Protecting everyday nature

Journal article

‘Everyday nature’, understood as people’s ability to access nature nearby, should be protected in law and planning policy, facilitating three key benefits: (1) human health and wellbeing; (2) intrinsic and extrinsic ecological advantages; and (3) supporting the UK’s 30by30 nature conservation commitment. Yet there are three obstacles to the protection of everyday nature: (1) the prioritisation of ‘special’ and ‘priority’ nature conservation habitats; (2) the lack of protection for Local Wildlife Sites; as well as (3) counter-intuitively, the rise of biodiversity as a preferred governing concept. Addressing these obstacles, the paper develops the concept of everyday nature, making four proposals for change: (1) improved conceptual analysis; (2) confirming current policy on Local Wildlife Sites; (3) implementing the concept of everyday nature in legislation and planning policy; and (4) implementing the Government’s target that everyone lives within a 15-minute walk from a green or blue space.

Authors: Layard, A; Marshall, A; de Vito, L; Few, R; Hatzisavvidou, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Journal of Environmental Law
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 275-299
• Publication date: 2024-08-22
• DOI: 10.1093/jel/eqae018
• EISSN: 1464-374X
• ISSN: 0952-8873
• Language: English
• Keywords: everyday nature; nature conservation; planning; just transition; nature; biodiversity; housing