Biodiversity protection starts in your back yard

Valentin Emelin

By GRID-Arendal

May 22^nd, 2021

There are a few sounds that I hate. A squeaking sound of metal scratching a glass. A motorcycle roaring in the middle of the night. A tooth drill. For me it was probably the most hated sound, because when I was a kid, dentists did not use anesthesia.

But now, my most hated sound is the sound of a chainsaw in the morning. And this is just as bad as an aching tooth.

For the last ten years, we've lived in a very quiet and peaceful neighborhood on Hisøy, an island near the main town of Arendal along the southern Norwegian coast. However, every weekend, my wife and I wake up to the sound of a chainsaw. It means that yet another tree is going to fall. I understand the need for sanitary cuts to preserve the health of the tree. But these are not to protect the tree. These are just cuts.

Some are for development: we need a new parking lot. Others are for security: a tree might fall on our property. Sometimes yes, it is necessary to take down an old tree that poses a risk of collapse. But often – no, a healthy tree could stand for many more years.

Another reason? For sunlight. Yes, this is the most common explanation we get when asking why you need to cut: not enough sunlight. Trees obscure sunlight.

And for firewood. Yes, it is ‘koselig’ to sit by a cozy fireplace with a glass of wine on a cold winter night. But I've lost count of the times when, hiking in the local woods, I came across not just cuttings, but heaps of firewood being stored. All this wood, chopped but abandoned years ago, uselessly rotting.

Deforestation in Arendal. Photo: Valentin Emelin.

There is a general feeling of abundance of forest in Norway. A lot of forest, what is there to worry about?

Not so true after all. Norway has lost 774,000 ha of forest or 6,6% of its tree cover since year 2000, and the loss is accelerating.

Tree Cover Loss in Norway. Global Forest Watch.

Compare the forest cover in Arendal area in these satellite photos from 1984 and 2020. Deforestation is clearly visible.

Satellite Images of Arendal and surroundings in 1984 and 2020. Google Earth Timelapse.

The decrease in tree cover also means a decline in wildlife and biodiversity. When we arrived in Arendal twenty years ago, there was an abundance of birds. We counted twenty-two different species in our garden. Now there are predominantly sparrows and crows. And it is no surprise – a lot of big trees, with nesting places as well as protecting undergrowth, are gone. Hence the loss of biodiversity.

It isn't just the birds. We had deer who took refuge on our property, a herd of five. Two years ago there were three – a mother and two fawns. Last year there were two youngsters, the mother has disappeared. This winter we only observed one, but we haven't seen him for the last three months. Initially there was a family of badgers, they were gone a long time ago. There were mussels in abundance on the local beach. Now even their broken shells are missing.

Last year, as in the previous years, we were helping toads to avoid traffic and safely cross to the local pond. On a peak evening we collected over a hundred toads. This year there were hardly thirty. Ten years ago we were feeding up to thirty swans. Now we are lucky to see one family of four. Swallows were in abundance; we could count more than twenty circling with a shimmering sound, hunting for insects in the dusk. Only five have returned last year. I have not seen a single bat for five years. Ten years ago our garden was buzzing with bees. This spring we have only one (one!) bumblebee working on our cherry trees. We saved him by giving drops of syrup, as after this cold winter he was too weak to fly. The list of losses goes on and on.

Biodiversity protection starts in your back yard

Twenty years ago, when we had just arrived from a megalopolis, comparable to the population of Norway, to Arendal – it was a place where we could realize our dream to live close to nature. Not anymore.

What are we doing? We want to live in comfort not in nature, but at the expense of nature. We want a parking lot instead of a meadow. We are all responsible for small, negative, irreversible changes, which bring closer the collapse of ecosystems in our backyards. Soon we will be left only with crows, spiders and slugs.

At the same time, we say we are standing up against climate change. The European Commission plans in coming years to plant 3 billion extra trees, expand organic farming and introduce fines for missing targets on nature restoration to reverse the loss of wildlife and habitats. The biodiversity strategy calls for 30 per cent of Europe’s land and seas to become a protected area by 2030.

This is a great initiative and an ambitious goal. But maybe we can begin with cherishing a single tree, which struggles hard to grow on our rocks? By protecting biodiversity in our neighborhood? Sure, planting 3 billion trees across Europe will help, but not cutting a tree in your backyard (and planting a few in your garden), protecting your local forest from illegal dumps and unnecessary cuts can also make a considerable contribution – that is something each can do here and now.

I dream of never hearing another chainsaw in the morning.

This story was written by Valentin Emelin, Head of GRID-Arendal’s Transboundary Governance and Environmental Crime Programme, to mark International Day for Biological Diversity 2021.