How close do you feel to nature? We’re not on about how long it takes you to walk to your local park or how many hours you spend in the great outdoors, we’re talking about how emotionally close you feel to the natural world.
Given that UK is packed with beautiful protected national parks, spectacular islands and miles of breathtaking scenery, you may assume that as a nation we’ve got a pretty healthy relationship with our flora and fauna. But you’d be wrong. In the one of the first ever global studies on how ‘nature connected’ different populations are, the UK landed in a shameful 55th out of 61.
Nature connectedness is a psychological concept that measures people’s emotional relationship to the natural world. According to the study, a closer connection with nature is associated with improved human wellbeing and more environmentally-friendly behaviour.
Researchers spoke to 57,000 people and concluded that countries with high levels of spirituality, like Nepal, are more likely to have a close relationship with nature. At the other end of the spectrum, the more ‘business-friendly’ a nation is, the less likely they are to feel close to the natural world. The research also found a lack of connection with nature to be linked to higher levels of urbanisation, higher mean income and greater internet use.
So, maybe we can take some lessons from Nepal, Iran and South Africa, which were the top three most nature connected countries. Miles Richardson, a professor at the University of Derby who led the study, said that Britain can improve its connectedness to nature through better use of natural environments in NHS treatments of mental and public health, developing the rights of nature in law, and bringing nature into business decisions with regulations such as biodiversity net gain.
He told the Guardian: ‘[The UK] has become a more rational, economic and scientific society. That’s obviously brought some fantastic benefits but it’s how we balance them with the unforeseen problems.
‘How do we reintegrate natural thinking in our very technological world? It’s obviously very difficult to change cultures but it’s about mainstreaming the value of nature, making it integral to our wellbeing, so it becomes respected and almost sacred.
‘It’s not just about putting a park in. How do you create sacred urban nature? It’s easy to build a park but it needs to go deeper than that.’
ICYMI: A huge ‘nature park’ is coming to Liverpool city centre.
And did you see that a wild beaver was spotted in Norfolk for the first time in 500 years?
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