In Conversation with Chloë - Plantlife

Our latest conversation is with Laura, Senior Partnerships Manager at Plantlife - a UK based wild plant conservation charity. We've worked with them for a number of years and are proud to donate 1% of sales of our full size bath, body, skin and home fragrance ranges to their cause. Their work is incredibly important to us as they ensure the health and vibrancy of our natural environments and the wonderful botanicals within it.

 

Join us as we discuss a bit more about their mission and how you can get involved...

 

Plantlife is the global charity working to enhance, protect, restore and

celebrate the wild plants and fungi that are essential to all life on earth. We

were founded in 1989 and are now supported by over 20,000 incredible

members. With two in five plant species at risk of extinction, biodiversity loss

is now the fastest it’s ever been – which means our work has never been

more vital.

 

We work to protect and restore temperate rainforests, meadows and other

environments for the benefit of rare and threatened species. With the

support of our funders and partners, we are building our temperate

rainforest advisor network, working to restore 10,000 hectares of species-

rich grassland and saving threatened species from extinction.

 

We deliver impact for plants and fungi around the world and Important Plant

Areas (IPAs) are at the heart of our global action. They are the key sites in

the world for exceptional botanical richness, rare, threatened and socio-

economically valuable plant species and rare and threatened habitats.

Plantlife developed the first IPA criteria in 2001, and these are now being

applied in over 50 countries around the world.

Earlier this year, the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland, which is

recognised as an IPA, was also designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,

making it the world’s first peatland World Heritage Site. The Flow Country

includes Plantlife’s Munsary reserve, a vast and undulating plain of blanket

bog, which is home to a huge variety of wildlife including some rare and

threatened species. Working to speak up for these special places – and

deliver the on-ground conservation work to ensure their protection into the

future – is at the heart of what we do, so securing this recognition is a great

achievement.

 

Many species are under increasing pressure from habitat loss, climate

change and pollution. With competing demands on land use, it is essential

that we work with partners to develop the policies, practices and networks to

ensure that plants and fungi can thrive and deliver benefits for people and

planet.

 

As a conservation charity, Plantlife is concerned about wider environmental

issues such as carbon emissions, resource use, and clean air, water and soils

because of the direct and indirect impacts these issues can have on wild

plants, fungi and other wildlife. We believe that if people live more

sustainably, nature will have more chance of thriving. We are therefore

committed to making sure that we continually seek to reduce our impacts on

the environment through our work.

In practice, this ranges from applying a travel hierarchy to minimise our

carbon footprint, to considering the environmental policies of the suppliers

we work with. In some cases, this might mean choosing a more expensive

option but we believe that we are delivering our charitable purposes more

effectively by working in this way.

 

There are many ways to help! You can become a member, take part in one

of our citizen science projects or simply make your garden a wildlife-friendly

space by letting parts of it grow wild. Supporting campaigns like No Mow

May has a direct impact on improving biodiversity, as well as raising

awareness of Plantlife and the importance of wild plants and fungi in your

own community.

Find out more about how you can help out here.