Disaster fear over break with past

Environment change expert Prof Ian Rotherham said countryside traditions had been systematically abandoned over two centuries, but the effects had yet to be fully felt.

Prof Rotherham calls the process "cultural severance" and claimed the lack of rural knowledge and skills held by a vast majority of Britons could spell ecological trouble.

He said other countries have already encountered environmental problems as a result of ignoring the countryside, including an increase in wildfires and serious floods.

The professor, who runs the environmental change research unit at Sheffield Hallam University, plans to hold a conference later this year in an attempt to "reunite society with rural landscapes".

Prof Rotherham said yesterday: "If you stopped the average child in the street and showed them a dandelion they probably would not be able to tell you what it was.

"We have got to look at how we can educate, engage and empower the next generation to be the custodians of the environment."

The conference, to be held in Sheffield, will focus on how people's loss of contact with nature is having a devastating impact on the global and domestic environment.

It will look at problems like the removal of wet lowlands, which contributes towards the release of carbon into the atmosphere and towards flooding of more built-up areas.

Prof Rotherham said: "In the UK this type of thing has been happening over the last 200 years, but in places like India, China and Brazil it's happening at a much faster rate due to rapid clearing and burning of woodland.

"Similarly, the build-up of dead wood and vegetation in abandoned rural areas has led to catastrophic wild fires in Italy, California, Australia and France. And it could easily happen here in the UK.

"The impact on global biodiversity, and on people disconnected from their traditional landscapes, poses real and serious economic and social problems which need to be addressed now."

The conference will feature a presentation by environmentalist and television naturalist Prof David Bellamy who yesterday supported Prof Rotherham's findings.

He said: "Cultural severance and the end of tradition are the greatest threats to the sustainability of the biosphere and hence the future of the diversity of humankind."

Speaking at the Great Yorkshire Show yesterday, Chloe Palmer, regional director for the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), welcomed Prof Rotherham's findings. She told the Yorkshire Post: "If the environment matters, it matters. If we lose it now then that loss is irreversible – you cannot just bring in some funding in 10 years time and expect it to be back up and running again."

She urged the Government to resist the temptation to cut back on agri-environmental schemes which see farmers work to promote wildlife conservation.

Prof Rotherham's conference will include presentations from leading researchers from around the world and debate with key organisations.

It will take place between September 15 and 17, at Sheffield Hallam University.

For full details, visit www.ukeconet.co.uk or to book a place telephone 0114 272 4227 or email: [email protected]