Competing with the Amazon rainforest

Here, Dr Tony Whitbread, chief executive of Sussex Wildlife Trust, explains what the biosphere bid is all about - and how it affects you.

What do the Yellowstone Park in America, the Amazon rainforest and the South Downs between the rivers Adur and Ouse have in common?

They all are, or want to become, biosphere reserves.

The biosphere is the world we live in and share with other living things – the zone of life around our planet.

For many years Unesco (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) has been developing a network of the best ‘biosphere’ areas in which to promote a balanced relationship between people and nature.

These are areas of international wildlife importance, and good examples of where interaction with that wildlife provides benefits to both people and nature.

There are more than 500 such areas around the world, including seven in Britain.

But how can our part of Sussex be in the same category as the Amazon rainforest?

The starting point is the internationally important wildlife sites, and sometimes we do not realise what we have on our own doorsteps.

On the Downs, at Castle Hill and by Lewes, we do have such incredible wildlife sites.

These are staggeringly rich and diverse places – they can have up to 40 species of flower in just one square metre (the average farm field may have just four or five in several acres), and support rare insects such as the adonis blue butterfly and the wart-biter cricket.

And these sites are just the pinnacle – the best of the best.

This rich grassland covers many steep slopes on the Downs and extends right into Brighton.

So we do have internationally important wildlife sites, but it is also the interaction with the people of Brighton and Hove, Lewes, and surrounding areas that is crucial.

These are not only places for wildlife, important though that is.

The biosphere project is about increasing understanding about how our lives, whether rural or urban, are hugely dependent on the quality of the natural environment.

The Downs provide local food, including lamb, cereals and other crops.

However, the internationally important downland grassland only exists because of grazing by sheep.

Also, the Downs act like a huge sponge, soaking up and storing water which we then extract.

Most of the water we use comes from under the Downs.

This rich downland grassland sits on top of this water resource, collecting rainwater, purifying it and encouraging it to percolate underground.

The quality of our water depends on how the Downs are farmed and the quality of its biodiversity.

The Downs outside Brighton and Lewes are also a valuable green-lung for all who live in and visit the area.

The quality of the environment attracts huge numbers of people to the South Downs Way, for example, for health, exercise, nature watching or just to enjoy the breathtaking views of orchid-strewn grassland.

As well as the Downs to the north there is, of course, the sea to the south providing locally sourced fish.

Both land and sea are important for recreational opportunities, but the potential is again related to the quality of that resource.

For example, clean seas and beaches attract visitors, surfers and other recreational users, helping boost the local economy.

We may take it for granted but this area has both the internationally important ecology and the interaction with people. Furthermore, both can be improved to the mutual benefit of each.

This is the background to the Brighton and Hove and Lewes Downs Biosphere Project, a new partnership which aims to gain international recognition from the United Nations for the special nature of the local environment in and around Brighton.

The Sussex Wildlife Trust is glad to be one of the many partners supporting this project.

By gaining international recognition the Biosphere bid hopes to attract funding to improve our environment and to join up current work and activities.

The international accreditation will raise the profile of the South Downs and so help with tourism and the local economy with all sorts of further benefits to education, health and well-being.

Novel approaches to funding should also help in the conservation management of the Downs, to support the high quality environment on which everything else depends.

The vision of the Biosphere project is to develop a unified approach to better care for, manage and enjoy our local environment.

This includes the city itself, the surrounding countryside and the sea, so we can help to bring people and nature closer together.

At present the only large conurbation within the project area is Brighton and Hove, but the bid is equally relevant to surrounding towns and villages such as Steyning, Shoreham, Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Ditchling, Hassocks, and many others.

We may not all have the privilege of visiting the Amazon rainforest, but maybe this project will help a little with the appreciation of our own local wildlife.