The latest update of the UK’s Biodiversity Indicators – published last week – tells a familiar and worrying story: we live in one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth. Birds and butterflies continue to decline, while the condition of protected wildlife areas see virtually no improvement. Without a major shift in how we build and invest, nature will keep deteriorating with huge consequences for our collective future.

Research shows the UK has just 53% of its biodiversity intact, placing us in the bottom 10% of countries worldwide – and the lowest in the G7. This means that one in six species across Great Britain is now at risk of extinction.

These numbers are not abstract warnings; they represent quieter dawns, emptier skies and hedgerows, and rivers that fail to support even once-common wildlife. And when ecosystems unravel, it affects everything from food security to public health, to protecting homes from floods.