecosystems could really benefit us in the long term.

Each chapter starts with three facts about the intended subject and ends with Juniper writing down the manifesto he would like to see the British Government take on board.  These nine chapters cover everything from the animals who help pollinate and protect our food, to reducing floods, capturing carbon, obtaining sustainable energy, and treating mental illnesses.  It shows how, by working with nature in all these fields, we could save quite a bit of money in a more indirect, but resilient, manner.  One that works for everyone.

There were two things I found most interesting in this book.  First was the examples of businesses actively choosing to work with nature to protect their future and prosper financially, such as Thatchers who are encouraging the bees that are needed to pollinate their apple trees.  The second was the idea of integrating payments together.  So instead of paying for farmer's subsidies, water bills, and flood protection separately despite the fact they are all interlinked, we could pay to a system which would work with farmers to reduce the runoffs and clean up costs, and with both farmers and water boards to protect and develop ecosystems that greatly help with the reduction in flooding.  Instead of just paying subsidies etc, we would be making payments for 'ecosystems services'.

Possibly the saddest thing about this book is that it shows just how little has actually been done in the five years since it was published.  In fact you could almost argue that we're going backwards in some of the areas.  To make this work would require us to make new policies, laws, and redirect how our finances are being spent, and I have to admit I don't have a lot of hope for those we have in our Government at the moment (they gain too much by the status quo and seem to think they know best).  However, I can also see that there are those that have the knowledge to take us forward, that is is possible as many of the examples from companies making money from their activities have shown, that it won't halt progress, and that it will benefit us greatly in the long run.  So there is a little hope there, and perhaps now, with us coming through Covid-19 and Brexit, is the perfect time to make those changes.

Definitely give it a read.