In 2019, Clara Jeanroy undertook a summer internship with the IUCN Urban Alliance in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before returning to her studies at Sorbonne University in Paris, Clara penned some reflections on the role of young professionals in urban nature conservation.
Sitting on a rock, the wind blowing on my face, my gaze envelops my surrounding. Between the smell of the freshly wet grass and the low notes of a crow, I notice butterflies dancing between wildflowers. I raise my eyes and gaze over the horizon. How unusual, a city! From Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat, I can distinguish most of the city’s landmarks: the castle, the parliament, the tip of an old church, the Meadows, a Ferris wheel, the New Town with its cream-coloured houses and the dark and rustic Old Town. How unusual to be here on a 250 m high hill, surrounded by biodiversity yet in the middle of a city.
I grew up and study today in Paris so my perception of urban nature has always been characterised by confined green spaces with a carefully managed urban landscape. Nearing the completion of my internship at the IUCN Urban Alliance in Edinburgh, Arthur’s Seat feels like the perfect spot to ponder our relationship with nature in the built environment.
I wonder about people my age, in their early twenties, who also grew up in urban centres, for whom the most readily accessible forms of nature are monocultures of lawn grass, and for whom “real nature” is the stuff of holidays and television documentaries. I consider my generation to be simultaneously the most and least connected ever to exist. Connected in a digital sense and increasingly aware of the Earth’s problems, yet physically distanced from nature and from each other. We are becoming atomized.
As we grew up, we were constantly reminded of the threats posed to our planet and the imperative for environmental action. Today, in our twenties we are overloaded with information trumpeted on social media. We are for the acutely aware of the twin crises of climate breakdown and ecocide. We understand and fear that our future is at stake. We fear being denied a safe and secure future. We fear the worst for humanity and the nature around us.
We are hundreds of millions strong. School strikes on “Fridays For Future” spearheaded by the brave and indomitable Greta Thunberg speak volumes of our concerns: on 15 March 2019, over 2 million students in some 135 countries took to the streets calling for climate action. In France, during the European elections of May 2019, a quarter of all 18 to 24 years old voted for the French Green Party (Europe Écologie Les Verts) which made it by far the most popular party among French youth.
The media heightens our understanding of what our planet is going through but at the same time, it distorts reality. We see nature through screens, filters or doctored videos that can give us false expectations on what nature really is while widening the distance between us and the natural world. We are aware of nature as a concept, but we don’t develop a relationship with it personally. Nature plays an essential role in our development and well-being – the sheer satisfaction of viewing a beautiful landscape after a long hike or observing a bird feeding its chicks in a hedge.
The writing of Louise Chawla on the benefits of nature for children opened my eyes to how important biodiversity is for childhood development: physical and mental health, focus, independence, creativity, etc. Chawla explains that connecting children to nature is crucial to create a new generation of adults concerned about the environment:
Children who live exclusively in a secondary media environment inevitably pose a threat to the future of the planet because such images substitute vague dreams for those intuitive values that can only be acquired by life experience of the biosphere”. In another article called Promoting connectedness with nature through environmental education, Anne K. Lieflander tells us that “only children who spent time in nature before the age of 11 showed greater pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors later on in adulthood.
Louise Chawla
So how do we foster awareness and concern about what we are losing as individuals and as humanity when biodiversity declines? By enabling people to connect with nature from a young age. Given that people don’t always have the means or will to travel to experience nature, the solution is self-evident: nature is needed where people actually live.
The soaring majority of humanity now lives in cities. By 2050, well over two-thirds of us are projected to call an urban area home. If we want the concept of protecting nature to become an integral part of our values, we need more urban biodiversity. It is time to rethink the relationship between cities and nature, to improve public health and wellbeing, strengthen resilience in the face of climate change, and create more beautiful and functional living environments. Only then will we succeed in bringing about the shift in societal values and indeed, human consciousness, required to live in harmony with nature.
Rapid urbanisation presents a golden opportunity to create more inclusive and connected communities. Everyone needs and deserves access to nature. I believe it is a human right. It is absolutely critical that we reimagine cities as places where people and nature can thrive together. As a young person pursuing a career in the science of conservation, I recognise the profound opportunity to harness the creativity, passion, idealism and energy of youth in this grand endeavour. Young people must fully participate in the discussions that shape our future. It’s time for the voice of my generation to be heard. From strikers to thinkers to doers, our generation, the most digitally connected and nature-conscious ever to exist, is ready to act. As I conclude my thoughts on our relationship with the natural world, the crow perches near to me and ceases singing. We both cast our eyes across the ancient Scottish capital. There is room for us both here.