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It's up to you!

Sophie Minnow, Robert Penguin and Sir Ling Ling from the BioDaVersity Code

It is true and you cannot escape the fact.

We are all part of the web of life and we need to protect it, because quite frankly it protects us.

The good news is that there are lots of things you can do to protect this web.

We are not in a hopeless situation.

In fact, even the simplest everyday activities can make a real difference, such as...

Be good to our climate

We've all seen it. We've all felt it.

If there is one thing happening to our environment that we can be sure of, it is that our climate is changing.

In fact without putting too finer point on it, climate change is probably the biggest threat we face.

People are threatened by droughts and floods, violent storms and altered seasons.

And this changing weather means habitats are changing. And as habitats change, many wild animals and plants - who can't keep up with the accelerating pace of change - are being pushed towards extinction.

But you can help to switch off global warming by using clean energy and cutting down on wasted energy.

Don’t buy bad souvenirs

You're on your holidays, you're in the souvenir shop, and boy does this one particular thing look nice. It’s so unusual, it would make a great talking point when you get home.

But is it made from the skin, fur, bone, beak or hooves of an endangered species?

If it is, and if you buy it, you're just going to encourage whoever killed it, crafted it or made it, to do it all over again.

Plus, most likely you're going to break an international law when you go home through customs, and that's always a situation to avoid.

By avoiding certain wildlife products and carefully watching what you buy (always ask!), you can avoid bringing many species closer to the edge of extinction.

At one and the same time you'll also be encouraging local suppliers to stock only legal and sustainable products.

So what should you look out for? You can check out our holiday guide here.

But the golden rule is this: if you doubt it, don't buy it.

Be a planet-friendly traveller

Yes indeed: how you travel can have a huge impact on our environment.

If we are lucky enough to be able to visit some of this planet's most glorious places, we not only bring our cameras and our money, but our demands for water, for food, for petrol, for space and we all leave our waste.

Obviously, local people want to make the most of our visit and cater to our demands – but if not carefully controlled, this can end up destroying the very thing we came there to find, to see, to marvel at in the first place.

(And that's without even mentioning the impacts that travelling by plane can have.)

But hey... If you travel responsibly, tourism can be a positive force for protecting our environment. And for encouraging local people to protect what is valuable to them because it's also valuable to us.

Find out how you can travel smart

Save our forests by buying good wood

It’s unbelievable, but true.

Every year about 13 million hectares of natural forest are lost. That’s the equivalent of 36 football fields a minute!

One of the main causes of this destruction is illegal logging, which is fed by the high demand for timber that ends up in our shops and your homes.

Yet as with holiday souvenirs, asking one simple question can make all the difference.

Simply ASK if it comes from a sustainable, legal source.

By questioning where your garden furniture or wooden flooring comes from - you can in fact halt the chainsaws and support those suppliers who are doing it right!

After all, no company wants to supply products that you, the consumer, does not want to buy!

Look out for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label and if you don't see it, then ask, and make sure you are only buying good wood!

Buy sustainable seafood

Is this true for you: what you can't see you don't care about?

Beneath the ocean's surface glaze there are constant scenes of utter destruction and indiscriminate annihilation.

We are bulldozing, scooping, sieving and raking our oceans for all their worth. and leaving nothing but a wasteland behind.

But we don't see it. So we don't care. Or at least it seems that way.

It doesn't have to be like this.

There are ways and means to keep our oceans alive.

If you eat seafood, all you have to do is keep looking out for, asking for and buying when you can, seafood labelled with the blue MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) logo.

Take a stand against unsustainable fishing and pledge to buy MSC certified seafood.

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