14/9/2020

We must encourage practical conservation in the face of wildlife declines: Our letter to The Guardian

Dear Sir,

The Living Planet Report (Humans exploiting and destroying nature on unprecedented scale, 10 September) paints a bleak picture for the future of global biodiversity and it is hard not to feel helpless. Robin Freeman’s claim that “we’ve spent 10 to 20 years talking about these declines and not really managed to do anything about it … we sit at our desks and compile these statistics but they have real-life implications” is saddening, and yet we can make a difference.

Across Britain and elsewhere there are farmers and land managers combining conservation with food production and achieving local species recovery. For real change, we need to support these working conservationists and motivate more people to follow their lead and ensure conservation and active land use work hand-in-hand, not against each other.

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Comments

Working Conservationists v Research

at 7:49 on 14/09/2020 by Joanna Dakin

I am very pleased to see GWCT’s work in promoting the work of farmers and land managers and what they do for conservation. Sometimes I get a little disappointed that resources are focused on more research rather than practical projects. Take for example salmon in the River Dee in N Wales. We know salmon numbers are dropping and why, and yet more NRW research projects are commissioned rather than practical steps to help salmon. Research is useful but it must be combined with practical action.

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