Biodiversity

  • The Seeds of Change: Innovating for Sustainable Agriculture

    Agriculture is a vast and vital industry that provides livelihoods for hundreds of millions and food for billions across our planet. Similar to other sectors, however, agriculture’s expansion and industrialisation have increased its impact on the environment to unsustainable levels (Alam and Rukhsana, 2023), especially regarding greenhouse gas emissions and the biodiversity crisis. As a…

  • Bees on Campus

    Bees provide a range of important services that help maintain the health and vibrancy of our natural environment in both rural and urban settings. In our beautiful city-centre campus, for instance, urban bees assist our Grounds Team in caring for greenery from the wildflower meadows in Claremont Court to the tulip beds outside King’s Gate.…

  • Sustainability Highlights 22/23

    With the next academic year due to begin, it’s time to take a moment to reflect on the University’s sustainability activity. From buzzing eco-friendly events and collaborations to receiving exciting awards, this year has been packed with sustainable achievements.  We held some great events…  Climate Action at Newcastle University  On the 10th of November 2022,…

  • Actions Newcastle University takes to protect and enhance biodiversity

    Biodiversity loss is advancing at a rapid rate, the Living Planet Report (2020) outlines five prominent threats to biodiversity: Changes in land and sea use Species overexploitation Invasive species and disease Pollution Climate change Newcastle University undertakes multiple actions to protect and enhance biodiversity on campus as part of its commitment to environmental sustainability. If…

  • An introduction to biodiversity

    What is biodiversity?  Biodiversity is a term you may hear a lot, but what does it actually mean? A simple way to define it is that it describes the variety of plant and animal life in a given area. The more biodiverse an area is, the more ecosystem services it provides. When trying to imagine…

  • United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15)

    The biodiversity conference occurs every two years and took place last month in Montreal, Canada. Within this summit an extremely important discussion surrounding a potential international biodiversity framework was the centre of goals and targets regarding biodiversity. The importance of thriving biodiversity and the significance of the biodiversity crisis has been summarised succinctly here:  “Nature…

  • Newcastle University is a Hedgehog Friendly Campus. What does this mean?

    What is a Hedgehog Friendly Campus?  A Hedgehog Friendly Campus is a university campus, school or college who has joined a campaign created by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society (BHPS) to make their estates a safe and habitable environment for hedgehogs. The campaign also helps to raise awareness toward hedgehog conservation. Newcastle University first joined…