Mankind is moving away from nature more and more.causes a permanent decrease in direct contact with the environment. This is the result of research conducted by a Franco-German research team at the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the University of Leipzig, and the Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station (SETE—CNRS). Not only is the distance that people tend to live from the nearest natural area is increasing, but cities have less green space.
Researchers recall that contact with nature is a crucial factor in fostering pro-environmental behavior and thus facing the global ecological crisis. Study published Boundaries in Ecology and the Environment.
The scientists measured the variation experienced. Average distance from an individual’s home to the nearest area with low human influence in last decade.
They discovered this people currently live on average 9.7 km from a natural area, 7% more than in 2000. Europe and East Asia have the highest average distance to natural areas. 22 km in Germany and 16 km in France. “The incredible thing is all other countries in the world follow a similar pattern“, explains first author Victor Cazalis, a postdoctoral fellow at iDiv and the University of Leipzig.
Cities also have fewer trees
The authors also showed that: tree cover in cities has declined worldwide since 2000, especially in Central Africa and Southeast Asia. “This finding suggests that urban populations are also less likely to access green spaces,” said Gladys Barragan-Jason, a researcher at the Station for Theortical and Experimental Ecology and co-author of the study.
“In fact, the study reveals that the destruction of natural areas combined with the sharp increase in urban population has led to an increased spatial distance between humans and nature, particularly in Asia, Africa and South America.”
In the same study, the authors systematically searched for scientific publications that evaluated a topic. trend in nature experiences: from direct experiences such as walks in national parks to indirect experiences such as natural environments in cultural products such as cartoons, computer games or books. They found that the number of studies evaluating these trends was very low, with a strong bias towards the US, Europe, and Japan.
18 studies found by authors, for example Decreased visits to nature parks in the US and Japan, a decrease in camping activities in the US, and a decrease in the number of flower species observed by Japanese children. Another indication of this disconnection with nature is that less and less natural elements are included in novels, songs, children’s albums and animated films. less and less impregnated with natural images.
Despite these examples of regression, other interactions are preserved or even increased. For example, watching wildlife documentaries or interacting with wild animals in video games is more common than it was a few years ago. “New ways of interacting with nature digitally have definitely emerged or increased in recent years,” says Gladys Barragan-Jason. “However, several previous studies show that These interactions have less of an impact on our sense of connection with nature than direct interaction.“.
“Knowing about these human-nature interactions is very important because they play a key role in establishing our relationship with nature and our behavior,” says Victor Cazalis.
“To achieve the necessary social transformations of the 21st century, we need to establish a good connection with nature.. Only then will humanity be able to ‘live in harmony with nature by 2050’, as our governments have envisioned through the Global Framework for Biodiversity, now discussed at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Reference work: DOI: 10.1002/fee.2540
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