The importance of biodiversity in achieving net zero
Protecting the natural world is an important component in achieving net zero.
02/07/2022![broad backed chaser dragonfly at BGS Keywort](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/broad_backed_chaser_dragonfly_web.jpg)
Managing our landscapes, from individual gardens to vast areas of native woodlands and peatlands, is vital for sequestering and storing carbon while also increasing and protecting the biodiversity of our plants and animals. A recent study by Natural England has shown that a hectare of woodland sequesters as much carbon dioxide (CO2) each year as 13 flights between London and Rome.
At BGS, we have been creating meadows from our former lawns and, by maintaining native trees in small patches of woodland, we are contributing to carbon sequestering.
![long-tailed tit in BGS Keyworth](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/long-tailed-tit_web.jpg)
Long-tailed tit in the trees around the BGS Keyworth campus. BGS © UKRI.
Our Keyworth site, located on the outskirts of Nottingham, was highlighted as a prime place to manage one of our estate’s landscapes and return the area to a more natural state. Our grassland areas are now 80 per cent ‘no mow’ between April and October, after a recent survey of these areas showed we have many ‘old’ meadow plants, including bee orchids. Various patches of the site have been left to go completely wild and now hundreds of small native trees (hawthorn; blackthorn; holly, etc.) have popped up between the large established trees, while the undergrowth is a mass of brambles and nettles, which is great for butterflies and bees.
Other initiatives to increase our biodiversity include:
- maintaining a pond, which is filled from rainwater diverted from a nearby roof
- installing 60 bird boxes for small birds and owls
- adding several hedgehog boxes
- planting an orchard with twelve apple and pear trees, which will bear fruit for staff and insects in the next couple of years
- establishing three large bug hotels and several bee mounds in our newly created orchard for our smaller guests (insects, mice, voles and shrews)
![Bug hotel at BGS Keyworth](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/bug_hotel_web.jpg)
The BGS site is full of different initiatives promoting local biodiversity, such as this bug hotel made from recycled materials. BGS © UKRI.
In one sunny space, we recently removed and chipped several Leylandii, thus creating an place that is desirable to our local grass snakes. The space includes a large, warm compost area, swathes of heat-absorbing wood chip and rock caves built from waste rock-core material.
To celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee we created a walkway of Japanese cherry trees. While not native, these cherry trees will provide nectar early in the season to feed early-emerging bees and other insects. We have planted thousands of spring bulbs including bluebells, snowdrops, wild garlic and daffodils. The Keyworth grounds have also been enhanced with wild-flower circles; the ox-eye daisies have looked particularly amazing through June.
![Ox-eye daisies at BGS Keyworth](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/daisies_web.jpg)
Ox-eye daisies blooming in the grounds of BGS Keyworth. BGS © UKRI.
The BGS Keyworth site is a good example of how, by changing the management of the grounds, we are helping to sequester carbon as well as reaping multiple other benefits. We save money by reducing our gardening costs, improve the health of our plants and animals, and the beautiful grounds are admired by our staff and encourage lunchtime walks, which supports the health and well-being of both staff and visitors.
About the author
![Prof Mel Leng](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/P1036132-500.jpg)
Prof Melanie Leng
BGS Chief Scientist, environmental change, adaptation and resilience
Relative topics
Latest blogs
![Nine people in two groups (four to the left; five to the right) standing on grey rocks with brown cliffs behind them.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/tuscany-feature-image.jpg)
The heat beneath our feet: BGS field visit to Tuscan geothermal systems
05/07/2024
BGS visits the active and fossilised geothermal systems of southern Tuscany, Italy.
![Sophia and Job at BGS conducting specialist analysis of Pu in soils.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Job_Sophia_Lab_T-Barlow_thumbnail.jpg)
Harnessing global collaboration: UK/Kenya partnership in soil erosion research
31/05/2024
Collaboration between scientists is vital in today’s interconnected world to further scientific progress. In environmental research, issues such as soil erosion demand collaboration on an international scale.
![The aurora over Haddington, Scotland. Credit: Migle Petruskeviciute](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/aurora-over-haddington-scotland.webp)
A-roaring display
16/05/2024
The dazzling and colourful aurora borealis, or northern lights, observed by many across the UK last weekend was one of the most extreme and long-lasting geomagnetic storms recorded in the last 155 years.
![Scott's Monument, west elevation. © BGS/UKRI](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Scott_monument_thumbnail.jpg)
Building stones spotlight: the Sir Walter Scott Memorial 25 years after its conservation
29/04/2024
BGS geologist, Luis Albornoz-Parra, discusses the iconic Edinburgh monument, the building stones used in its construction and the result (so far) of its conservation efforts.
![Rebecca Mumpansha, a GSD librarian, with the sales stock of geological maps. © Rachel Talbot.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/P1000254-960x645.webp)
Unlocking key mineral archives at the Zambian Geological Survey Department
23/02/2024
Rachel Talbot recounts a recent visit by BGS Records staff to the Zambian Geological Survey Department, to assist in critical mineral data management.
![Aurora borealis in northern Norway. © Jeremy Bishop/Unsplash.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/henrik-heitmann-wQ1UIvNfgYQ-unsplash.webp)
Will 2024 be the Year of the Aurora?
23/02/2024
The Sun’s approximate eleven-year activity cycle is predicted to peak this year, prompting BGS scientists to anticipate that 2024 will be the ‘Year of the Aurora’.
![P1038353](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/P1038353.webp)
Hungry like a wolf: new insights from old bones housed in the BGS museum collections
18/01/2024
BGS scientists are studying the diets of ancient British wolves and how they adapted to changing environments.
![The Lewes Nodular Chalk Formation contributes to the chemistry of overlying soils in Culver Down on the Isle of Wight. BGS © UKRI.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/culver-down-p683813.webp)
How BGS is helping the farming sector of Great Britain
17/01/2024
New legislation concerning soil management and technology in modern farming has led to an increase in enquiries about BGS’s Soil Parent Material Model.
![The Codleteth Burn catchment with its outlet fan system and recent debris flow deposits near Talla Linfoots. BGS © UKRI.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/P1038346-scaled-1-960x640.jpg)
Moving stones: faults, slopes and sediments
12/01/2024
Fractured rock along faults affects sediment movement on slopes with implications for the design of infrastructure.
![Chris Bengt, PhD Student, in Stable Isotope Lab, Keyworth. BGS © UKRI.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/chris-bengt-p1038345.webp)
Understanding nutrients in tropical rainforests
11/01/2024
Christopher Bengt talks about carrying out research for his PhD amongst the rainforests and volcanoes of the Philippines.
![Gold mining activities (milled ore washing and sluicing) and community drinking water downslope of ASGM activities. © Maureene Auma Ondayo.](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/gold-mining-activities-sluicing-p1038343-960x645.webp)
Linking geochemistry and health in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Kakamega-Vihiga gold belt, Kenya
09/01/2024
PhD candidate Maureene Auma Ondayo is investigating major and trace element exposure in the environment in Kenya, aiming to reduce exposure of humans to toxic chemicals.
![Team UK at the International Geography Olympiad. Source: Jo Bayham & Jen Lomas](https://www.bgs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1_Team_UK.jpg)
The Geography Olympiad: Bandung, Indonesia
22/12/2023
School student Dion Thompson joined Team UK at this year’s International Geology Olympiad in Indonesia. We hear from Dion’s mentor Anna Hicks, before Dion reports on the Olympiad itself.