Big Biodiversity Conversation
Find out about our recent biodiversity work.
The Big Biodiversity Conversation stage one: biodiversity projects
In November 2021, we commissioned a two-day biodiversity survey of the full campus site and a desk-based data search of the area 2km from the University boundaries in all directions. This established the University’s Baseline Biological Value (November 2021) and provided recommendations for nature and/or biodiversity enhancements, including suggested timelines and budgets. See a summary of the methodology and baseline results [PDF 2.1MB].
In March 2022 we launched the Big Biodiversity Conversation so you, the Sussex community, could guide our biodiversity efforts.
The first objective of the conversation was to decide on a series of practical biodiversity projects to run on campus. To achieve this, we hosted an online consultation where students, staff, alumni, and stakeholders could suggest ideas and provide feedback. Read the archived conversation.
In April 2022, we held the Big Biodiversity Conversation conference and workshop. This was attended by students, staff, alumni, external stakeholders, and leading academics. The community discussed the practical project ideas and voted on the five most impactful and achievable. These projects were awarded £20,000 of shared funding, partly raised by staff, students and alumni running the Brighton Marathon.
Professor Dave Goulson on the sixth mass extinction event
- Video transcript
Hi, my name’s Dave Goulson and I’m Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex, and I specialise in studying bumblebees. Lots of them around me today, thankfully. Sadly, though, bumblebees broadly are in decline, as is biodiversity as a whole. We are worryingly in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event, species going extinct faster than they have for 65 million years since a meteor wiped out the dinosaurs.
But this extinction event is down to us. And so, just to give you some examples: Butterfly populations in the UK have roughly halved since I was a kid, since 1976. Bird populations, the breeding bird population in the UK has fallen by, on average, 42 birds per hour, every hour since 1966 when I was one year old. Isn’t that terrifying?
Anyway, let’s not get depressed because it’s not too late! We can all do something about it! Biodiversity can recover if we give it some help. And so today, I’m here to encourage you, everybody, to sign up to raise money for biodiversity projects in and around Sussex by running a 10K or, if you’re fitter and have the stomach for it, a whole marathon to raise money. This is next April in Brighton. So do your bit for biodiversity and sign up now. Thank you.
Since then, the University has worked closely with students and members of staff to get these up and running on campus. You can read more about these projects, and find out how to get involved.
These projects will help us achieve a biodiversity net-gain, as well as providing opportunities for education and research on biodiversity.
As well as discussing practical ways to improve biodiversity on campus, a panel of experts gave their views on how we can stop the sixth mass extinction, followed by an audience Q&A.
Stage two: setting aside land for nature
In March 2022, we contracted Biora, a leading independent biodiversity consultancy, to assess the levels of biodiversity on the Sussex campus. Their ecologists found that 38% of our campus land is currently set aside for nature. ‘Land set aside for nature’ refers to areas of land that are either not managed or are managed at a low level to encourage nature to develop.
Biora also supplied the University with GIS maps that demonstrate which potential land could be changed to low-management or become passively rewilded. These maps were presented to the attendees of the Big Biodiversity Conversation workshop.
In December 2022, we consulted our community on whether the areas that Biora marked to set aside on these maps seemed right, or if there were any areas we have missed that could potentially be added to the map as suitable for conversion. View the maps used in the consultation..
We heard from students and staff from across the university, who told us what they’d like to see on campus, how they currently use areas of campus land, and which areas could or could not be suitable to set aside for nature.
Based on the consultation, the University has committed to increase the percentage of campus biodiversity from the 2022 baseline of 38% to 42% by December 2027. This figure sees the University far outstrip the UK government’s 2020 commitment to manage 30% of UK land for nature by 2030. The University may go further in future.
You can read more about our vision to become the most biodiverse campus in the UK in our Biodiversity Strategy and Biodiversity Policy [PDF 1.36MB].
The 42% of land set aside for nature
Based on the consultation, the University has committed to increase the percentage of campus biodiversity from the 2022 baseline of 38% to 42% by December 2027. This figure sees the University far outstrip the UK government’s 2020 commitment to manage 30% of UK land for nature by 2030. The University may go further in future.
The map below shows an indicative land use plan, where campus land set aside for nature is increased to 42%.
Access this map in table form (suitable for screen readers).
