Unearthing the correlation between conservation & mental health

By Nick Holme, Zambesia Conservation Alliance

hen I was a young boy growing up in rural Zimbabwe in the 1970’s and 1980’s, the

Wbush, with all its amazing animals and plant life was a source of pure joy and wonderment for me. I was always happiest when I was amongst the blessings that Mother Nature had endowed on us and if ever I felt sad and down, it was the bush that restored me to happiness and gave me the sense of equilibrium that we lack so much in this modern world.

Fast forward to 2020, when the world was ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic and countries entered into total lockdown, with people being restricted to their houses for weeks and months on end. We were suddenly denied the simple pleasures of going for a walk and watching the birds flying from tree to tree or the bees and butterflies flitting from flower to flower. We weren’t allowed to visit the green parks in cities or walk in the open countryside. We weren’t allowed to hear the babbling of streams, or the wind sighing through the leaves. We weren’t allowed to run through meadows of lush green grass or experience the majestic beauty of hiking up mountains. We were prisoners in our own homes and gradually became prisoners of our minds. Our mental health suffered and the whole world came to the realisation that mental well-being is inextricably bound to our natural world and the myriad of simple joys that can be experienced in

nature. Even the most hardened of city dwellers suffered and probably more so than those who were fortunate enough to be living in the countryside.

If we only learn one thing from this terrible pandemic, let it be the realisation that Nature is the most important thing in our lives and without it, we will suffer unimaginable consequences, both physical and mental. We do not control Nature - Nature controls everything - and if we nurture Nature, then Nature will nurture us.

It begins with protecting our wild landscapes… It goes without saying that the preservation and conservation of our remaining wild spaces should be a priority for all human beings. Without the incredible biodiversity on this planet, we will simply cease to exist. We need earthworms for our soils; we need bees to pollinate plants; we need elephants to spread seeds in their dung; we need dung beetles to clear up the dung; we need vultures to clean up carcasses; we need whales to store carbon; we need trees for oxygen - the list is endless and every living organism plays its part, somewhere, to maintain the equilibrium required for our physical survival as a species.

Without the amazing biodiversity around us we cannot survive, and Nature has incredible coping mechanisms to ensure that we do not endanger it - from viruses, to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and droughts, Nature has many tools at her disposal to prevent our excesses from destroying the environment. However, those methods used by Nature will be at our expense and we need to realise that Nature does not need us, but we most certainly need Nature. We have to learn to work with Nature and not against it. This is something we, as humans, used to do, hundreds of years ago, but in our quest for dominance, we seem to have forgotten who the true boss actually is!

So, we need Nature for our physical survival, but…. we also need to conserve what’s left for our mental survival. The relationship between Nature and our mental wellbeing The symbiotic link between Nature and human beings is being researched continuously, with an ever-increasing number of scientific studies coming to the conclusion that a prescription of time with Nature is quite often better than some of the drug prescriptions that we have relied upon so heavily in the past. Researchers around the world have discovered that even spending a short time in a natural setting can have positive physiological and psychological effects, such as reduced stress, lower blood pressure, less negative emotions and happier moods. The benefits of Nature are so positive that nature therapy, or ecotherapy, is being prescribed more and more by medical organisations, such as the National Health Service in the UK, to help tackle mental health problems.

According to Thembile Gola, a student Clinical Psychologist who runs the mental health and resilience programmes for Consolidated Africa Services PVO in Zimbabwe: “The Covid-19 pandemic really put into perspective for everybody just how much we rely on our natural environment to keep well mentally and emotionally. Our environment constitutes a huge part of our holistic health, as nature has a proven soothing effect on us. We seek to continue demonstrating the various ways humanity can leverage the healing power of nature and give back by conserving the environments that sustain us.”

Furthermore, for those concerned about the cost of conservation - and it certainly isn’t cheap – on reversing some of the damage we have already done and preserving what’s left - one Australian study, published in Nature Communications in 2019, estimates that the global value in improved mental health from being in the great outdoors is around US$6 trillion per year. This means that if we did not have natural spaces for people to visit, then Governments would have to find at least US$6 trillion (and probably a lot more) for alternative mental health treatments to replace what Nature is giving us for free.

Compared with the estimated US$300 billion - US$400 billion needed globally for conservation each year, I would argue that spending those conservation dollars is a lot cheaper than finding more than US$6 trillion annually for mental health treatment alone - and that doesn’t even take into consideration the extra funding we would have to find to combat climate change and evolving agricultural practices just to keep up with feeding an expanding population, which is a whole topic in itself.

Conservation and mental wellbeing are inextricably linked. Even if we are callous enough not to worry about the extinction of a few species, we should, at the very least, be conserving our precious flora and fauna for our sanity - and our survival.

To learn more about Zambesia Conservation Alliance (ZCA) an organisation that exists to drive awareness through creative and impactful movements that directly connect to conservation, visit www.zambesia.com