Nature = Health

• The world around us shapes everyone’s health and wellbeing.  This is especially true of the natural world.

• The condition our neighbourhoods are in directly affects how long people will live, and the quality of their lives. Issues like air quality, the impacts of climate change and how much nature we can enjoy on our doorsteps all impact on our health. 

• Right now in the UK, poor quality living conditions are damaging people’s mental and physical health and wellbeing and actually cutting lives short.  While we know that for some people, this is caused by long-term medical conditions and life-limiting disabilities, Wildlife Trusts are committed to bringing about a wilder future – where healthy people live alongside a healthy natural environment.  

The current situation is unfair  

Too many of us live in polluted, nature-deprived neighbourhoods, at a great cost. This is unacceptable – but it is also avoidable:  

• One third of us do not have nature-friendly places near home. That’s nearly 9.5million households in England.

• 6.7 million children live in areas of the UK where the air is unsafe to breathe – beyond legal limits – which is leading to 36,000 child deaths every year in the UK.  

• People from black and ethnic minority groups are twice as likely to live in a nature-poor neighbourhoods.  

• Access to safe natural spaces for play is unequal: with children in affluent areas being 9 times more likely to have green places. 

When everyone benefits from nature on their doorsteps – when we can see trees, enjoy bursts of colour and listen to birdsong; when we can easily travel to and access wildlife-rich places like a beach, riverside or a park  - whether in person, or via an app or a webcam (Link to Wildlife Trusts webcams) for those not able to get out - then everyone’s health and wellbeing will improve.  

Having easy access to healthy natural places has been proven to increase physical activity, social connections and mental health.  

Many of us instinctively feel that nature is good for us, but there is plenty of evidence to support these positive impacts – which in turn will help relieve the burden on overstretched health services.  

What can I do to get involved? 

• Call for a new law that will give everyone ‘a right to access nature’ Nature for Everyone 

• Act for your own health and wellbeing. See how Nextdoor Nature from The Wildlife Trusts is enabling communities like yours across the country, and find out how you can get involved