European Deserts: Sandy Wilderness on a Green Continent

Based on his latest book environmentalist and author Chris Stone MIEnvSci will be talking about the untold story of the little-known deserts of Europe. These are sandy and infertile lowland wildernesses, where extreme environmental conditions are the norm. Remote and mostly uninhabited, Europe’s arid tracts present landscapes differing profoundly from their surroundings and offer refuge for scarce flora and fauna with nowhere else to go.

For long these wastelands were poverty-stricken and many had reputations as undesirable and even dangerous places. Unglamorous and frequently undervalued, the survival of the remaining fragments including several local examples is threatened despite their distinctive biodiversity, landscapes and fascinating human tales.

This talk will transform ideas about these extraordinary European landscapes.