The importance of gardens in Conservation

Last year David Attenborough came up with what is considered a radical approach in wildlife conservation.

He claimed that at the moment, due to mass logging, plastic ocean pollution and climate change, as well as many other threats affecting the Natural World, nature reserves and parks are not enough to allow wildlife to survive and flourish in healthy populations. 
He went on to say that the best (and possibly only) way to protect wild animals is to allow wildlife to flourish within our own towns and cities. Greater amounts of plant life should be allowed to grow in urban environments, roadside verges should be used as areas for wildlife, and gardens should also used as areas where wild plant life and animals can live.

I completely agree with this, as us humans have destroyed gigantic swathes of wild land for our own selfish use, and it is only fair to now share our developed world with the wildlife whose lives we have made more difficult. However although I feel that turning most if not all of the urban cities and towns all over the world into more natural environments is a must, it is a project that requires a great amount of time, effort and government funding, so is probably unlikely to happen anytime soon. Especially considering how little attention conservation seems to gain by acting politicians anyway.

But gardens are owned by normal people, who have complete control on how their gardens are looked after and designed.

Which is why I implore you to make your garden as wildlife friendly as possible. Plant a wide array of wild flowers to attract Bees, Beetles and other pollinators that will get fed by the flowers and aid in the plants own reproduction. Put out a Bird feeder or ten (making sure to change the food regularly), as well as a bird bath. Create log piles to provide food and shelter for invertebrates and small mammals. Even a small window box outside your window containing wild flowers can be of great use to a range of wildlife if you live in a apartment without a garden.

Millions of people all over the world have gardens, and if most of these were to transformed into environments healthy enough to act as homes for wildlife, it would make one hell of a difference to the natural world.

-Thomas Glen