Rebirding: Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation: Restoring Britain's Wildlife
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Rebirding: Winner of the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation: Restoring Britain's Wildlife
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In 2014, Ibegan writing Rebirding in the certain knowledge that conservation in this country is failing, the birdsong around us is dying out every year, yet surely we have all the resources, skill and the powerful nature lobby to turn things around. Ihope that in its small way, Rebirding will do for the UK what Netflix’s Our Planet (whose Jungles and Grasslands programmes Iworked on for three years) is beginning to do for worldwide conservation – to make people realise that nature is essential, profitable and saveable. In much of Europe, life thrives in abundance we have long forgotten. It’s time to see what’s missing — and expect more. We have the determination, economic and social arguments to achieve this within the conservation movement. A lot of this comes down to the human conservation ego. Take on areserve, carefully segregate its habitats and ‘manage’ it, and you prove you are doing something and justifying your salary and grants.
The targets are already there – imagine 100,000 hectares of new wetlands when you think what Ham Wall and Lakenheath have achieved, 140,000 hectares of peatland restored, 250,000 hectares of woodland and other habitat around our towns and cities. They’re already on the table – the recommendations of the Natural Capital Committee, rarely mentioned by conservationists.
Where the book loses a little clout, in my opinion, is in the simplification of some of the arguments. The author suggests, with good evidence, that rewilding and letting go of vast swathes of our country is what is needed to save wildlife. It is hard to argue that point. However, at the end of one chapter he states Knepp is "more profitable, more diverse, more humane, more robust - and better for both people and wildlife alike". There are other forces at play here that the author doesn't touch on. Knepp's organic, expensive, meat, which I have tasted and love, isn't affordable or accessible to everyone. Organic food comes at a premium and requires much more land footprint. Overpopulation (which the author dismisses based on the relatively small physical land footprint we take up) and our dietary choices are two fundamental issues not touched on as key enables of lessening pressures on land. Do we import our food instead when we should be encouraging more local produce and reducing our carbon footprint? The owners of Knepp themselves concede not all farming can be like it is there. I think any book which is trying to rewrite aspects of our agricultural system should touch on these fundamental societal issues we are facing, that there are simply too many of us living too lavish a lifestyle. I did, however, warm to the idea of us hunting and eating more deer, which, in the absence of predators, have overpopulated and decimated some of our countryside.
When Ifirst started visiting the Forest of Dean, Ialways thought of it as paradise. The dense walls of spruce and larch seemed forbidding but enchanting and the cathedral oak trees, with very little underneath, seemed impressive. Rebirding by Benedict Macdonald is the first ever winner of the new writing on global conservation and climate change prizeOften, however, self-limiting beliefs kill many wonderful ideas before they even get put in front of government. Our nature charities, especially, have aduty to ask formore.
- Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
- EAN: 764486781913
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