Cool it Schools

The Concrete Jungle is open and schools are entering their gardens into the jungle-o-meter (our online calculator) that has already grown to over 10,000 Square meters! With half term over our campaign now begins in earnest, so please encourage your school to get involved and create a garden space for wildlife.

With the global extinction of species running at a rate of 1,000 X the fossil record (normal rate) we have to act now by providing enriched habitats to keep our wildlife safe and enable plants and animals, currently in decline, to rebuild their numbers. The main reasons behind species decline are climate change, the use of chemicals in agriculture and gardening and the loss of natural habitats. As well as creating a space for wildlife you could think about reducing your own carbon footprint and controlling garden 'pests' the organic way rather then introducing toxic chemicals into the food chain.

To join the Concrete Jungle you need some space in your school grounds that you would like to turn into a garden, it doesn't have to be vast, a small corner will do, then enter the measurements into the jungle-o-meter. There is a free teacher's pack that links all the conservation trusts, is full of creative projects, great gardening tips and will get you working across the curriculum too. The project is great fun and you can use it to gain points for your Eco-Schools award and Natural England's Big Wildlife Garden.

The best source of information about biodiversity is the IYB UK website (International Year of Biological Diversity UK) Cool it Schools is a IYB UK education partner.

The following extracts are taken from the speech given by Dr Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity at the launch of the IYB UK partnership at the Natural History Museum in London. Dr Djoghlaf pressed for an urgent response to halt the current unprecedented loss of species.

Biodiversity catastrophe
Some scientists believe that there is a biodiversity catastrophe unfolding, perhaps even a mass extinction like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
‘Today, the rate of species extinction may be 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate,’ says Dr Djoghlaf.
Climate change
‘Climate change is emerging as one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss,' says Dr Djoghlaf.
'According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 30% of all known species may disappear before the end the century due to climate change.'
'10% of species assessed to date will face an increasingly high risk of extinction for every 1°C rise in global mean surface temperature.’
Ecosystem services
Most of these losses are irreversible and are caused by human activities. They will affect the balance of natural ecosystems, the services they provide and the services we depend on.

Join Concrete Jungle and together we can help to protect wildlife.