March For Nature

Three hundred environmental organisations supported a march in London yesterday 22 June 2024 that – in the words of the organisers – was intended to demand that Government ‘Restore Nature Now’

I’ll concentrate on two elements of the destruction of nature that fuel these demands

One is encroachment on habitat. Another is wilful destruction without merit. There are others, of course, including the destructive power of run-off of chemicals used by farmers – run-off that enters rivers and streams and destroys the environment.

And that is not forgetting the insane (I use that word advisedly) amount of raw untreated sewage dumped in rivers and the sea. I will write about that separately another time.

But to concentrate on wilful destruction first:

This is what The Wildlife Trusts has to say about the badger culls (shooting badgers) that Government has authorised and which have been carried out for a decade now. The aim of the culls is to eradicate Bovine tuberculosis. Badgers are known transmitters and as of 2024, the United Kingdom has culled 210,000 badgers. In the same period, it culled 330,000 cattle to stop the spread of TB

But does culling work? Read this quote from The Wildlife Trusts)

The Government has undermined the scientific credibility of its own research, by repeatedly changing targets and methods. As a result, no definitive scientific conclusions can be drawn from the pilot culls, as the scientific evidence used to justify them is highly selective. In 2014, Chair of Natural England’s Scientific Advisory Committee, Professor David Macdonald, described the pilot culls as an ‘epic failure’’.

The conclusion of the Government’s own report was ‘badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain’.

So why do it? A more suspicious mind than mine might see as vindictive payback for the outlawing of fox hunting. What is undeniable is that the Government has pursued a plan that its own science says has no merit.

Her T shirt reads:

… and there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must do it because Conscience says it is right

The other threat – habitat destruction – is one close to our hearts because Tamara and I have been members of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust for a long time – more than twenty years. So we have learned how habitat destruction threatens wetlands. And wetlands are key to the environment everywhere and not just on the coasts and margins. Here is the source explaining the main threats to wetlands,

Values

It all comes down to value. What do we value and what do we sacrifice for what?

That’s what the march was about yesterday in London from Park Lane to Parliament.