Biodiversity is defined as the variety of all living things on Earth, and how they fit together. 

Across the UK, we have lost nearly half of our biodiversity, and the remainder is threatened by the loss of habitat, a changing climate and new pests and diseases. This is why Crawley Borough Council declared a ‘Climate and Nature Emergency’. 

Crawley has excellent parks and gardens, and here are some of the steps we are taking to protect and enhance our natural environment:

• new strategies for tree planting and woodland management
• applying new legislation through the planning process to make sure that any housing developments improve biodiversity
• setting aside green spaces as ‘habitat banks’ which have long-term protection from development
• removing diseased trees to prevent further cases, as well as plants that spread fatal diseases to our oak trees
• working with partners such as Gatwick Greenspace (part of Sussex Wildlife Trust) and other volunteer community groups to improve and preserve areas of natural habitat
• minimising our use of pesticides which can harm bees and other pollinators

We want to protect our green spaces and make sure everyone in Crawley has access to nature. 

For more information:

• Read our biodiversity duty report
• Read our tree planting strategy

• Visit our nature conservation page.
• Visit our gardens and parks page.
• Visit Woodland Trust's Goff's Park page.
• Visit Green Flag Award's website for Worth Park's conservation report.

Read our biodiversity and nature related news by searching for the keywords ‘climate’ and ‘nature’

Get in touch by emailing climate@crawley.gov.uk.