Our vision for Yorkshire

Nature-rich and resilient land and seascapes stretching from the sea to cities and fells with healthy, thriving ecosystems meeting the needs of people across Yorkshire.

Yorkshire’s nature plays many roles. A source of beauty and wonder, a place to be active, nature creates great places to live and work.

At the heart of it, nature underpins our economy, and even our very existence. Nature provides us all with the very fabric that sustains life – food, materials, water purification, and pollination.

Nature does not charge for her role; however, taking nature for granted has led to a crisis. Habitats and species are disappearing or degrading as we build on natural flood plains, destroy forests and degrade the water and soil, threatening our quality of life.

Yorkshire’s wildlife sites and protected areas are working to keep many species from disappearing, but they are too few and far between. We must make them the building blocks of a wider ecological network that will withstand climate change and other pressures, and deliver the services that we depend on.

We now understand more about how important nature is to our health, wealth and wellbeing. We need to help nature, so nature can help us.