World Environment Day 2021

Ecosystem restoration means assisting in the recovery of ecosystems that have been degraded and conserving the ecosystems that are still intact. Healthier ecosystems with richer biodiversity yield greater benefits such as more fertile soils, bigger yields of timber and fish, and larger stores of greenhouse gases. 

In its Environmental Sustainability strategy, Oxford University committed to achieving biodiversity net gain by 2035.  

The Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy, an Oxford-developed framework, is used to address our impacts through these actions:  

1. Refrain – refrain from actions that damage biodiversity  

2. Reduce – reduce the damage our remaining actions create  

3. Restore – restore the biodiversity that has been damaged  

4. Renew – renew and enhance nature  

Explore local biodiversity through our treasure hunt

For World Environment Day 2021, we encourage everyone to take inspiration and visit one of the great natural habitats in the area to discover a vast array of species right on our doorstep.  

There are over 15,000 species of fungi, 70 species of tree, over 24,000 known species of insect, 83 million pairs of native breeding birds and around 66 species of mammal found in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, climate change already impacts nature in the UK, causing a 48% moth decline, a 70% decline in Kittiwake populations, and migratory birds are arriving and laying on average 11 days earlier than in the 1960s.  

Download and start exploring