Biodiversity
What is Biodiversity?
Biodiversity is everything that contributes to variety in the living world. This includes variety in habitats (e.g. grassland and woodland) as well as diversity in species. Biodiversity is important because of the essential contribution that it makes to the functioning of our planet and because of all the benefits that it provides, from foods and medicine to climate regulation.
Contact with biodiversity and the natural world has also been linked to improvements in health and emotional well-being.
Our approach
The University of Leeds has developed a campus Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) as the basis for a co-ordinated approach to biodiversity, to provide teaching opportunities and the chance to engage both students and staff with the management of their campus. The BAP will improve information gathering, recording and monitoring, and enhance the biodiversity value of the university campus and its immediate surroundings.
The BAP seeks to fulfill the following objectives:
- To raise awareness of biodiversity on campus and the need to maintain and enhance it
- To maintain and enhance biodiversity on campus through the implementation of species and habitat action plans
- To engage staff and students in biodiversity projects and initiatives that will enhance their University experience
- To provide a new teaching resource through the incorporation of biodiversity survey and monitoring into the curriculum
The University Biodiversity Action Plan is available in our downloads section.