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What has nature ever done for us? - 20/4/2013

Talk and Book signing with Tony Juniper

2pm

Here at WWT London Wetland Centre we’re well aware of the value of wetlands to people and wildlife. As well as providing a home for a huge range of plants and animals, and food and raw materials for people, wetlands undertake a variety of hidden ‘services’ for the planet including water purification, carbon absorption, flood prevention and drought relief. In fact, the services provided by nature as a whole – everything from Indian vultures to Chinese bees and from soil microbes to ocean plankton – keep the global economy going. No nature, no economy.

Former Director of Friends of the Earth in this country and Vice Chair of Friends of the Earth international, Tony Juniper has spent decades working for conservation and sustainability, and in this fascinating talk he will reveal some of the many services nature provides and the problems that occur when we take these services for granted.

Recycling miracles in the soil, an army of predators ridding us of unwanted pests, an abundance of life creating a genetic codebook that underpins our food and drink, pharmaceutical industries and much more: it has been estimated that these and other services are each year worth about double global GDP. But these services are not limitless. Did you know that one third of the world’s farmed soil has degraded since the mid 20^th century? Or that the area of forest cleared between 2000 and 2010 is larger than Germany?

This talk will be full of immediate, impactful stories, containing warnings but also positive news – and encouragement for those of us working to conserve our planet’s natural systems and wildlife.

£5 plus paid admission to the Centre. Booking essential: please call 020 8409 4400 to book your place. Tony will also be signing copies of his new book What has nature ever done for us, which will be available for sale on the day.

Images courtesy of Tony Juniper.