‘Nature is a part of us and we are part of it’

As the South Downs National Park marks International Women’s

Day (yesterday, March 8), here Soraya Abdel-hadi gives her take on why nature is important. Soraya is an award-winning writer, artist, sustainability professional and founder of All The Elements CIC – a non-profit network for those creating change on diversity in the UK outdoors

I was asked recently why the outdoors and nature was important to me, and I was floored.

This is because to me it’s a nonsensical question – it’s not important, it’s a part of us as humans and we are a part of it.

The two things cannot be separated out. It’s vital. Nature provides us with all the things we need to survive – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat… and more.

Joy, spaciousness, physical health, mental health, that feeling of being a very small part of a very big system that’s been around for far longer than us and will continue long after we are gone – and from that perspective something which can completely change the way we live our lives.

It’s also where I’ve consistently found ‘my people’ – horse riders and climbers, mountain people and sea souls.

It’s not just on International Women’s Day that I realise that the women I know through nature and the outdoors are fierce. They are changing the world and they are taking everyone along with them, because, like nature, they are collaborative, adaptive and uncompromising. They build others up and tear down barriers to progress.

In the face of our current climate, economic and social crises, they look to nature for recovery and for solutions. They give me hope for what is coming next and what we can all build together.