  Nature provides a myriad of intangible and non-material services to people.
However, urbanites are increasingly disconnected from the natural world. The
consequences of this progressive disconnection from nature remain difficult to
measure as this process is slow and long-term monitoring or large-scale
manipulation on nature experiences are scarce. Measures to contain the spread
of the recent covid-19 pandemic (i.e., lockdowns) have potentially reduced or
even suppressed nature experiences in cities. This situation provided an
opportunity for conducting a longitudinal study that can serve as a sort of
natural experiment to quantify the effects of nature deprivation on
individuals' health, well-being and relationship to nature. We collected data
on these variables from the same individuals inhabiting a large metropolis (Tel
Aviv, Israel) twice, in 2018 (before) and during the lockdown in 2020. Our
results confirmed that frequency, duration and quality of nature interactions
dropped during the lockdown, while environmental attitudes and affinity towards
nature remained similar. This was particularly true for people living in the
least green neighborhoods, where a significant decrease in personal and social
well-being was also found. Finally, affinity towards nature influenced
well-being through nature experiences in 2018. The mediation effect was not
significant in 2020, probably due to the decrease in nature experiences during
the lockdown, but the direct relationship between affinity towards nature and
well-being remained strong. These results provide insights into the means
required to align the public health and conservation agendas to safeguard
urbanites' health and well-being during a pandemic and mitigate the
biodiversity crisis.
