Page 61 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12

NEWS FEATURE
Ten thousand rom the organisers’ point
of view, there are things
people marched that could have gone better.
The main BBC or ITV news
through London programmes and websites
could have covered the
on 22 September, F event, and more than two
MPs could have showed their support – step
highlighting action forward the Green Party’s Caroline Lucas
and Labour’s Kerry McCarthy.
for wildlife. What There were also comments on Twitter
did they achieve? from, among others, Tim Bonner of the
Countryside Alliance: “Once you get beyond
the amusement at the pathetic turnout
for @ChrisGPackham’s march, there is a
serious issue. The nasty, divisive politics
he and his camp followers promote is only
negative for wildlife and the countryside.”
“Perfect doesn’t happen,” Packham says,
a couple of days after the event, “but 10,000
people with polite banners turning out
on a rainy September morning, and kids
dressed up in funny costumes and walking
through the streets of London to the sound
of birdsong – the 44 million birds we have
lost over the past five decades – has to be a
good first step.” Especially, perhaps, given
the whole thing was organised by this one
man and an assistant, in just two months,
and was paid for out of his own pocket – a
high, five-figure sum.
Political importance
But the big question is: what has Chris
Packham’s ‘Walk for Wildlife’ and
publication of the ‘People’s Manifesto
for Wildlife’ – containing “200 ideas to
make a difference in UK conservation”
– actually achieved? In the long run,
how will it be remembered and what,
if anything, will be its legacy?
Well, Mark Avery, the campaigner and
former RSPB director of conservation,
reports on his website the reaction of
an unnamed MP who responded to the
manifesto thus: “I read it, and I think
I got to page 67 before I found
something I could agree with. No
wonder wildlife is at risk with this sort
of level of political understanding.”
Is the manifesto politically naive? Martin
Spray is chief executive of the Wildfowl &
Wetlands Trust (WWT) and a former civil
Left: it may have Right: adults and
rained on their children alike took
parade but a damp to the streets of
day didn't hold back London during the
the crowds during walk – some with
The People's Walk impressive costumes
for Wildlife. and banners.
December 2018
servant who worked in the Treasury, so
he is someone who has an appreciation
of realpolitik. He laughs at the notion
that the manifesto lacks political
understanding. “It’s a little rough
and ready,” he concedes, “but it was
written and edited by 20 people [21,
if you include Packham] who brought
together a whole lot of issues that relate
to wildlife loss. It has come to a point
where we need to be more outspoken.
Of course, we recognise the importance
of politics, but politics is not delivering.”
Dividing opinion
It’s not just the Countryside Alliance
and the broader field-sports community
that felt antagonised by the walk. A week
before the march took place, Emily Ellis,
a blogger from the Yorkshire Dales,
posted on her website how her love of
the moors was being destroyed. “It takes
passion to transfer passion, but as soon
as you talk about the moors someone
will insist on drowning the flames
in politics,” she wrote. “Enjoying the
moors, apparently, equates to condoning
brutal murder… of protected species.”
Ellis is someone who does not shoot
(though she has worked as a beater), but
she lives among people who do.
So how does Ellis feel about the Walk
for Wildlife and its manifesto? She
responds with praise for the good ideas
within the manifesto: “Encouraging
more outdoor access, diversity and
involvement of young people are all so
important right now,” she says. But she
is highly critical of other aspects. “The
most shocking part was, for want of a
better phrase, the ‘Highland clearances’
Andy Rouse (x 2)
BBC Wildlife 61