Opinion Piece

The green areas need protection 

Many people can relate to the feeling of sitting on a beautiful field and being delighted by a cozy pick-nick or to go for a long walk in the forest. This would not be possible if we did not have the green areas. We are in the green areas more than we think and that is a big part in the lives of many. Nacka has become a more attractive area which has created a large population increase. This leads to the need to build more housing which can negatively affect the green areas. Therefore it is important that we preserve and protect them. 

According to the newspaper Nacka värmdö posten (2016) there are many people who apply to the municipality of Nacka because of their green areas. The population of Nacka is increasing because more houses are necessary to fit all the people that move into Nacka. When you are building these homes there is a risk of destroying the green areas because there is a lot of construction.

According to Boverket (2022), the Government Agency for City Planning, claiming that humans are feeling better from greenery and good health is given. However research has now revealed a strong connection between green areas and people's well being.

Why should we take away an ecosystem that nature gives us? An ecosystem service who contributes to our welfare and livesquality. Without the green areas we get a weakened pollination which has big consequences globally and economically. Wild pollinators have an extremely big impact on the biological diversity due to insects and bees transferring pollen to plants which then fertilize the plants which benefits the ecosystem a lot. Pollination is important to humans because it ensures food and ecosystem services which are significant for our future and health and for future generations survival. If ecosystem services start to disappear we will not be able to reach the agenda 2030 goal. This is an important reason why we should preserve the green areas. (Boverket, 2022) municipality

Urban areas increase drastically and are expected to increase to 70% by 2050  according to the Global goals.com (2022). This is natural since we often apply to cities because there are a lot more job opportunities there. This makes it even more important to protect the green areas while urbanization is happening since the pollinators are invaluable to human beings. 

When you are reading this you might be thinking that green areas are not as important as housing people need somewhere to live and because of that it is more important that we prioritize housing. Even though this perspective has a point there are more ways to solve this problem. It is unnecessary to press together residences in the same area. Sweden, which is a rich country, should aim higher to maintain the  standard of living in municipalities instead of building as many residences as possible in Nacka. It is better to spread out the residences over different municipalities and cities so that we can preserve the green areas. If we continue to build a lot of residences in Nacka municipality the green areas will start to disappear and Nacka will no longer be an attractive area. When we preserve the green areas we also preserve Nacka. 

To finish things off there is a risk that Nackas green areas will be destroyed because we need more buildings. We have to preserve these areas because they have a positive impact, both on the mental and the physical health and retain our standard of living. The green areas are also important for the ecosystem and for the bee’s so they can continue with the pollination which is extremely important. So we need to preserve the green areas, not just for nature but also for Nackas.