Biodiversity is, literally, the variety of life on earth. It embraces all living plants and animals and the ecosystems on which they depend. Biodiversity is everywhere: in gardens, fields, hedgerows, mountains, rivers and in the sea.
At a local level, biodiversity greatly influences the character of our landscape. Carmarthenshire is justly renowned for its magnificent coast, quiet estuaries, steep wooded valleys and rugged uplands. Throughout much of the rest of the county there is a patchwork of woodlands and fields, bounded by the hedge-banks that are frequently of historic importance. The sea and seabed around the Carmarthenshire coast are also rich in species, some of which are of considerable economic importance.