The time for action is now

I’m employed by Government for most of the conservation work I do. Being employed in a large organisation requires quite a bit of adjustment and I can still clearly remember my first few weeks in the organisation back in 2004. What I remember is form filling, reading operating procedures for driving government vehicles and adjusting to the tenor of the tea-room discussions. I was lucky, the job I was employed to do had a clear and quantifiable conservation outcome, two species of critically endangered lizards would either recover or go extinct.

Otago skinks, once on the brink of extinction, are now recovering within intensively managed habitat. Photo James T. Reardon

Nine years later and I now find myself getting sucked deeper and deeper into the strategic and organisational concerns of an organisation with the enormous responsibility of conserving and protecting the natural heritage of this small part of the Earth. Such organisations are increasingly under pressure from governments, governments that are increasingly driven by perceptions of the wealth and success their nation should strive for. These rather esoteric goals are the perfect camouflage for inaction and poor excuses for irreversible loss that the natural world is suffering under our stewardship. I don’t think I’ve seen this point made quiet as well as it has been by my fellow Welshman, Iolo Williams:

Iolo Williams and the State of Nature

If you are a conservationist and you feel like you’re fighting a permanent battle to remain relevant and effective, Iolo’s words should give heart.

~ by motolorax on June 11, 2013.